Frost & Sullivan’s latest Innovation Workshop and Tour held September 15–17, 2025 at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, GA, brought together executives, innovators, academic leaders and city and thought leaders navigating the complex challenges of transformation in today’s business landscape. Across plenary sessions, roundtables, and innovation tours, participants explored the interplay of customer-driven design, artificial intelligence, and organizational agility as key enablers of sustainable growth.
The three-day event reinforced a central theme: innovation thrives when strategy, culture, and technology align to solve customer problems. With the pace of change accelerating across industries, executives must embrace new mindsets, cultivate collaborative ecosystems, and translate bold ideas into practical outcomes.
Driving Innovation with Purpose
Day One began with the Growth Innovation Leadership Council Annual Meeting, providing a forum for strategic alignment among partner organizations. The day concluded with a networking kickoff reception, setting the stage for peer-to-peer knowledge exchange.
The opening sessions underscored that innovation is not a one-time breakthrough but a repeatable process requiring intentional design. To have open innovation, one must first have an open mind. Speakers emphasized that companies that successfully integrate customer insights, organizational structures, and cultural readiness into their innovation efforts are better positioned to deliver lasting value.
Innovation by Design – Aligning Strategy and Culture
On Day Two, the formal program opened at Georgia Tech’s Advanced Technology Development Center.
John Avery, Director of the ATDC, headlined with Innovation by Design: Creating Alignment, Value, and Cultural Shift. He argued that the innovation journey must begin with a shared vision that bridges strategy and culture. Without cultural alignment, even the most advanced technologies struggle to scale. John talked about over 300 start-ups that have emerged from Georgia Tech including the EV Batter materials player Sila Technologies.
Jim Sowden of Snap Inc. followed with an Executive Insight session, highlighting how effective innovation begins with reframing around the customer problem, not the technology solution. He shared marketing journeys and branding videos developed by SNAP. The most interesting aspect of Jim’s talk was about the development of “Specs” – AR glasses developed by SNAP which will be launched in 2026. Jim did a short demo of these AR glasses and that was the coolest part of his presentation which got a very positive response. We learnt key aspects of transformative innovation where a platform company is transforming into a product company with focus on hardware.
These insights set the tone: innovation leaders must balance boldness with discipline, creativity with execution, and above all, ensure customer needs anchor their efforts.
Collaboration Zones – Unlocking Collective Intelligence
One of the Workshop’s defining features was its collaborative roundtables, designed to amplify the voices and experiences of all participants.
– In Zone 1, Donna Worley (USPI) facilitated discussions on how organizations can secure resources for transformational innovation even in constrained environments. As noted, the most powerful tool for doing so is not necessarily new funding but better allocation and framing: translate innovation activities into clear business outcomes, make the work visible, and create a repeatable experimentation playbook that requires stakeholder sponsorship to scale.
– In Zone 2, Dr. Joshua Tamayo-Sarver (Vituity/Inflect Health) explored the role of AI in developing the next generation of innovators, highlighting its dual potential for augmenting human creativity and democratizing access to problem-solving. This session was a critical one as it brought to the fore conflict of ideas and opinions on how AI should be used, if AI should be permitted for students in the K-12 system or if its value remains more for higher-ed. The discussion was fascinating and ranged from fears about “human creativity and control” being relegated to the AI to a structured learn process for problem solving being potentially at risk if young impressionable and neural plastic minds are impacted negatively with AI driven disuse.
These sessions illuminated both the opportunities and tensions surrounding AI: while it enables agility and new business models, it also raises challenges in governance, skills, and ethical application.
From Agility to Sustainability – Expert Perspectives
The afternoon featured cross-industry leaders sharing candid insights on sustaining innovation over time:
– Jürgen Weichenberger (Schneider Electric) showcased how next-generation AI strategies are reshaping the way enterprises approach agility and speed-to-market. It was great to see examples from computation modeling in drug discovery and references to In Silico- a company that we know well at Frost & Sullivan. Jürgen’s presentation also brought back fond memories of my own research work in computational modeling of large biological molecules- which today would simply be called AI driven structure elucidation- the kind of stuff that won a Nobel prize in 2024 for Alpha Fold.
– A multi-industry panel moderated by Emil Radulescu (Johnson & Johnson) featured perspectives from leaders at Oak Street Health, NCR Atleos, UPS, Lowe’s, and Coca-Cola. Together, they examined how to structure teams and processes to support innovation across each stage of maturity – from ideation to commercialization. There was also a healthy debate on whether innovation is served and enabled better by large across-the- organization teams or smaller, more targeted and focused innovation groups.
Case history sessions deepened the conversation:
– Christy Overall (LivaNova) explored ways to motivate and incentivize transformative innovation, noting that recognition and purpose often outweigh financial rewards in sustaining innovative cultures. She had a very engaging format during which participants actively shared their challenges and Christy discussed similar situations which she had witnessed in her organization and mechanisms to overcome some of those challenges. Team dynamics, ownership, clear delineation and motivation were discussed. Christy also spoke of a recent innovation summit held internally at LivaNova where a large group of innovators participated and were inspired across the entire cross-section of employees.
– Raul Maya Ramirez (EssilorLuxottica) offered a candid assessment of the risks and rewards of transformation, stressing the importance of pilot projects and staged scaling to mitigate downside risks. Effective project management was another recurring theme in the discussion: As long as the culture supports transformation and risks are managed early on, robust project management can help bring ideas from concept to impact, and PM rigor + Agile can be complementary.
The day closed with Alex Gonzalez (Metro Atlanta Chamber), who delivered a powerful capstone talk: Fail Forward: Turning Setbacks into Steppingstones. His message—failure is an integral part of progress—resonated across industries. He also spoke about how he embraced the contrarian view and best practices to work with naysayers and win them over.
Innovation in Action – Georgia Tech Tours
The final day translated concepts into reality with immersive innovation tours showcasing Georgia Tech’s leadership in applied research and collaborative problem-solving.
– At the Advanced Manufacturing Pilot Facility (AMPF), participants saw firsthand how Georgia Tech is blending AI, robotics, and manufacturing technologies to accelerate commercialization while simultaneously advancing workforce readiness across Georgia.
Our team witnessed demonstrations of 3D printers, rapid multi-material joining, CNC machines, Multi-Robotic Manufacturing and other systems which are operational at pilot scale at AMPF.
– At The Invention Studio, the nation’s largest student-run makerspace, attendees witnessed how student ingenuity fuels grassroots innovation, with access to state-of-the-art tools enabling rapid prototyping and cross-disciplinary experimentation. From laser cutters to 3D printers and water jet cutters, the students were enthusiastic champions showcasing the true spirit of innovation. The inspiring young minds found our group of innovation enthusiasts to be a very attentive and fun audience.
The tours reinforced that innovation ecosystems matter. By connecting academia, industry, and community, Georgia Tech demonstrates how local ecosystems can drive global competitiveness and spur Innovation driven growth across diverse verticals.
Looking Ahead
The Innovation Workshop and Tour: A Quarterly Series at Georgia Tech reflected a shared determination: whatever the challenges, the innovation journey is accelerating, and leaders must be prepared to adapt.
With its blend of strategic insight, practical case histories, and inspiring site visits, the event underscored that innovation is not a solo effort but a collaborative, systemic practice. Participants left energized, armed with actionable ideas, and connected to a powerful network of peers. As one panelist reflected, “I would like to see 200 people at this event and will recommend this to a few of my ex-colleagues at other organizations as well.”
The next Innovation Workshop & Tour: A Quarterly Series will be held at the Nokia Executive Experience Center in Dallas, Texas on December 8-9, 2025. The agenda will focus on Powering Organic Growth through Product Innovation. Learn more or register here.
Sudeep Basu is the Global Practice Leader for Innovation Services at Frost & Sullivan. Dr Basu also serves as a guest faculty at Rutgers University, Duke University, UNC Chapel Hill and Stanford University lecturing on Tech innovation and IP Strategy. He also serves as a faculty mentor and as an advisor to the Coulter Translational Partnership Program, University of Pittsburgh and is a member of the Bio-Engineering Advisory Council, University of Missouri. He serves on multiple committees and advisory boards and is passionate about driving innovation via tech convergence.
Recent Comments