Why it Matters: Value Propositions in Scientific Innovation

You must log in to register
- Non-member - $99
- Member - $49
- Student Member - $49
- Lab Member - $49
Continue

Understanding the value proposition of a product, service or an organization is key to understanding the right business model to apply in any given scenario. Clarity around what the value proposition is – in the eyes of the customer or user – and why it matters is absolutely essential to drive growth. Having the ability to define, clarify and understand the value proposition can therefore drive business model innovation efforts for customers and businesses (both startups and existing organizations).

This two-hour introductory workshop provides teams at all levels across an organization with an overview of how to define, clarify and understand the value proposition of an innovation effort in a way that gives teams the confidence required to commit fully to the objective. This workshop provides a 'pracademic' approach to learning through the use of tools and methodologies that can be applied on a continuous basis to keep organizations relevant and successful.

Who Should Attend
Ideal participants are project/program managers, leaders and other internal stakeholders that have influence over the creation or implementation of a new product, service or process. Stakeholders include product line managers, portfolio managers and leaders of product development teams in addition to project team members. This workshop is also extremely beneficial for entrepreneurs and leaders of early stage companies seeking to ensure clarity around their customer value proposition. The learning from this program is applicable also to those in research institutions as well as research-led higher education organizations.

Workshop Benefits
For a newly formed business or for those contemplating starting a business or a spin-off activity, this workshop helps aspiring entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs and innovators understand what their organization must do to be successful. For an existing business, this workshop ensures internal stakeholders are aligned with those critical customer and company objectives before significant capital is deployed in pursuit of the innovation.

Workshop Topics
Define
The Customer Value Proposition defines why a customer will utilize your innovation and how they will derive value. This enables leaders to align their organization more effectively with those critical value drivers for the development and implementation of a product, service or business process. You will begin this workshop by learning to create Customer/Innovation Value Propositions that will help to guide your project to success.

Clarify
The next methodology covered is the product/market fit and the value your organization can offer different customer segments. You will learn about and acquire the tools and thinking that can help you enhance your Customer and Innovation Value Propositions, clarifying what your organization must do to allow your project to succeed.

Understand
These elements can speed up delivery of project and organization objectives, ensuring a deep understanding of the value proposition and positioning of the organization that are critical from an execution perspective and that fully support the realization of the Customer and Innovation Value Propositions. At the conclusion of the workshop, you will have the tools to ensure your organization has the clarity and confidence to gain the commitment of your team to deliver the desired innovation.

Gordon McConnell, M.B.S.

Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer

Arkane Innovation

Gordon McConnell is a co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer at Arkane Innovation, an advisory, consulting and training company that works with higher education, government, NGOs and industry on innovation management and entrepreneurship ecosystems strategy, programs and implementation. He has a significant history of working in entrepreneurship, innovation, social enterprise and economic development. McConnell was a Visiting Director of Innovation and Professor of Entrepreneurship at Robert Gordon University (RGU) in the UK and was previously VP of Commercial and Regional Innovation at RGU. Launched in September 2018, the innovation activities in RGU won the Scottish Herald ‘Higher Education Award for Outstanding Business Engagement’ in June 2019 and was short-listed as ‘Outstanding Entrepreneurial University’ in the UK 2020 by the Times Higher Education (THE).

Prior to RGU, McConnell was the Head of the Entrepreneurship Center and Professor of Practice in Entrepreneurship at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia. Before Saudi Arabia, he was Associate Vice President of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Arizona State University and Principal Investigator of the ASU Center of Excellence in Technology Transfer. His new initiatives at ASU won the U.S. award for ‘Most Promising Technology Based Economic Development’ in 2013 from the SSTI and a University Economic Development Association Award in 2014. He has developed and taught entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship and management curriculum in a number of colleges and universities. McConnel was part of the UK/Ireland Strategy Practice at Accenture and started his career in Westinghouse. He has spoken at a number of leading conferences including at the Kauffman Foundation, the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) Annual Conference and the Global Competitiveness Forum.

Mark Crowell, R.T.T.P.

Co-Founder and President

Arkane Innovation

Mark Crowell is a Co-Founder and President of Arkane Innovation, an international advisory services firm (based in Ireland, the UK and the US) focused on entrepreneurship, innovation ecosystems (including startup programs), innovation strategy, accelerator programs, research commercialization and spinouts, innovation district planning and economic development initiatives. Crowell is also Executive Entrepreneur in Residence for the Eshelman Institute for Innovation (EII) at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. EII is supported by a gift of $100 million (from Dr. Fred Eshelman) and is focused on developing new strategies and partnerships to drive early stage academic discoveries more effectively and more urgently through translational research to early stage clinical and commercial application.

Crowell’s extensive consulting includes serving as a Senior Innovation Consultant for the World Bank and for the San Diego Biomedical Research Institute. Other clients and projects include the Qatar Foundation, TEConomy Partners, the University of California President’s Office and the Arkansas Research Alliance. He also is an inaugural Board member of Med Aditus, a newly formed global non-profit focused on sub-Saharan Africa and building a state-of-the-art pharmaceutical product development and manufacturing facility and a secure distribution network with the end goal of improving patients’ access to affordable high-quality medicines.

Crowell has more than 32 years of experience in academic innovation, technology transfer and translational partnerships. He served as Vice President for Innovation and Economic Development at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia, founding Executive Director of UVa Innovation at the University of Virginia and chief technology transfer and business development officer at The Scripps Research Institute, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC State University and Duke University. Crowell was President of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) in 2005, Chair of the Technology Transfer Committee of BIO (2009-2014) and co-chair of the Research Committee of the APEC Life Science Innovation Forum. In 2013, he received the Bayh-Dole Award from AUTM in recognition of his lifetime contributions to advancing academic innovations.