Stanford-Rotterdam Innovation Program
A six day program of hands-on workshops at Stanford University in Silicon Valley
— how to make your business more innovative, agile, and responsive
February 2015
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STANFORD-ROTTERDAM INNOVATION PROGRAM
A need for innovation and agility
We live in a world of growing complexity and uncertainty, of global connections, challenges of sustainability, an
economy delivering experiences and meanings, identities and dreams as much as products, a world of big data
and intelligent machines, the prospect of radical shifts in manufacturing methods and materials, and with awkward
questions raised of governance and of the nation state.
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It is widely accepted that new skills and competencies are needed to address today’s business, social and political
challenges.
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Attention has focused on innovation as the core of such a skill set, but it is also increasingly clear that appealing to
experts for innovative solutions is inadequate on its own. We need to move to nurturing a mindset and culture of
innovation in our businesses and communities that makes of everyone an innovator.
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How can we become innovators?
Essential is an understanding of just what innovation is, and how to help an organization and its people to become
more innovative. Therefore the Program has three main components:
• How to create the right conditions for innovation in an organization.
• How to strategically plan and manage innovation.
• How to generate innovation – techniques including trend watching and Design Thinking.
Design Thinking is a term that has come to be used to refer to a suite of human centered and design-based
techniques, tried and tested, for delivering innovative solutions. Design Thinking helps an organization
connect better with the people it serves. It can transform data into actionable ideas. It can help spot new
opportunities. It can help to increase the speed and effectiveness of innovation. The home of Design
Thinking is Stanford University in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley.
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STANFORD-ROTTERDAM INNOVATION PROGRAM
Experience a hands-on approach
The Program is centered upon hands-on workshops that share and show techniques, that offer learning
opportunities based upon experience, interaction, discussion and collaboration, rather than just offering expert
opinion and knowledge.
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These techniques, methods, tips, worksheets, heuristics and algorithms that can be used to deliver innovation are
a kind of toolkit. Program participants can pick and choose which techniques work best for different contexts and
situations. The modular character of such a toolkit also means that the Program facilitators can select appropriate
workshops and themes for a particular group of participants.
To empower participants to customize such a toolkit to their own needs, the Program offers:
• A preliminary briefing workshop in Rotterdam to establish the particular profiles and needs of participants and
to help participants get to know one-another since the exchange of experience and knowledge is a key
objective of the Program.
• Continuous reflection upon the applicability of different components of the Program and toolkit to
participants, with opportunities for discussion around shared experiences, and with workshop content
tailored to participant needs and interest (for example, projects in Design Thinking directly relevant to
participants).
• A debriefing workshop at the end of the Program that addresses how to take away and apply the toolkit.
• A follow-up workshop in Rotterdam, some weeks after the Program, for further feedback and guidance in
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application of the Program’s toolkit.
The six day program is based mostly at Stanford University in Silicon Valley with the objective of providing
breathtaking environments, venues, meetings and encounters that foster original and refreshing insights, deep
learning, and that promote intellectual and social engagement.
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STANFORD-ROTTERDAM INNOVATION PROGRAM
Content
The Program includes:
• a bootcamp in design thinking applied to topics of relevance to participants, such as user experience, mobile
technology, global markets, financial services, designing new products, business processes and models,
services, new manufacturing processes
• a workshop in strategic foresight and scenario planning
• an interactive review of current trends in economy, society, culture and technology:
• the circular economy
• the network economy
• the internet of things
• intelligent machines and robotics
• the future of personal mobility and autonomous vehicles
• big data and anticipatory algorithms
• 3D/4D printing and the future of manufacture
• advanced new materials
• open source and the future of software
• a workshop on how to work with trends analysis
• a workshop on creating innovative attitude and culture in organizations
• a workshop on how to develop innovation competencies
• site visits to companies and organizations, from large and successful corporations to lean start-ups
• speaker events with interviews and question and answer sessions
• a resource kit, comprising documentation of the Program’s principles, a record of discussions held over the
six days, and a guide to further information sources
• all of the above drawing upon case studies in human-centered design and agile management.
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STANFORD-ROTTERDAM INNOVATION PROGRAM
Why Rotterdam and Stanford?
The Program holds that there is considerable potential in combining the particular strengths of Rotterdam and its
region with those of the innovation hub that is Silicon Valley.
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In Silicon Valley the Program is based in and around Stanford University, drawing upon the expertise and
experience in technological, social and cultural innovation of the university’s signature design program. Stanford
University is regularly placed at the top of world university rankings. Stanford’s design division, which includes the
famous d.school, has long been the creative interface between the research expertise of the University and the
businesses and industries of the Valley, is a home of human-centered design, and is the home of Design Thinking.
In particular the d.school is in great demand for training services to business, industry and the public sector. It
works closely with Stanford Business School and with the biggest design and innovation consultancy in the United
States — IDEO. It is worth noting that more than a third of start-ups in Silicon Valley now adopt a design-based
approach.
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A cornerstone of the Netherlands economy, Rotterdam has a strong tradition in manufacturing, has a more recent
tradition and track record in cutting-edge design and architecture, and has a potent community of young
entrepreneurs who are reinventing manufacturing. There is a rich ecology in the region of innovative companies,
institutions, facilities and agencies that include Delft Tech, the RDM campus, and cultural institutions such as
Museum Boijmans van Beuningen. Rotterdam and its region is a prime case study itself in the forces and features
of current social and technological trends. This makes a world-class setting for realizing the potential of new
approaches to fostering innovation. As agreed in the coalition agreement 2014-2018 “Volle kracht vooruit”,
Rotterdam can and should be the innovation laboratory of the Netherlands, the city where an agile and flexible
business mindset makes innovation the standard.
Why the Program is needed and what it offers
Rotterdam and its region are in transition. Sensitivity to people’s changing outlook and needs, rooted in empathy
and knowledge, plus the skills to be smart and flexible in delivering innovation are already acknowledged as
essential. This Program is designed to offer such preparation for the future, and particularly for Rotterdam.
Businesses in the city and region need to focus upon how to maximize resilient innovation in respect of the ways
that the new economy and social and technological trends will affect Rotterdam. The Program will address
precisely these needs. It will appeal to participants from the business sector who wish to come up to speed fast
on the latest ways of cultivating innovation customized to their specific needs and contexts. The Program offers an
extraordinary opportunity to network around an exchange of knowledge and experience in a remarkable setting.
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STANFORD-ROTTERDAM INNOVATION PROGRAM
Sample schedule
Each day is more or less organized around a workshop, a bootcamp in design thinking, a site visit, and a speaker
event, with ample time for discussion and reflection over hosted lunches and dinners. As already indicated, the
Program begins and ends with an opportunity to adapt the week’s experiences to individual interests and
circumstances — developing a personal innovation program for participants’ own organizations and needs.
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DAY ZERO — MINUS ONE MONTH
A thirty six hour orientation and socializing event — getting to know one another, that the Program may be all the
more customized to participants needs, as described above. Including an innovation scan — to identify specific
strengths, weaknesses, challenges of each organization. These will be made the focus of the Program.
Location: Rotterdam
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DAY ONE
(IN PALO ALTO)
• Introductions
• Workshop: an overview of strategic foresight/scenario planning (with Tamara Carleton, Innovation Leadership
Board) and Bill Cockayne (Stanford Foresight and Innovation)
• Design Thinking bootcamp 1 – empathy
• Speaker presentation and interview, question and answer – The Circular Economy (speaker from Stanford
Woods Institute for the Environment)
• Workshop : The innovation process — an exercise in creativity
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DAY TWO
• Interview with a Silicon Valley designer
• Site visit: Stanford d.school (with members of IDEO)
• Workshop: developing innovation competencies
• Design Thinking bootcamp 2 — synthesis
• Speaker presentation and interview, question and answer – Software Futures (with Sam Schillace — instigator
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of Web 2.0, Macromedia, Google, CTO Box)
DAY THREE
• Design Thinking bootcamp 3 — ideation and prototyping
• Site visit: Google campus
• Speaker presentation and interview, question and answer — Artificial Intelligence, big data and automation
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STANFORD-ROTTERDAM INNOVATION PROGRAM
DAY FOUR
• Site visits: IDEO Palo Alto; Jaunt Palo Alto (a consumer electronics start-up); Tableau (big data visualization)
• Workshop: innovation culture and climate
• Design Thinking bootcamp 4 — iteration and testing
• Speaker presentation and interview, question and answer — technology futures (with Rich Green, technology
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trend expert)
DAY FIVE
• Design Thinking bootcamp 5 — storytelling
• Speaker presentation and interview, question and answer — Arthur van Hoff (Dutch serial entrepreneur based in
Silicon Valley)
• Workshop: innovation strategy and management
• Site visit and dinner: Fab Lab and food futures
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DAY SIX
• Workshop: boosting innovation
• Workshop: what comes next? — how to take all this away and apply it to your organization — developing a
customized and personal agenda for fostering innovation
• Surprise speaker!
• Cocktails and farewells
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FOLLOW-UP — ONE MONTH ON
One-day follow-up workshop to review how the Program has helped participants, and to make the Program’s
impact more effective.
Location: Rotterdam
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STANFORD-ROTTERDAM INNOVATION PROGRAM
Facilitators
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JANNE VEREIJKEN
Janne (Spring Company) stands for innovation in organizations. Economic, technological and social change is
happening quicker than ever, demanding versatility and resilience from organizations. This asks for creativity,
innovation and strategic adaptability.
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Janne stimulates the innovative capacity of organizations and supports them in the development of new strategies.
The goal is to create modern and resilient organizations that operate with flexibility in our fast changing society.
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Through consulting and training Janne helps individuals as well as teams and entire organizations to optimally
develop and apply their in-house creativity and innovation. As a facilitator she guides organizations through the
development of strategies. In such projects Janne focuses on the development of human resources and
organization because a person’s mindset and behavior is the ultimate key success factor.
Janne cooperates with diverse partners from the business world, creative industry and science. She applies her
expertise to large organizations as well as SME’s in both not-for-profit and profit driven environments.
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MICHAEL SHANKS
Michael (Stanford Foresight and Innovation, Strategic Partner, Innovation Leadership Board) is the senior
Humanities faculty member in Stanford’s Design School (the “d.school”). An anthropologist, design archaeologist
and Classicist, he brings expertise in history, heritage, culture and the arts to human centered design. For over
twenty five years he has applied design thinking to create new disciplinary fields (design studies; heritage studies;
material culture studies) and new kinds of cultural practice and organization (theatre/archaeology; performance
company Brith Gof; Stanford Humanities Lab; the Revs Program in the Center for Automotive Research at
Stanford). A master communicator and teacher, he runs the largest and most popular design class in the
university, voted in 2014 by students as one of the ten “must do” classes at Stanford.
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Michael’s labs have worked with the automobile industry and with government, educational and non-profit
organizations and agencies. He is an alumnus of Rotterdam’s International Advisory Board (to mayors Opstelten
and Aboutaleb), and is a curator at large for Rotterdam’s Museum Boijmans van Beuningen.
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Logistics and cost
The Program is organized by Innovation Leadership Board, a Silicon Valley based company that specializes in
executive learning experiences.
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Cost: € 9000 for the Program. This includes breakfast, lunches, some dinners, and local transport.
The Program offers to book hotel rooms.
Travel to the USA, accommodation and most dinners are not included in the price.
Contact
Janne Vereijken
Tel: +316 57345973
Email: info@springcompany.nl
Website: www.springcompany.nl
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Endorsed by
Jan Peter Balkenende
Leendert Bikker
Martijn Aslander
Cees de Bruin
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