Innovation to take centre stage at THiNKBIG Forum
By Danial Norjidi
INNOVATION will be taking centre stage soon in Brunei as the THiNKBIG Innovate Forum 2013 comes closer to its sixth edition, which is set to take place at The Empire Hotel & Country Club on November 13.
Carrying the theme of “Breakthrough: Transforming Business through Innovation”, the forum will focus on how innovation, creativity and multimedia all have a role in driving Brunei’s economy forward.
According to a press statement from organisers Asia Inc Forum, participants of the forum can expect to learn and gain insights on how a company like Google continues to grow exponentially while still staying innovative, on whether innovation is best driven top-down or bottom-up, the media’s role in influencing innovation, and how to unlock and apply innovation in the workplace.
The press statement also includes an interview conducted by Delwin Keasberry, Programme Manager at Asia Inc Forum with Reeda Malik, the General Manager of Business Development at Telekom Brunei Berhad (TelBru).
Andrew McGlinchey, one of the speakers at the upcoming THiNKBIG Innovate Forum 2013. – PHOTO COURTESY OF ASIA INC FORUM
Reeda is quoted as having defined innovation as “putting ideas into valuable action”, and went on to touch on the topic of innovation “boosters”.
“Innovation is a creative rather than strategic process,” he said. “Hence it requires an ‘in-vitro’ environment, away from day-to-day hustle, brand clarity which can help determine the sort of innovation that will build rather than undermine the brand and consumer understanding.”
Reeda also highlighted the importance of teamwork and serious play.
“I think innovation thrives on the multi-disciplinary talents required to bring a new product to market,” he continued. “This is related to also engaging left and right brain team members.”
On the notion of ‘serious play’, Reed shared, “Creativity requires that we are relaxed to be our most creative. It is also important to make ideas as tangible as possible via collages, clay models, 3D prototyping, etc.”
He then affirmed, “Innovation is crucial for Brunei because we are operating in a small, saturated market which is particularly challenging, especially if we are in a mature industry like telecoms.”
“In general terms, it is important for us because if we don’t innovate, someone else will, and in the long run, we miss out on a whole lot of opportunity,” he added.
At the upcoming THiNKBIG Innovate Forum, Reeda will be participating in a Masterclass on Innovation together with Andrew McGlinchey, Head of Product Management from Google, Southeast Asia.
Entitled “Harnessing Innovation in Business”, the masterclass will revolve around topics such as ‘how to unlock and apply innovation in your workplace’, ‘how to think and work innovatively’, ‘innovation boosters and killers’, and ‘why innovation matters in businesses and in driving the economy forward’.
Role-players’ thoughts around the topic of innovation are also included in the press statement.
Andrew McGlinchey noted that there are two main kinds of innovation, both of which are important.
First is “incremental innovation – the steady improvement of products or services by finding new and better ways to do the same thing faster, better for more people.”
The second is “disruptive innovation”, which he said, “tries to entirely replace one kind of solution with a different one.”
Jonathan Buford, the CEO and Co-Founder of Makible 3D Printing shared, “Innovation is the progress of technology. Innovation itself is not important, but how you apply it is.”
Steve Lai, Presenter and Senior Producer with Channel NewsAsia commented on the media’s role in influencing innovation, saying, “More often than not the success of innovation depends on how much interest, but in and excitement it can generate.
“You cannot do any of that without some form of media,” he added.
The THiNKBIG Innovate Forum is supported by the Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB) and is co-organised by the iCentre and Asia Inc Forum in collaboration with major partners Baiduri Bank, Alcoa and Total, with associate partner Indramas, and media partners Borneo Bulletin and Media Permata.
The forum is expected to bring together 250 delegates form the ICT industry, government, business community, educational institutions, students and aspiring entrepreneurs.
Those interested can visit www.asiaincforum.com for programme and speaker details. The registration fee is B$325 per delegate. Alternatively, one may form a group of five or more to unlock the group rate of B$250 per person.
For more information and to register for the conference, those interested can contact Nanette Ramos at 2226555 or email conference@asiaincforum.com.