Outside perspectives on our industry at IASP Virtual

It's almost time for our annual World Conference, taking place online for the first time in IASP's history!

As well as hearing from experts from within the world of science parks and areas of innovation, who will be sharing their perspectives and best practices, we will also hear from some star speakers from outside the industry who bring new insights on innovation and how to make it happen.

To start on a high note, we are delighted to welcome Lee Newman, Dean, Professor and Edu-Entrepreneur at IE University (Spain) as our opening keynote speaker at IASP Virtual! 

​He'll be talking about "Behaviour and innovation: why it’s not easy to stay ahead". Innovation as a process can lead to competitive advantage for teams, companies and nations.  Yet it turns out that truly continuous innovation proves very difficult to sustain.  Why? In this session, Lee Newman will discuss some of the subtle psychological factors that are often obstacles to innovation and he will propose several behavioural mindsets that can be cultivated to help overcome these obstacles.

And when it comes to wrapping up our 3 intensive days of knowledge sharing, Nick van Dam (IE University) will take a look ahead at developing a positive leadership mindset. The demands on today’s leaders are becoming ever more complex, from dealing with pandemics, motivating and leading virtual teams, developing business scenarios and making decision based on limited information. Positive psychology has proved to lead to more balanced emotions, making leaders more likely to succeed: Nick will discuss a number of positive leadership practices that innovation ecosystem leaders can immediately put to work.

Those aren’t the only professional skills you can develop at IASP Virtual.

You’ll be able to test your network IQ at IASP Virtual, and benefit from a live analysis and Q&A with the researcher who developed the tool. IASP members have been completing the test in advance to discover their profile, and all delegates can meet Dr Daria Tataj on 2nd December in the “Network Thinking” session where she’ll present anonymised results of the survey and present some key findings for leaders in the science park/area of innovation industry.

What is sustainability anyway? 

David Goodman (IE University) will be with us at IASP Virtual for a conversation about what sustainability means and how to apply it in your organisations. With David’s background in architecture, he’ll share examples of sustainable creations, opportunities for innovation communities and ideas for using our spaces as he talks to moderator Concepción Galdón, Social Innovation Director and Academic Lead at IE University.  

We also take a deeper dive into some of the key themes specifically relevant to science parks and areas of innovation around the world.

Urban innovation

We’ll be looking at Innovation in the city with Stephanie Wade (Bloomberg Philanthropies, USA), who will explore how cities can build a culture of innovation to tackle big problems and deliver better results for residents with moderator McLean Sibanda. She will be talking about the most effective approaches to innovation, including design-based innovation, data analytics, and behavioural economics, and their impact on real social issues.

Attracting high tech companies and tech transfer

All innovation ecosystems want to attract high tech companies, and we are pleased to welcome René Buck of BCI Global who share his insights on “Attracting high tech companies in uncertain times”, drawing on his years of international experience advising global companies and innovation ecosystems at the head of BCI Global. He’ll be talking to moderator Lourdes Cruz, who leads on attracting new companies at Malaga Tech Park (Spain) as well as facilitating their growth and integration in the innovation ecosystem and will know exactly the questions we all want answered!

Tech transfer is on the agenda too, with panel led by Alessandro Fazio of the Competence Center on Technology Transfer (JRC) of the European Commission.

AI update since IASP Nantes

Our 2019 World Conference IASP Nantes took an in-depth look at the fast-moving technologies of the 4th Industrial Revolution: invited speaker Yves Lostanlen from Element AI in Canada returns to update us on all the latest developments in this key sector that is quietly revolutionising the way we work. Join him in conversation with Peter Kurzwelly from AI Sweden.

Entrepreneur journeys

Entrepreneurs and startup stories will be an important part of IASP virtual. Meet Joshua Novick, a tech entrepreneur who founded and grew Antevenio from a garage startup to a multinational quoted on the Paris Euronext Stock Exchange. After exiting the company, he now focuses on mergers and acquisitions in the technology and media sectors, and he will be in conversation with Salvatore Majorana, Director of Kilometro Rosso to explore the financial landscape for startups in trying times and how to help accelerate their growth.

We'll also be hearing from Louise Lennersten and Orientia di Giovanni, who were with us at IASP Nantes, and who will be telling us about their entrepreneurial journeys in one of our lighthearted Quickfire Interviews.

And journeys around the world

We used to travel the world, explore innovation hotspots in different countries and learn from their best practice. What’s ahead and how are cities around the world preparing for us to get back to our in-person meetings? What about the venues and tech tours around the city? Join us for a conversation with BestCities Global Alliance and speakers from Copenhagen, Melbourne and Singapore.

Click here to read more about our packed programme!