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Innovation in Action - IMD Business School

Blended program

Innovation in Action

Master innovation through real-world application

Blended program

Innovation in Action

Master innovation through real-world application

Location

IMD campus, UEFA and IOC Headquarters

Length

6 days on campus, 3 live virtual sessions, 2 coaching sessions

Fee

CHF 10,900

Next program starts

30 September 2024

Gain a comprehensive toolbox for innovation breakthroughs and build your entrepreneurial skills

What is the common thread between Yamaha, Alibaba, Microsoft, Uber, and Amazon? These companies are all clear leaders in their industries, and all embrace innovation and entrepreneurial thinking as part of their overall business strategy. To survive and maintain a competitive edge, companies must continuously innovate and re-invent themselves. However, innovation in theory is one thing but applying it in practice to real-world business problems is quite another.

IMD has partnered with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) to bring you the Innovation In Action program. You will put innovation and your entrepreneurial thinking into practice with a real-world innovation challenge, bolster your leadership skills, and apply what you have learned to your own business with a concrete action plan.

Uncover the secrets of innovation

Get hands-on training in ideation, design-thinking and prototyping techniques.

Learn the skills of successful entrepreneurs

Learn to deal with failure and iterate your thinking by making sense of experiments that don’t work.

Turn promising ideas into business opportunities

Identify factors that can derail or slow down your efforts to innovate.

Bolster your leadership to lead innovation

Engage people in your vision with powerful rhetorical and storytelling techniques.

You and your class

This program is designed for individual entrepreneurs, managers and executives across all industry sectors who want to learn the mindset and skills required to steer customer innovations from early concept development to validated breakthrough solutions.

Are you trying to grow and sharpen your innovation capabilities as a leader or as a team?
Are you working for an established organization that needs to escape the business as usual and explore disruptive new trajectories and business ideas?
Are you facing deep customer shifts and searching for a toolbox that will let you imagine new experiences and drive change in your industry?

Benefit from a complimentary profile assessment to see if this is the right program for you.

Assess your profile

See the program in action and hear from the program director.

IMD Innovation In Action Program participants get creative in the kitchen. - IMD Business School

Participants get hands-on with an innovation challenge in the kitchen.

Innovation skills are best acquired through concrete hands-on experience

During the program, partnering with UEFA and the IOC, you will practice innovation and hone your entrepreneurship skills. The program is delivered as an immersive experience at the IMD campus as well as 2 days at UEFA and IOC Headquarters in Lausanne. You will get the chance to meet and get inspired by renowned keynote speakers from the entertainment industry and top-level professional athletes.

Throughout the program you will be working on a concrete, real-world challenge and explore innovative ways to rethink customer journey’s during and after major sporting events.

Embrace design thinking and learn key innovation frameworks.

Dive into real-world innovation challenges.

Learn from inspirational industry keynote speakers.

Reflect on and improve your leadership style and effectiveness.

Your learning journey

Module 1 – Launch: Immerse yourself

3 sessions of 4 hours – live virtual
1 one-hour coaching session – live virtual

Session 1 (30 September 2024, 13:30-17:30 CET):
- Kick-off: meet your peers
Session 2 (7 October 2024, 13:30-17:30 CET):
- Think like a designer
Session 3 (14 October 2024, 13:30-17:30 CET):
- Understand what customers want
Individual coaching session (1 hour between 21 and 25 October 2024)

Module 2 – Design: Learn, apply and reflect

6 days in Lausanne area
28 October – 2 November 2024

3 days at IMD campus
1 day at a start-up incubator
2 days at UEFA and IOC Headquarters

Module 3 – Transform: Transfer learning to your own context

1 one-hour coaching session, live virtual

Individual coaching session (1 hour between 11 November and 31 December 2024)

Impact story

Innovation award

Since joining the program in 2022, Siphamandla Ntombela, Absa Group, has won the bank’s 2023 National Excellence Award for Innovation and has been promoted. He credits his participation in the program for giving him the confidence he needed to succeed.

A dynamic interplay between theory and real-world application

Innovation in Action was an inspiring program where I experienced a dynamic interplay between sophisticated theoretical principles and their direct application in real-world scenarios. The highlight? Connecting with incredible people driven to shape the future!

A must for anyone who leads a team

I totally recommend this course to anyone who leads a team, not only sport professionals. The diversity of the group and activities bring the athletic mindset together with managerial style. The power of the group is a main takeaway as well as the ability to use the innovation frameworks. Also, being creative and working in a group helped me better understand the value each person brings in forming a great and complex project.

Experience innovation from different angles

I came out from Innovation in Action refreshed with new energy and now see innovation from different angles, in ways I have not done before.

Leverage innovation to make a meaningful impact

Innovation in Action challenges you to play a role as a leader amongst leaders and ultimately makes you question how you can use innovation in the space you are in to make a meaningful impact on business and on society.

The program in action

During Innovation in Action, participants tackle real-world challenges in a variety of unique settings sparking innovation and bringing their newfound knowledge to life.”

Many organizations tell us they want to be fast, agile, and re-invent the value they can bring to business and society, but game-changing offerings are hard to come by. Most executives struggle to define what it means to be truly innovative. And they want tools that will help them keep up with the rapid pace of change occurring in their business environments.

Read more

Cyril Bouquet Program Director

Article

Joining the dots: A creative design for leadership

There is much that organizations can learn from artists and designers, from turning ideas into innovation to creative problem-solving and better decision-making.

By Cyril Bouquet and Alexis Georgacopoulos

21 June 2024

Article

How to have breakthrough ideas

Innovation can seem like an abstract concept, when in fact it’s a potent creative force. What you need is the right mindset

By Cyril Bouquet

22 November 2023

Article

Setting business priorities on the slow road to COP targets

On 26 October, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development brought together representatives from global companies, academia, policymakers, and NGOs to discuss the priorities for business as the world approaches the first “Global Stockta…

By Cyril Bouquet

04 November 2022

Article

ALIEN thinking: Innovating our way to a net-zero future

How can we best accelerate our search for the new practices our planet needs to ensure its future? By adopting the habits of ALIEN thought, says Cyril Bouquet, IMD Professor of Strategy and Innovation, talking at the World Business Council for Sus…

By Cyril Bouquet

31 October 2022

ARTICLE

Identifying Unmet Needs in a Digital Age

Innovation is all about finding and filling people’s unmet needs. But even innovators and organizations renowned for their scanning capabilities often have trouble perceiving and correctly interpreting those needs.

By Jean-Louis Barsoux, Michael R. Wade and Cyril Bouquet

01 July 2022

ARTICLE

Why Outside Perspectives Are Critical for Innovation Breakthroughs

Lessons from the story of Dr. Patricia Bath, the inventor of modern cataract surgery and the first African American woman to receive a medical patent.

By Jean-Louis Barsoux, Cyril Bouquet and Michael R. Wade

08 February 2022

ARTICLE

Stop Sabotaging Your Ability to Innovate

Innovators can be their own worst enemies, derailed by personal traits, such as confidence and optimism, that are essential to creativity but can be toxic when taken to an extreme, and by emotions such as fear, doubt, regret, and frustration.

By Cyril Bouquet, Jean-Louis Barsoux and Michael R. Wade

01 November 2021

ARTICLE

Bring Your Breakthrough Ideas to Life

Digital advances in the past two decades have enabled more people than ever before to express creative intelligence. Yet apart from the transformation of services powered by mobile apps and the internet, few sectors have seen spectacular surges of innovation.

By Cyril Bouquet, Jean-Louis Barsoux and Michael R. Wade

01 November 2018

Next start & fee

Length: 3 liVe sessions over 3 weeks plus one week face-to-face at Lausanne campus, IOC, and UEFA headquarters.

Dates

30 Sep – 31 Dec 2024

Location

IMD campus, UEFA and IOC Headquarters

Length

6 days on campus, 3 live virtual sessions, 2 coaching sessions

Price

CHF 10,900

CHF 9,900 (Early bird)

Apply

Tuition, teaching materials, and lunch are included.
All fees quoted are exclusive of any value-added or other indirect taxes that may be due in any country.
IMD reserves the right to modify the program dates, location, and fee at any time.

One step closer to joining IMD alumni network

Successful completion of this program takes you one step closer to joining IMD’s powerful alumni network.

130k+ alumni

Networking

250+ events per year

Communities

50+ clubs worldwide

Resources

Learn more about IMD alumni network

On campus

Driving Strategic Innovation

Achieving high performance throughout the value chain

Changes the way business leaders think about innovation and technology strategy, and provides a comprehensive roadmap for achieving breakthrough performance across the value chain.

Sprint format

Business Creativity and Innovation Sprint

Unlock your creative genius

Boost your innovation mindset, generate better ideas and transform them into breakthrough solutions.

Online

Disruptive Innovation

Grow your business through innovation

Take inspiration from successful innovators and equip yourself with powerful skills and techniques to drive innovation more effectively within your organization.