PDMA in Action for Business Development

PDMA Central America and PDMA Netherlands teamed up to support a business development trip for 11 Costa Rican small and medium enterprises to travel to Europe.

The Association Agreement between the Central American Region and the European Union supports economic development through the growth of exports and export quality, among other initiatives. The Procalidad Project*, financed by the European Union and the government of Costa Rica, aims to develop projects that strengthen public policies and infrastructure to develop the quality of exports by Costa Rican small and medium enterprises (SMEs) .

In order to support exports from Costa Rica, a business development trip was organized for 11 different SMEs. These companies represented a broad array of goods and services, like gluten-free products, organic fruit concentrate, gourmet products, ecological cleaning products and leather goods. Consisting of visits to organizations in the Netherlands and Austria, the trip aimed to spark new business ideas, provide examples of interesting business models and products, and incite general knowledge in regard to exporting to the EU.

Virtual Conference: Learning Innovative Product Development Strategies at PIPELINE 2014

Join more than 2000 product development peers from around the globe at PIPELINE 2014 – The Free Virtual Conference for Innovative Product Development on Friday, June 6 . You'll learn from product development experts and practitioners sharing best practices for end-to-end product development processes including:

Keynote Speaker Michelle Greenwald, Innovation Expert and Author of Catalyzing Innovation ... "Catalyzing Innovation for More Systematic, Complete and Creative Product Development”
Braden Kelly, Author and Innovation Exper ... t "Our Innovation Culture Stinks – Five Ways to Make It Smell Better”
Andrew Ouderkirk , Corporate Scientist Electronic Markets and Materials Division, 3M ... “Platform Innovation: Ideas, Processes, People, Teams, and Culture”
Hannes Erler, Director, Open Innovation Networks, Swarovski ... “Changing Mindsets and Structures for a Meaningful Open Innovation Approach”
Sindy Wilson, Director of Product Portfolio Analytics & Insights at Manheim Auction ... “Be Nimble, Be Quick: How Technology-Enabled Product Portfolio Management Empowers Faster, Better Decision-Making”

Attend this virtual conference to learn actionable strategies you can apply immediately and discover methods to speed time to market, strengthen brand positioning, and stay ahead of the competition.

Register Now

How is Your Portfolio Misdirected by Inertia and Entropy?

The forces of portfolio inertia and portfolio entropy have significant influence misdirecting new product development efforts. By recognizing these forces, managers gain understanding of cause and effect of circumstances, and more importantly, gain clarity to recourse and actions.

Download our Overcoming Portfolio Inertia and Portfolio Entropy Whitepaper to learn how to tackle the challenges.

One Day Left! 2014 Annual PDMA Research Forum Call for Papers

Research Forum Dates: October 18-19, 2014
Research Forum Venue: Grand Hyatt, Denver, CO

PDMA's Annual Research Forum is the premier conference for discourse on new product development (NPD) and innovation research. It is an important forum for intellectual exchange and state-of-the-art research on all aspects of NPD-innovation.

2014 Annual Research Forum's co-chairs, Wim G. Biemans of the University of Groningen and Fred Langerak of Eindhoven University of Technology, invite manuscripts, extended abstracts and working papers/results for poster sessions. The co-chairs welcome papers on all topics related to product innovation and management, including, but not limited to, the design and development of new products, service innovation, customer co-creation, the use of social media in NPD, organizing for global NPD, global launch strategies, inter-organizational collaboration, reverse innovation and sustainable new product development.

Studies using new, innovative and cross-disciplinary research methods besides the traditional methods involving surveys, experiments, and historical data are encouraged. The co-chairs are interested in papers from all academic areas related to product innovation and management, including the disciplines of marketing, operations management, management, entrepreneurship, engineering and design.

Click here to learn more about the PDMA Research Forum and submission guidelines.

Innovate Carolina 2014 Conference Featured Outstanding Speakers

Innovate Carolina, the annual one-day conference of PDMA's Carolinas chapter was held Friday, April 25. This year's conference took place at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center in Research Triangle Park, with the theme, “Building Your Career Toolkit: Innovative Paths for Innovative Development”. Topics included innovation, market research, future trends and insights and new product development trends.

The event attracted over 130 professionals representing product manufacturers as well as service oriented companies, design and engineering firms, innovation consultants and academics. “Attendees commented that the speakers were outstanding, the content was fresh and insightful, and the event overall provided incredible value. Attendees also benefited from discussions with sponsors between sessions,” stated Conference Chair of the event, Jeffrey Phillips.

Book Review: TILT: Shifting Your Strategy from Products to Customers

In light of maturing markets with increasing numbers of products clamoring for limited shelf space, Niraj Dawar's book, TILT: Shifting Your Strategy from Products to Customers is a compelling exposition to why and how companies must shift their value creation efforts from the upstream activities of product manufacturing to the downstream marketing activities in order to gain sustainable competitive advantage.

Upcoming PDMA Events

Following the lead of our colleagues in the Pittsburgh Chapter, the Boston Area PDMA is presenting the regional premiere of the critically acclaimed documentary "Design and Thinking" on Tuesday, May 20. Immediately following the film, an expert panel will discuss the film and how inspired use of design can drive new product innovation. This event is presented in partnership with DMI (Design Management Institute).

The Design and Thinking documentary explores how we fully engage organizations to think about the changing landscape of business, culture and society. Inspired by design thinking, the film challenges executives, designers, social change-makers and individuals to consider what they have in common when facing this ambiguous 21st century. What is design thinking? How are people changing the world with their own creative minds? It's a call to challenge conventional minds to change and collaborate.

James Morley Read , Professor of Industrial Design at Massachusetts College of Art will be the moderator for the evening.

Register here to attend this fun event and meet other product designers and developers who work at leading companies in the Boston area.

PDMA Sustainable Innovation SIG Webinar: "The TerraCycle Story - From a Startup to a Global Leader in Recycling Without Spending a Dime on Marketing"

Tune in on Tuesday, May 20 at 11:00am EDT for the PDMA Sustainable Innovation SIG's upcoming webinar focusing on how TerraCycle has grown from a startup worm-poop fertilizer company to the world's leader in recycling non-recyclable waste - all without spending money on advertising, marketing or sponsorships. Attend to learn how a startup acting in the sustainability field became the global leader & how to partner with suppliers and customers to reduce waste.

PDMA Minnesota Chapter: "Breakthrough Innovation + Stategy from Concept to Commercialization"

Join PDMA Minnesota on Wednesday, May 21st for "Breakthrough Innovation + Strategy from Concept to Commercialization” featuring Jon Althoff & Julie Heck from Skyline International Design Center!

Tour the Skyline facility and learn about their unique product development process, commercialization & global launch of Skyline Windscape®, “The World's First Air-Powered Exhibit System” including:

• Steps to successful product development
• Product development challenges and solutions
• Successful new product launch and promotion strategies
• Improvements of the development process since launch

Click here for full event details.

PDMA Pittsburgh: “Innovation Forum: The Power of Adjacency: Growth Strategies in Your Backyard”

The Pittsburgh Chapter has invited Mark Carr, Managing Partner at South Street Strategy Group to present the next Innovation Forum - The Power Of Adjacency: Growth Strategies In Your Backyard. This event will be held at the Courtyard Pittsburgh Shadyside Marriott on June 3rd at 5:00pm.

Identifying and exploiting new opportunities for growth is a constant point of tension for companies. Yet in this never ending quest for growth, many business strategists fail to see the opportunities that are right in their backyards - customer or capability adjacencies that are very natural extensions of their current strategies. An adjacency-based approach to growth has the benefit of leveraging business assets that already exist, but it does come with risks. For example, strategies that are too far afield from your core offerings - and thus with weak linkages - are likely to fail.

During this valuable presentation, PDMA members and guests will hear best practices in embedding an innovation culture into an organization through a structured approach of defining, scoping and exploiting adjacencies that can build a long-term pipeline of opportunities for growth. Attendees will walk away from this session being able to:

PDMA e.V. Supported Event: "R&D Management Conference" in Stuttgart, Germany

PDMA e.V., the affiliate for the German speaking countries, will support the 2014 R&D Management Conference "Connecting High Value Solutions with Future Markets" in Stuttgart, Germany from June 3-6, 2014. The R&D Management Conference 2014 will provide a platform to discuss the opportunities and challenges related to R&D Management, Innovation and Technology Management especially focusing on real industry challenges. Click here for registration and more information .

Upcoming PDMA Webcasts

Led by Kevin Schwartz of PwC, Principal, Innovation & Development Excellence

The global business environment is changing rapidly: Major shifts in demographics and global economic power; increased urbanization amidst a changing climate and constrained resources; and head-spinning breakthroughs in technology that impact every sector of the economy. Taken together, they represent huge risk and opportunity for every company and society around the world.

This is where innovation matters. In the largest global study of innovation, PwC asked more than 1,750 C-suite and executive level leaders from 25 countries and 30 sectors about the role of innovation within their organization and how they see it changing over the next five years. Their answer: innovation is the most important driver of corporate growth. Leading innovators forecast a rate of growth almost double the global average. The power of deliberate, intelligent, and aggressive innovation is clear. How can your company increase its growth rates? How can your company improve its innovation success?

NPDP Certified Individuals April 2014

Congratulations to the PDMA community members who earned their NPDP certification in April!

Learn to Lead: Innovation Management Standard Training in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Registration is open for another Innovation Management Standard Training! The next available session will take place May 26-28, 2014 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The first truly international public standard of its kind, this training session offers an integrated, coherent view on how for-profits, non-profits and public organizations in any country can become truly innovative - and stay that way! Together, PDMA and the TIM Foundation provide this essential training, equipping all attendees with the core standards documentation, tools and templates, and course materials needed to implement the innovations standards at their own companies. Trainers will be available as additional resources for attendees, even after they have completed the course.

For attendees who pass the course exam and want to take their training one step further, they can qualify to become official certified PDMA and TIM consultants, trainers or auditors. Plus, with their qualification, their organization can also achieve accredited auditing, consulting or training partner status. Once a company becomes an official partner, it can perform consulting activities, and assist user organizations, such as their customers, to also become certified users of the PDMA-TIM's Product Innovation Management Standard. The first training session recently took place at PDMA Headquarters in Chicago, IL to great turnout!

For more information regarding the Canada training sessions or to register, please visit timfoundation.org.

PDMA Visions for the Future