Global executive audience gathers for Berkeley’s Silicon Valley Innovation Leadership Week

In late October, executives and managers from around the world gathered at Berkeley to participate in our first open-enrollment Silicon Valley Innovation Leadership week.

In what was described as a “fantastic” and “organization changing” week. Our global participants heard from our leading faculty on disruptive technologies (AI, big data, AR/VR, robotics), as well as from industry veterans, such as the co-founder of Tesla (Mark Tarpenning), the former CIO of Clorox (Wayne Delker), founder of North Face (Hap Klopp) and “lean startup” expert and founder (Steve Blank), while also working on group projects and touring iconic Silicon Valley companies (Tesla, Autodesk and Johnson & Johnson’s JLABS).

The 40+ attendees included a VP and a Vice-Dean of innovation, CEOs of Latin American retail chains, a Chief Acceleration Officer, as well as many executives and leaders from industries ranging from toys and gaming (Lego & Unity Tech) to shipping, energy, pharma and software (Maersk, ENEL, Novo Nordisk, and Zendesk).

Key takeaways included insights that “my company needs to make better use of big data” to the realization that an “innovation process for horizon 3 will be critical to the company’s future,” as well as a better understanding of “the state of the art of different technologies and tendencies (AI, big data, marketing, VR), how to approach the innovation processes among organizations, and the skills and perspective that entrepreneurs and managers must have or develop”.

To learn more about this week and how to join us next year, visit our Silicon Valley Innovation Leadership week site.