Media Release

The Innovation Summit 2010

The Innovation Summit 2010 programme has been announced. Register now!

A must-attend event for all senior leaders, decision makers, entrepreneurs, HR and marketing people,  and innovative South Africans to hear Zapiro, the crew behind the Calabash, the Sally Williams team and more speak about innovation.

This year’s Innovation Summit will take you on a unique and interesting journey. A collection of fantastic storytellers and speakers will share their personal innovation experiences. They will explain how they tapped into creative thinking to stand out from the crowd, what made them successful, and describe what motivated them to pursue their goals. Their stories tell of a journey that was often difficult and yet rewarding. Their personal experiences reflect the heart and soul of innovation.
 
Great stories have interesting characters and these abound in the 2010 Innovation Summit programme. For starters there is Zapiro, the slightly crazy cartoonist who can’t seem to stay out of trouble. Also on the list are Bob van Bebber and Piet Boer, the deep-thinking architects who turned a calabash into the worlds largest ever world cup football stadium. Marc Sack will tell the Sally Williams story about the sweet-toothed cook who turned her passion for nougat into a thriving business. Winston Jordaan will talk about flying cars and “Eve” - South Africa’s first 3-wheel electric car made in South Africa for South Africa. These characters bring innovation to life every day and there are loads more of these fascinating speakers lined up for the Summit this year (see www.innovationsummit.co.za )

The 3rd SA Innovation Summit is about innovation in action – about how real innovators and innovative organisations do what they do. It is about their trials and errors, the lessons learned, the hardships and breakthrough moments. It will highlight their celebrations and explore the essence of what makes these innovators successful. Henra Mayer from the Research Institute for Innovation and Sustainability (RIIS), who helped compile the impressive group of speakers, explains that, “we will break away from traditional theoretical PowerPoint presentations and tap into the real experiences of people. All our speakers have been briefed to use storytelling as the preferred presentation methodology.”
 
The Heart and Soul of Innovation

The theme for the Summit is “Real innovation stories shared by true innovators.” The main principles for this Summit are:
 
· To create a WOW experience for the audience
· To create deep and connected learning for all delegates
· For every person to walk away with value beyond expectation
 

Itha Taljaard from Sense2Solve, says, “All good stories have interesting characters and we have these in abundance! Michael Jordaan, the CEO of FNB, will share how innovation has been embraced at FNBand the important role leadership plays. Paul Raphaely, one half of the dynamic husband and wife team behind the NoMU brand will speak on day 1 as will Xolani Mtshizana, Julia Fourie, and Andrew Lawrence.
 
“We wanted to attract some of the most innovative and creative people we could find to the Summit and we think we have succeeded,” says Itha.

Date
The Innovation Summit takes place on the 26th and 27th of August this year.
 
Venue
 
The Summit takes place at The Innovation Hub in Pretoria. To coincide with the Innovation Summit this year, The Innovation Hub will be hosting an Innovation Week from the 23rd to the 27th of August 2010. The Innovation Week will offer innovative insights into Science Park development and their local, regional and national implementation, the stimulation of innovative green thinking among primary school children and workshops on innovation policy and implementation.

Register Now
Innovation Summit 2010 registration is now open. To attend, please either complete the registration form online, www.innovationsummit.co.za, or call (011) 646 1675.

Cost
Attendees that register and pay before 30 June will receive a 10 % discount on the Innovation Summit 2010 fee.