Engage Event Develops Big Innovation Ideas

Freezer’s Ice House sounded ideal for a place to gather during the record-breaking heat in Tempe, Arizona. What made it even better is that the Ice House is a pool hall - the perfect place to engage over 350 IT professionals in conversations that matter. This hot event was aptly named Engage - fostering dialogue and collaboration about the interface of organizational culture and innovation for the University Technology Office and Arizona State University at large.

The formation of a culture of innovation and communication here at UTO was key to the event. All of the work done during the day was committed to advancing the Positive Core company values - authentic, empowered, relational and visionary, in service of on-going workstreams for Engage’s big innovations.

Organized by four World Cafe rounds, groups were formed around to address five of UTO’s near-term “Big Innovations,” which included Experimental Smart Space and IoT Solutions and Scaling Adaptive Learning to Digital Immersion Courses.

Each round, participants tackled their chosen innovation, before switching to a new table when the next round started. They found ways the innovations can create opportunities or enhance existing ones at ASU and developed actionable mission statements and objectives, among other activities. Some of this information from each table was shared with the whole group via popcorn table reports, giving everyone insight into others’ ideas.

By the end of the day, UTO was closer to instating each of the five Big Innovations in the near-term, which have been defined as achievable within one year. Of course, UTO and ASU are always looking forward, and the event also instilled thoughts about ten future Big Innovations. The mid-term innovations will be worked on after the new year, and are generally defined as achievable within three years. They include concepts like Machine Learning Programs and 1:1 VR Programs for Learners

The far-term innovations, on the other hand, will begin planning within the next six months, and mostly defined as achievable within five years. Blockchain Infrastructure for Lifelong Learning and AI-Powered Tutors and Chatbots are among these exciting ideas.

“UTO's Engage event did exactly what the title said: engage you,” participant Ninette Gonzalez said. “I enjoyed meeting new colleagues and discussing our ideas related to the 15 Big Innovations. I especially appreciate the invite to collaborate on work streams that interest us and transparency of the innovating projects our organization has underway.”

UTO employee Nguyen Quach also found value in engaging. “It was a great day of networking, collaboration and gaining perspective,” he said. “I was particularly excited about our various table discussions, which cover a broad spectrum of topics, their respective challenges and ideas from my peers.”

All in all, UTO came away from the event with a lot of fresh ideas and actionable objectives to work towards. Goals for the next week, month, and three months were internally posted for each innovation, such as the ones for Experimental Smart Spaces and IoT Solutions.

Additionally, about 200 people have joined Slack channels forming workstreams for the event, with over 150 registrations across the five culture workstreams and over 115 for the five innovations. This kind of energy can continue to fuel the culture of innovation at ASU, and as everyone knows, what qualifies as “innovation” is constantly changing. Keeping up with it, and even staying ahead of it, is a challenging task, but UTO is now better prepared through events like Engage.

Make sure to follow UTO on Twitter @ASU_UTO.