Leadership in Innovation

 2015 @Marmaris

Innovation is the lifeblood of an organization. Research shows that competitive advantage comes from “mobilizing knowledge and technological skills and experience to create novelty in offerings (products/services) and the ways in which they create and deliver these offerings”(Tidd & Bessant, 2013). Innovation matters: for economic growth and for the continuity of enterprises. In this course we take an integral perspective on organizations. We want to understand how an organization functions and frame innovation within the complexity that is part of it. So we choose not to reduce complexity, but seek it up so we can understand what its effect is on innovation. Leadership in innovation is about knowing how to manage this complex process of change underlying innovation. In this module we will embark on a journey to understand how leadership, change and innovation are intertwined. It will be an exploration in which we will challenge and review management thinking, academic thinking, case studies and experiences of entrepreneurs, and in so doing also question our own perspectives and views on the subject, in lively discussions, debates and interactive lectures.

 Saskia Harkema grew up in South America and this has had a great influence on her personal development and choices in life. Her working career shows her multifaceted talents and skills. With a degree in Sociology she started her career as a consultant and later international project manager Europe at Philips Lighting where she acquired hands-on and academic experience in the broad field of innovation and project management. Later she received a degree in Business Administration from the University of Bradford and made a switch to academia and education. Early 2000 she finished her PhD at the University of Nyenrode in The Netherlands on an interesting research which she framed within the theory of complex adaptive systems theory. Saskia developed several innovative programs funded by the EU and carried out longitudinal research in different sectors like ICT, Manufacturing, Construction, Legal Services, Food & Flowers. She teaches at several universities in The Netherlands but also as a Visiting Professor for NGO’s and The International School of Management in Paris. Since a couple of years, part of her efforts is geared at supporting refugees to find their way in society and materialize their dreams. Saskia greatly enjoys working with young people and sharing her knowledge and experience with them and instill in them the belief that anything is possible and one has to never give up reaching for the sky and materialize one’s dreams!

The Intellectual Roots of Industrial Management

 2015 @Helsinki

Theory and practice often diverge.  Following school reality will cause you to reexamine the lessons you have learned and assess how you will manage your work in a practical manner.  This Summer Academy will uncover the roots of the theories behind industrial management and stimulate your thinking on how you will use these methods to work smarter and influence others.  Summaries of the writings of Frederick W. Taylor, Henry L. Gantt, Frank and Lilian Gilbreth and Allan Mogensen will be presented to evaluate the baseline of Industrial Engineering (IE) thinking.  Challenges to young IE’s by former Ohio State University Professor William T. Morris regarding the implementation practicalities of IE methods will be used as a framework for you to develop your personal strategy for acting as a technical change agent.  Participants in the Summer Academy will also develop a set of recommendations on how new IE’s should approach their first job following university training.

 Gregory H. Watson is the President and an Academician of the International Academy for Quality. He is  past-President and Fellow of the American Society for Quality and Fellow of the Institute for Industrial  Engineers. Among the many awards received, he is the first non-Japanese recipient of the W. Edwards  Deming Medal  from the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers. Among his other honors, he has  been awarded the  Distinguished Service Medal from the American Society for Quality, the Ivan A. Ilyin      Medal from the  Russian Organization for Quality, the Gold Medal of the Finnish Society for Quality and  the  Magnolia Quality Contribution Award from the Municipality of Shanghai.

 He volunteers his time to global professional communities of industrial engineering quality, and  statistics.  His hobbies are writing and encouraging developing nations to establish a national quality competence. He lives with his family in Helsinki, Finland, but the World is his workplace.

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Human-centred system design: People, organisation and technology 

 2015 @Porto

In 2015 this Summer Academy will be focussed on how to develop leadership skills and  entrepreneurial commitment for our European future, under aspects of ethics in business. Thus the  main challenge for the participants will be to create and test new concepts for their own professional  aims beyond their present courses of studies. It will include learning how to develop trust and how to cope with chaos in groups and teams.

 Dietrich Brandt taught physics and computer science at several German Universities, at the   University of London, at MIT (USA), and since 1974, at the RWTH Aachen University, Germany, until  his retirement in 2003. The emphasis of his research and teaching has been on complex human-  machine systems in their wider context. Since 2003, he has been the academic leader of one of the  ESTIEM Summer Academies. The research of the student participants during these Summer    Academies is documented on Dietrich's web page. Since 2011, he is doing the SAC jointly with Toon  Ariens. 

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Human-centred system design: People, organisation and technology

2015 @Porto

 Isabell Schäfer works as a consulting engineer, lecturer in the regional college and coach in part-time. She is an  artist, mother of two daughters and married with Hartmut who is also an engineer. In her teaching and  coaching, she applies successfully her self-developed creativity methods. At the ESTIEM Summer  Academies jointly with Dietrich Brandt she uses these methods in her workshops. Other topics she is  going to teach are 'Quality in engineering and production (TQM, EFQM)', and 'Social and ecological  Responsibility'. Furthermore she discusses her experiences in the 'Economy of the Common Good'-        Movement which considers ethical and sustainable aspects in entrepreneurship.  

Engineering Management Excellence: Deep Systems Thinking for the Future of Europe 

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Larry is convinced that excellent systems management results from an intuitive understanding of the profound role of human values in organisations, as well as a deep appreciation of the local context in which technologies are deployed. On the other hand, a poor understanding of how human systems, especially values and culture, interplay with technology development, results in toxic organisational cultures and, in some cases, complete systemic collapse with dramatic results. The summer academy will focus upon deep, underlying aspects of organisational culture and leadership. Most of all it will answer the questions  ’’What is your unique potential’’ and ’’How will you deliver excellence’’.

 Dr. Larry Stapleton is an international consultant and senior academic researcher in strategic technology  leadership, technology-driven business transformation and ethics in the digital economy. He is founder  and director of the inter-disciplinary Centre for Information Systems & Technoculture at Waterford Institute  of Technology .

 Dr. Stapleton is on the editorial board of a major international journal, and sits on the programme  committees of twelve international conferences. As well holding an academic post at Waterford Institute of Technology, he is visiting professor in Business Systems at the Technical University of Vienna, the University of Business and Technology in Kosova, and is visiting lecturer in Management Information Systems with the Irish Institute of Bankers. He was voted "best Professor" in a secret ballot of students at both Universities in 2007.

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