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Jobs, Economy and Innovation business plan

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As part of the Government of Alberta’s commitment to be open and accountable to the public, all ministries are required to prepare and make public ministry business plans. The ministry business plan encompasses the department and all consolidated entities, and aligns with the strategic direction of the Government of Alberta. Each business plan includes a description of the ministry, desired outcomes, priority initiatives, and performance measures and indicators. Current and forecast budgeting information for the planning period is also included.

February 24, 2022

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Government of Alberta Ministry business plans

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Alberta Jobs, Economy and Innovation business plan

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Jobs, economy and northern development business plan, economic development, trade and tourism business plan [2019 - 2020].

Innovation in business: Importance, benefits, & examples

For companies willing to embrace innovation during uncertain times, the rewards can be transformative , both during a crisis and in its aftermath.

In this article, we demystify the concept of business innovation , offering actionable steps and tangible examples to help ignite a culture of innovation within your organization. We delve into the many benefits of embracing business innovation and draw inspiration from real-world examples where innovation has been a game changer.

Whether you’re an entrepreneur kickstarting your business, a small business owner seeking growth, or a business leader in a larger corporation eyeing enhanced competitiveness, we believe this guide will provide valuable insights. The aim? To help you shape a robust innovation strategy that can propel your business to new heights in any environment.

What is the definition of innovation?

What benefits does business innovation bring for you, what are the different types of innovation, real-world examples of successful innovation, 10 tips for business innovation.

• How to drive strategic innovation with IMD?

In short, innovation is doing something different to create value . Business innovation refers to the process of introducing new ideas, methods, products, or services that result in significant improvements or advancements within an organization. 

Innovation often involves transforming creative ideas into new solutions that drive business growth, improve efficiency, and meet customers’ changing needs while improving decision-making and problem-solving across the organization. 

Think about Tesla’s commitment to putting the first electric vehicle on the road in 2008, or Google’s introduction of a search engine in 1998. Each innovation was unheard of at the time and represented a major paradigm shift. 

Even if modern businesses don’t innovate at this same level, innovation is still crucial in today’s world. Not only does it offer the potential for increased profit, but it can also create new jobs and increase customer trust. Your brand may develop better public recognition, and current workers may discover increased efficiency or productivity. 

In an era characterized by rapid technological advancements and a constantly shifting economic landscape, business innovation is more than just a buzzword—it’s a critical path to success.

While this isn’t an exhaustive list, we wanted to give you a better idea of how innovation can impact your organization. A few benefits of innovation for both old and new business models include:

• Gain a competitive advantage. Innovation can help you develop unique products and services that set you apart from competitors. Over 80% of digitally mature companies cite innovation as one of their core strengths .
• Meet customer demands. Sixty-five percent of fast-growing companies say they collaborate with their customers on potential innovations. Businesses that try to better understand and respond to customer needs through ongoing innovation do a better job attracting new customers and retaining existing clients.
• Drive business growth. You’ll position your company to better identify and seize new opportunities. You may also create opportunities to diversify revenue streams or expand into new markets.
• Increase efficiency and productivity. Innovation can result in increased productivity as you find ways to improve existing processes, streamline operations, and implement new forms of technology. 
• Better equipped to deal with changes. Rather than reacting to changes that catch you off guard, you’ll be better prepared to identify emerging trends and anticipate shifts in the market in advance. 
• Attract and retain talent. You can create an environment that engages your workers and results in higher levels of job satisfaction and employee retention. Many top companies give their employees a designated amount of time each week to work on product innovations .
• Promote resilience and sustainability. Your business will be equipped to navigate economic downturns and changing consumer behavior. 

Even if your innovation doesn’t produce each of these potential effects, even two or three outcomes can provide a boost to your business. As we continue, we’ll discuss different types of innovation and their specific benefits.

Not all innovation processes are identical. Innovation can take on different forms, and we dive into a few of the most common examples.

• Incremental innovation : Incremental innovation involves making small, incremental improvements to existing products, services, or processes. While it may not result in the creation of a new product or fresh concept, it can enhance value creation and produce a positive impact.  The shaving company Gillette understands the importance of incremental improvement . While major product overhauls are uncommon, the company is always looking for ways to improve its razors. When the company finds ways to make incremental product improvements that produce slightly better razors, it becomes slightly more profitable at the same time.  A great example is when the company switched from the Mach3 razor to the Fusion razor by proposing the new product as a better shaving solution.
• Radical innovation : Radical innovation usually involves making a major breakthrough or invention that creates a new market or significantly changes an existing market. These innovations are more noticeable and represent a higher-risk, higher-return pursuit.  Apple’s decision to bring the iPhone to the market in 2007 is a great example of radical innovation. At the time, the iPhone represented the combination of three unique products: a mobile phone, a touch-screen iPod, and a portable connective device enabling users to access email, web browsing, and navigation while on the go.  Fast-forward to today, when over 120 million Americans own an iPhone .
• Disruptive innovation : Disruptive innovation creates a new market or value network that displaces an existing market or value network. Rather than introducing a new product to serve an existing market, disruptive innovation represents the creation of an entirely new market that disrupts the status quo.  Netflix introduced a disruptive innovation when it decided to take its DVD-by-mail business to the next level by providing online streaming . At the time, people received DVDs by mail or picked them up from a local service.  Everything changed when Netflix decided to pivot to online streaming. Now, the video streaming market is projected to grow to over $100 billion within the next five years. 
• Architectural innovation : Architectural innovations make major changes to a product or service’s architecture to attract new markets and consumers. In other words, it repackages an existing product, service, or idea to fill a new need or attract a fresh clientele.  Although smartwatches existed in different forms prior to the Apple Watch, September 2014 represented a major development in the industry as Apple brought its first wearable technology to the market.  Since its inception, the Apple Watch has surpassed giants like Rolex in the watch industry. The Apple Watch represents an architectural innovation because it incorporates existing smartphone technology into a different form. 

“Innovation is anything, but business as usual.” – Anonymous

We’ve discussed a few examples of successful innovation in the business world, but here are a few more noteworthy examples of innovation:

• WhatsApp : Expensive SMS services once dominated electronic communication. WhatsApp changed the game by introducing a secure messaging platform for anyone with a smartphone and an internet connection. This is a great example of radical innovation.
• Gavi : Exists to save children’s lives through broader access to essential immunizations. By targeting product innovations and a single improved framework , Gavi drove its incremental innovation efforts forward and achieved a deeper level of impact. 
• Mercedes-Benz : Made the decision to prioritize digital product development in its manufacturing efforts. The incremental innovation resulted in a significantly shorter innovation cycle and a rise in the company’s overall efficiency rate.
• Discovery Group : This international insurance company made the decision to offer incentives to company leaders. The organization used a semiannual divisional scorecard to incorporate multiple forms of innovation into its culture and heartbeat and mobilize the entire company around the same goal.
• Salesforce : came to market in 1999 as an internet customer relationship management (CRM) service. The company foresaw the future by establishing a cloud-based system that could operate at a minimal cost with businesses of all sizes. Salesforce’s radical innovation continues to produce a positive impact to this day.

You now understand the importance of business innovation, but you may still have questions about how to make innovation a reality within your organization. We offer some tips that can help make your innovation more effective and beneficial.

1. Create a culture of innovation

Businesses should create a culture where employees feel empowered to share ideas, experiment, and take calculated risks. Team leaders should talk openly and regularly about the value of continual improvement.  It may help to shift conversations about new ideas away from potential roadblocks and financial sacrifices. Instead, innovative conversations should focus on potential possibilities and the impact of innovative ideas on the organization.

2. Understand customer needs

Better understanding your customers’ needs (and desires) can equip you to serve them better and longer. You can best understand customer needs by making a habit of collecting regular feedback, conducting market research, and engaging with customers to uncover insights and identify innovation opportunities. 

Consider crafting a customer needs statement that concisely defines your ideal client’s exact needs.

3. Encourage cross-functional collaboration

Encourage diverse perspectives and interdisciplinary collaboration to promote fresh ideas. Take steps to break down silos and create channels for cross-functional knowledge. 

As you do this, establish a centralized communication method or standard and encourage regular dialogue so all team members are on the same page.

4. Allocate resources for innovation

In addition to money, time is a great resource to invest. Along with research and development budgets, set a predetermined amount of time for employees to pursue new ideas and methodologies. You must also decide which tools and technologies are necessary for your team to reach the next level. 

5. Embrace continuous learning

Employees who continue to grow and stretch are better positioned to contribute to the company’s ongoing innovation and development. Provide opportunities for employees to gain new skills, attend training programs, and participate in workshops or conferences. 

Encourage employees to stay updated on industry trends and best practices. Consider setting aside time to ask employees what they’re learning and how it might benefit the organization as a whole. 

6. Promote risk-taking and accept failure

Innovation often doesn’t happen without risk. Major innovations like the iPhone and Netflix’s streaming service could have easily failed, but these organizations didn’t let the potential danger keep them from moving forward. 

Foster an environment where employees feel safe to take risks without the fear of harsh consequences. Celebrate successes and failures, and consider what you can learn from each event. 

7. Seek external perspectives

If you never take time to listen to outside voices and perspectives, you’ll miss out on a wealth of helpful information. Collaborate with external stakeholders, industry experts, consultants, or startups to gain new perspectives. 

Explore partnerships, joint ventures, or acquisitions. Adopt a humble posture in conversations, and be willing to challenge your preexisting beliefs. 

8. Set clear innovation goals

Align goals and objectives with the overall business strategy and communicate them throughout the organization. Consider using the SMART goal framework to create measurable and actionable goals. 

Another best practice is to choose key performance indicators (KPIs) or specific metrics that reflect the type of progress you hope to make.  

9. Encourage idea generation and evaluation

If you want your employees to develop new ideas, give them the time and space necessary to cultivate new thoughts. Promote idea generation by holding brainstorming sessions, innovation workshops, or suggestion boxes. 

Have a platform for employees to submit and collaborate on ideas, and ensure each team member feels comfortable and safe when it’s time to share their perspectives or thoughts. 

10. Celebrate and recognize innovation

Reward innovative achievements, highlight the individuals and teams behind them, and showcase their impact on the organization. This will encourage future collaboration and participation among your team and allow your organization to mark progress and reflect on the company’s growth and development.

How to drive strategic innovation with IMD ?

Innovation in business can sometimes feel like a complex puzzle, but when the pieces fall into place, it can propel your company to new heights. It helps redefine your product and service value, strengthen customer relationships, and create a distinctive space for you in the market.

The benefits of innovation extend to all business models, enabling companies to stand out with unique offerings. By understanding customer needs and fostering a culture of continuous innovation, companies can attract new customers and deepen relationships with existing ones. Innovation, in turn, drives growth by opening new opportunities and diversifying revenue streams.

In today’s dynamic and competitive business landscape, embracing innovation is not just an option, but a necessity.

If you’re looking to further embrace innovation, IMD’s innovation programs are here to guide you. Our programs are tailored to strengthen your leadership skills, enhance your ability to innovate strategically, and provide you with practical knowledge to drive successful innovation.

With IMD, you get more than just access to world-class faculty and personal coaching. We believe in real-world learning, ensuring that all of our participants can apply their newly acquired knowledge from day one. We are here to give you the tools you need to lead your business into an innovative future.

Discover more about IMD’s Innovation programs here!

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Are you curious how certain new businesses can completely reshape industries and leave established companies struggling to keep up? In the ever-changing business world, staying ahead of the competition requires constant innovation. While there have been many ideas and strategies over time, few have been as impactful and enduring as disruptive innovation. This article will […]

Picture this — you have a new startup or large business operating in a highly competitive market. A constant shift in trends makes it hard to keep up with your competitors and offer products people want. How will your organization keep up with those changes, thrive in the market, and set the pace for the […]

For companies willing to embrace innovation during uncertain times, the rewards can be transformative, both during a crisis and in its aftermath. In this article, we demystify the concept of business innovation, offering actionable steps and tangible examples to help ignite a culture of innovation within your organization. We delve into the many benefits of […]

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FACT SHEET: The American Jobs Plan Supports Small   Businesses

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, many small businesses struggled to grow and compete globally as a result of the U.S.’ aging infrastructure, constrained workforce, and tax code that benefits large, multi-national corporations. Prior to the pandemic, more than half of small business owners said infrastructure investments are crucial to the success of their business, 7 in 10 felt it was important for Congress to fund broadband projects, and nearly two-thirds considered local roads and bridges average, poor, or very poor quality. The American Jobs Plan will reduce small business shipping delays by upgrading our nation’s transportation infrastructure; help “mom-and-pop” shops reach new customers by providing universal broadband; and enable Main Street win the 21 st  century by training American workers for the jobs of the future. And, President Biden’s plan provides direct support to small businesses, including by increasing access to federal contracts and investing more than $110 billion in financing and technical assistance programs that will benefit small businesses, including small manufacturers.

• Increase federal contracting opportunities for small businesses.  From fixing highways and rebuilding bridges to upgrading Veterans Affairs medical centers and rehabilitating other federal buildings, the President’s plan will mobilize small contractors to meet the great challenges of our time.
• Launch a historic effort to empower small business creation and expansion in underserved communities.  The American Jobs Plan will create a national network of small business incubators and innovation hubs to ensure all Americans have a fair shot at starting and growing their own business.
• Encourage small businesses – especially underserved small businesses – to fully engage in the innovation economy.  President Biden is calling on Congress to invest $5 billion in federal programs that empower small firms to participate in federal research and development initiatives that have the potential for commercialization.
• Help minority-owned manufacturing businesses access capital.  The American Jobs Plan will create a new grant program through the Minority Business Development Agency that will help small, Brown- and Black-owned manufacturers access private capital.
• Create a new financing facility for small manufacturers.  President Biden is calling on Congress to seed a new financing program to co-invest with private capital in the industrial base.
• Increase access to billions of dollars of lending and investment capital.  The American Jobs Plan will enable small businesses to drive the recovery by investing $15 billion in the Small Business Administration’s 7(a) loan program and $5 billion in the Small Business Investment Company program.
• Strengthen manufacturing supply chains and innovation ecosystems.  President Biden is also calling on Congress to bolster the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and Manufacturing USA; create a new office to monitor industrial capacity and support the production of critical goods; and establish regional hubs to fuel technology development and create new businesses around the country.

Alongside his American Jobs Plan, President Biden is releasing a Made in America Tax Plan that will help level the playing field between small businesses and large, multinational corporations. President Biden’s plan will reward investment at home and fundamentally shift how countries around the world tax corporations so that big corporations can’t escape or eliminate the taxes they owe by offshoring jobs and profits from the United States and pay a lower tax rate than small businesses.

To view this fact sheet in your browser, click  here .  

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The Reporter

Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policy and the Economy, Volume 1

Entrepreneurship and innovation are widely recognized as key drivers of long-term economic growth. Understanding the forces that influence them is essential for policy design. Building on the 20-year legacy of the NBER Innovation Policy and the Economy series, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policy and the Economy showcases recent research on entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship policy.

The volume reports on five research projects. First, leveraging detailed data from the Business Formation Statistics, John Haltiwanger documents a striking uptick in new business formation during the pandemic and considers the future economic impact of this renewed rate of business dynamism.

The next two chapters focus on disparities in the degree of inclusion of women and people of color in innovation and entrepreneurship. Lisa Cook, Janet Gerson, and Jennifer Kuan examine the history of unequal access to education, training, and the practice and commercialization of invention, and the subsequent loss in innovative capacity and productivity. They also consider the potential effects of policies that address these inequalities. Mercedes Delgado and Fiona Murray complement this analysis by characterizing and analyzing the gender gap in patented innovation, including the substantial variation in inclusion of women across locations, industries, and individual firms.

The remaining chapters focus on the organization of research and commercialization. Chiara Franzoni, Paula Stephan, and Reinhilde Veugelers consider the operation of current research-funding systems with regard to risky research projects and describe the consequences of documented biases against novelty in funding decisions in the context of research on mRNA technology. Drawing on historical lessons from World War II as well as current analysis of innovation policy during COVID-19, Daniel Gross and Bhaven Sampat consider the unique challenges that arise when a crisis necessitates unusually rapid innovation and the deployment, at scale, of research findings.

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/eipe/2022/1

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Innovation in Business: What It Is & Why It’s Important

• 08 Mar 2022

Today’s competitive landscape heavily relies on innovation. Business leaders must constantly look for new ways to innovate because you can't solve many problems with old solutions.

Innovation is critical across all industries; however, it's important to avoid using it as a buzzword and instead take time to thoroughly understand the innovation process.

Here's an overview of innovation in business, why it's important, and how you can encourage it in the workplace.

What Is Innovation?

Innovation and creativity are often used synonymously. While similar, they're not the same. Using creativity in business is important because it fosters unique ideas . This novelty is a key component of innovation.

For an idea to be innovative, it must also be useful. Creative ideas don't always lead to innovations because they don't necessarily produce viable solutions to problems.

Simply put: Innovation is a product, service, business model, or strategy that's both novel and useful. Innovations don't have to be major breakthroughs in technology or new business models; they can be as simple as upgrades to a company's customer service or features added to an existing product.

Access your free e-book today.

Types of Innovation

Innovation in business can be grouped into two categories : sustaining and disruptive.

• Sustaining innovation: Sustaining innovation enhances an organization's processes and technologies to improve its product line for an existing customer base. It's typically pursued by incumbent businesses that want to stay atop their market.
• Disruptive innovation: Disruptive innovation occurs when smaller companies challenge larger businesses. It can be classified into groups depending on the markets those businesses compete in. Low-end disruption refers to companies entering and claiming a segment at the bottom of an existing market, while new-market disruption denotes companies creating an additional market segment to serve a customer base the existing market doesn't reach.

The most successful companies incorporate both types of innovation into their business strategies. While maintaining an existing position in the market is important, pursuing growth is essential to being competitive. It also helps protect a business against other companies affecting its standing.

Learn about the differences between sustaining and disruptive innovation in the video below, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more explainer content!

The Importance of Innovation

Unforeseen challenges are inevitable in business. Innovation can help you stay ahead of the curve and grow your company in the process. Here are three reasons innovation is crucial for your business:

• It allows adaptability: The recent COVID-19 pandemic disrupted business on a monumental scale. Routine operations were rendered obsolete over the course of a few months. Many businesses still sustain negative results from this world shift because they’ve stuck to the status quo. Innovation is often necessary for companies to adapt and overcome the challenges of change.
• It fosters growth: Stagnation can be extremely detrimental to your business. Achieving organizational and economic growth through innovation is key to staying afloat in today’s highly competitive world.
• It separates businesses from their competition: Most industries are populated with multiple competitors offering similar products or services. Innovation can distinguish your business from others.

Innovation & Design Thinking

Several tools encourage innovation in the workplace. For example, when a problem’s cause is difficult to pinpoint, you can turn to approaches like creative problem-solving . One of the best approaches to innovation is adopting a design thinking mentality.

Design thinking is a solutions-based, human-centric mindset. It's a practical way to strategize and design using insights from observations and research.

Four Phases of Innovation

Innovation's requirements for novelty and usefulness call for navigating between concrete and abstract thinking. Introducing structure to innovation can guide this process.

In the online course Design Thinking and Innovation , Harvard Business School Dean Srikant Datar teaches design thinking principles using a four-phase innovation framework : clarify, ideate, develop, and implement.

• Clarify: The first stage of the process is clarifying a problem. This involves conducting research to empathize with your target audience. The goal is to identify their key pain points and frame the problem in a way that allows you to solve it.
• Ideate: The ideation stage involves generating ideas to solve the problem identified during research. Ideation challenges assumptions and overcomes biases to produce innovative ideas.
• Develop: The development stage involves exploring solutions generated during ideation. It emphasizes rapid prototyping to answer questions about a solution's practicality and effectiveness.
• Implement: The final stage of the process is implementation. This stage involves communicating your developed idea to stakeholders to encourage its adoption.

Human-Centered Design

Innovation requires considering user needs. Design thinking promotes empathy by fostering human-centered design , which addresses explicit pain points and latent needs identified during innovation’s clarification stage.

There are three characteristics of human-centered design:

• Desirability: For a product or service to succeed, people must want it. Prosperous innovations are attractive to consumers and meet their needs.
• Feasibility: Innovative ideas won't go anywhere unless you have the resources to pursue them. You must consider whether ideas are possible given technological, economic, or regulatory barriers.
• Viability: Even if a design is desirable and feasible, it also needs to be sustainable. You must consistently produce or deliver designs over extended periods for them to be viable.

Consider these characteristics when problem-solving, as each is necessary for successful innovation.

The Operational and Innovative Worlds

Creativity and idea generation are vital to innovation, but you may encounter situations in which pursuing an idea isn't feasible. Such scenarios represent a conflict between the innovative and operational worlds.

The Operational World

The operational world reflects an organization's routine processes and procedures. Metrics and results are prioritized, and creativity isn't encouraged to the extent required for innovation. Endeavors that disrupt routine—such as risk-taking—are typically discouraged.

The Innovative World

The innovative world encourages creativity and experimentation. This side of business allows for open-endedly exploring ideas but tends to neglect the functional side.

Both worlds are necessary for innovation, as creativity must be grounded in reality. You should strive to balance them to produce human-centered solutions. Design thinking strikes this balance by guiding you between the concrete and abstract.

Learning the Ropes of Innovation

Innovation is easier said than done. It often requires you to collaborate with others, overcome resistance from stakeholders, and invest valuable time and resources into generating solutions. It can also be highly discouraging because many ideas generated during ideation may not go anywhere. But the end result can make the difference between your organization's success or failure.

The good news is that innovation can be learned. If you're interested in more effectively innovating, consider taking an online innovation course. Receiving practical guidance can increase your skills and teach you how to approach problem-solving with a human-centered mentality.

Eager to learn more about innovation? Explore Design Thinking and Innovation ,one of our online entrepreneurship and innovation courses. If you're not sure which course is the right fit, download our free course flowchart to determine which best aligns with your goals.

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White House Briefing on American Jobs Plan

Good afternoon. Thank you, Dr. Gonzalez for that wonderful introduction.

And thank you to Jim Doyle of Business Forward and Rhett Buttle and all of the small business board members of Small Business for America’s Future.

I’m proud to serve as the voice for America’s 30 million small businesses and innovative startups.

As you all know, America’s small businesses are one of our nation’s greatest jobs creators – creating two-thirds of net new jobs and employing nearly half of the private workforce.

Small businesses are the engine of our economy. 

And beyond that – they are an integral part of community. Our small business employers offer community members from the neighborhood that first job opportunity. Their employes often become part of the family. They create that dream job for a visionary innovator looking to solve pressing global problems.  Their growth impacts the whole community.

And today, as we work to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and build our economy back better than before – small businesses have a crucial role to play in creating the jobs of today … and the jobs of the future.

But they can’t do it alone.

They need our help. And President Biden’s $2 trillion-dollar American Jobs Plan offers a once-in-a-generation investment that will fuel our nation’s small businesses… and give them the tools they need to grow and the opportunities they need to thrive.

Right now, small businesses are held back by an aging transportation infrastructure that keeps their supplies from getting to them and their products from getting to their customers.

We’ve all heard about shipping delays brought on by the pandemic. But consider this, before the pandemic, nearly two-thirds of America’s small business owners rated the quality of local roads and bridges as average, poor or very poor.

We’ve asked our highly impacted small businesses to pivot and adapt during COVID and oftentimes that’s meant shifting to e-commerce for revenue generation. However, one broken down bridge or one impassable road can mean the difference between success or failure for a neighborhood hair salon, dry cleaners or restaurant.

Infrastructure matters for small businesses on many levels.

Rebuilding infrastructure will provide countless opportunities for small construction companies, engineering and other professional service firms and more. And we know that these 2 industries in particular rank in the top 5 in terms of both the number of small firms and small business employment nationwide.

The American Jobs Plan will invest in a sorely needed upgrade to our nation’s roads, bridges, ports, airports and transit systems. 

Broadband is a necessity for small businesses everywhere, from big cities to rural communities.

Technology matters for small businesses.

And building a universal broadband network will provide countless opportunities for fiber optic technicians, telecommunications engineers and millions of telecommuting workers who depend on a reliable Internet connection to get their jobs done.

The American Jobs Plan will build high-speed broadband infrastructure to reach 100 percent coverage, while reducing the cost of broadband service.

U.S. manufacturing was the Arsenal of Democracy in World War II.

Supply chain disruptions during the pandemic have shown just how far we’ve fallen. With today’s heavy reliance on global supply chains and foreign producers, shipping of parts and materials has been interrupted for nearly 75 percent of U.S. companies during the pandemic.

And bringing manufacturing back to our shores will not only ensure we have enough supplies of personal protective equipment and other critical medical supplies here at home, but it will also rebuild that ladder to middle-class life that manufacturing jobs can provide.

Supply chains matter for small businesses.

The American Jobs Plan will strengthen manufacturing supply chains and innovation support networks while investing billions in financing and technical assistance programs for small manufacturers – the businesses that bring us the products we depend on..with a particular focus on  small, minority-owned manufacturing businesses.  

Investing in transportation infrastructure, technology, manufacturing – these are just three examples of how President Biden’s plan will fuel long-term growth for America’s small businesses and innovative startups.

The American Jobs plan also aims to give small businesses more opportunities to sell their products and services to Uncle Sam – the world’s largest customer. It will create a national network of small business incubators and innovation hubs, while empowering small firms to participate in federal R&D initiatives. And it will increase access to capital and equity for small businesses by injecting billions of dollars in funding into SBA’s 7a loan program and Small Business Investment Company program which I am committed to leveraging for increased equity

And together with the American Jobs Plan, …the Made in America Tax Plan will help level the playing field between small businesses and large multinational corporations by ensuring that big corporations can’t escape or eliminate the taxes they owe by offshoring jobs and profits from the United States -- and pay a lower tax rate than small businesses.

Under my leadership, SBA will strive to be as entrepreneurial as the small businesses we serve, and will focus on connecting ALL entrepreneurs with the resources they need to start, grow and be resilient.

The American Jobs Plan will ensure those tools are there for all of today’s small business owners and all of tomorrow’s aspiring entrepreneurs.

America already has the entrepreneurial spirit to build back better. All we need to do is give that spirit the support it needs to soar.

President Biden understands this. As he said: “Getting our economy back means bringing our small businesses back.”

We’re already providing immediate relief with the American Rescue Plan. The American Jobs Plan takes the next step by putting our small businesses in the driver’s seat of our nation’s future. Right where they belong.

As the voice of small business, I want our entrepreneurs to feel like the giants they are in our economy.

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The Ministry of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation manages government services that help support and maintain the strong and diverse economy that British Columbians need for long-term prosperity. It supports the growth of B.C.’s tech sector, champions innovation across the economy, nurtures small businesses, supports economic development throughout the province, and promotes B.C. internationally as a preferred place to invest and do business.

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How Apple Is Organized for Innovation

• Joel M. Podolny
• Morten T. Hansen

When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, in 1997, it had a conventional structure for a company of its size and scope. It was divided into business units, each with its own P&L responsibilities. Believing that conventional management had stifled innovation, Jobs laid off the general managers of all the business units (in a single day), put the entire company under one P&L, and combined the disparate functional departments of the business units into one functional organization. Although such a structure is common for small entrepreneurial firms, Apple—remarkably—retains it today, even though the company is nearly 40 times as large in terms of revenue and far more complex than it was in 1997. In this article the authors discuss the innovation benefits and leadership challenges of Apple’s distinctive and ever-evolving organizational model in the belief that it may be useful for other companies competing in rapidly changing environments.

It’s about experts leading experts.

Idea in Brief

The challenge.

Major companies competing in many industries struggle to stay abreast of rapidly changing technologies.

One Major Cause

They are typically organized into business units, each with its own set of functions. Thus the key decision makers—the unit leaders—lack a deep understanding of all the domains that answer to them.

The Apple Model

The company is organized around functions, and expertise aligns with decision rights. Leaders are cross-functionally collaborative and deeply knowledgeable about details.

Apple is well-known for its innovations in hardware, software, and services. Thanks to them, it grew from some 8,000 employees and $7 billion in revenue in 1997, the year Steve Jobs returned, to 137,000 employees and $260 billion in revenue in 2019. Much less well-known are the organizational design and the associated leadership model that have played a crucial role in the company’s innovation success.

• Joel M. Podolny is the dean and vice president of Apple University in Cupertino, California. The former dean of the Yale School of Management, Podolny was a professor at Harvard Business School and the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
• MH Morten T. Hansen is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and a faculty member at Apple University, Apple. He is the author of Great at Work and Collaboration and coauthor of Great by Choice . He was named one of the top management thinkers in the world by the Thinkers50 in 2019. MortentHansen

Partner Center

5th annual Business Innovation Summit | Harnessing AI: from fear to fortune

March 26th 2025 | London

Business Innovation Summit

March 26th 2025 | London   Co-located with AI in Finance

Harnessing AI: from fear to fortune

Empowering leaders to innovate and seize growth opportunities through generative AI and other emerging technologies.

Generative AI has dominated the media but what does it mean for companies? Can the technology unlock transformative new efficiencies across business functions? Balancing the risks and opportunities will be crucial for productivity and growth.

This conference convened over 500 senior executives from a range of industries and disciplines—including strategy, technology, operations and marketing—to discuss specific examples and case studies. Attendees gained fresh perspectives and actionable insights from more than 60 influential speakers with debates and panel discussions on the most pertinent business issues for C-suite executives.

Can’t wait until next year’s event? Join us at our free Business Innovation Summit Insight Hour: The role of AI in a cyber-threatened world

Highlights from 2024

Countries represented

Attendees director level or above

Unique companies

2024 speaker highlights

Vittorio Cretella

Chief information officer, Procter & Gamble

Vittorio Cretella is P&G’s chief information officer, responsible for every aspect of P&G’s ongoing IT and digital transformation. He is an experienced IT leader who is passionate about driving technology change to deliver business value.

In his 26-year career with Mars, Inc. where he held the global chief technology officer and global chief information officer positions, Vittorio led and transformed the IT function by developing talent and capabilities, consolidating and streamlining the organisation, and adopting cloud and agile to increase flexibility and speed.

He led numerous waves of digital transformation throughout a diverse and global business, championing the concept of data as an essential asset for future growth, while leading the IT dimension of several large-scale mergers, acquisitions, and restructuring initiatives.

Vittorio served as advisor to Fortune 500 global companies on digital transformation roadmaps and evolution of IT capabilities. He is a member of the board of directors at NPower, and serves on the growth advisory board of Tricentis.

Beatrice York

Founder, BY-EQ, and Vice-president partnerships and strategy, afiniti.com

Beatrice York founded By – Eq limited in 2022, an advisory organisation focused on adding more exceptional emotional intelligence in an age of artificial intelligence. She holds advisory roles at Afiniti technologies, Scale AI and Liontree Asset Management.

Beatrice is a trustee and co-founder of The Big Change Charitable Trust, which identifies and supports charitable projects throughout the UK, reimagining education. Beatrice is a champion of women in leadership and has worked and spoken at a range of events across the world working to promote role models for positive leadership development. She is dyslexic and as such, is a champion for neurodiversity in the workplace as well as a supporter of a range of organisations working with dyslexia. Beatrice is also a patron and on the board of various charities in the education and young person space including 20:40 a next Generation Leadership body.

Dušan Šenkypl

Interim chief executive, Groupon

Dušan Šenkypl has joined Groupon as interim chief executive from Pale Fire Capital, Groupon’s largest shareholder that holds nearly 22% of shares outstanding. Pale Fire is an entrepreneurial investment firm with ~$1 billion in AUM and two established investment strategies in technology private equity and a global macro hedge fund. Its private equity portfolio includes ~30 B2C and marketplace companies. Dušan co-founded Pale Fire Capital in 2015 and serves as chairman and chief executive.

Dušan is an entrepreneur by trade. Prior to Pale Fire, Dušan created several global ecommerce and technology projects used by more than 250 million users. He built ePojisteni.cz and NetBrokers Holding, a dominant fintech player with more than 500 employees, which was bought by a German media group, Bauer Media, in 2018. He enjoys sports and dedicates a portion of his time to non-profit projects.

Valeriya Ionan

Deputy minister for Eurointegration, Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine

Valeriya Ionan is the Deputy Minister for Eurointegration at the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. The Ministry, established in 2019, aims to implement the “State in a Smartphone” vision, an essential part of President Zelenskyy’s Election Program. Valeriya, at the age of 28, joined the Ministry from its beginning, making her one of the youngest Deputy Ministers in the Ukrainian government. Her responsibilities within the Ministry include supervising the national program for the development of digital literacy, advocating for digital transformation among small and medium enterprises (SMEs), enabling regional digital transformation, and leading both the Eurointegration and international relations teams.

Pierre-Yves Calloc’h

Chief digital officer, Pernod Ricard

Pierre-Yves is chief digital officer of Pernod Ricard, the international group, the group that owns +240 premium wine & spirit brands like Jameson, Chivas, Absolut or Havana Club. With an engineering background, Pierre-Yves joined the Pernod Ricard group in 2003 and served as chief information officer and then as managing director of several subsidiaries in Latin America. He has been chief digital officer of the Pernod Ricard group since September 2018 and leads business innovation programs and the large-scale deployment of innovative data and AI solutions.

Dan Shapero

Chief operating officer, LinkedIn

Dan Shapero is the chief operating officer at LinkedIn. He is responsible for helping companies around the world grow their business and build winning teams through the value LinkedIn delivers. In this role, he oversees global sales, operations, as well as member and customer success. Since joining LinkedIn in 2008, Dan has held various leadership roles managing global teams across sales and product management, most recently as chief business officer. Prior to LinkedIn, Dan was a management consultant at Bain & Company and a startup entrepreneur. Dan holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a BS in Applied Mathematics from Johns Hopkins.

Naina Bhattacharya

Chief information security officer, Danone

Naina Bhattacharya is the chief information security officer of danone, a Paris headquartered food and beverages company. In her role she is responsible for cybersecurity strategy and transformation across the organisation globally. She has transformed the cyber function by delivering on a three year strategy, developing skills and deploying key technologies for cyber defence. For her work she has won several awards including UK Security Leader of the Year, 2022 in the Women in IT Awards and a Yale Cyber Leadership Forum fellowship. She is passionate about inclusive diversity and was the global winner of the 30% Club Women in Leadership scholarship for 2020 for her essay on allyship. She also serves on the advisory board of Crossword Cybersecurity PLC.

Alex Drummond

Chief strategy officer, American Express

Alex Drummond is responsible for the company’s medium-to-long term enterprise-wide strategy, running the company’s long-range planning process and ensuring alignment between the enterprise, business unit, and M&A strategies. Alex also serves as chairman of the board of American Express Carte France, American Express’ French legal entity.

Prior to joining American Express, Alex was a managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) with deep experience in payments. He led Payments and Transaction Banking for North America and was part of BCG’s global payments management team. In this role, Alex covered card issuers, networks, merchant acquirers, payment infrastructure players, and fintechs.

During his time at BCG, Alex also led payments projects in growth strategy, large scale cost transformation, customer journey reimagination efforts, cobrand negotiation and turnaround, and strategic due diligence for both North American and European financial institutions.

Alex holds an MBA from INSEAD in Singapore and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Université Catholique de Louvain. Prior to joining BCG, he spent over four years working in the technology sector.

Alex is an avid soccer fan and lives in Manhattan with his wife and two sons.

Mark Sandys

Chief innovation officer, Diageo

Mark has worked at Diageo for over 25 years, starting as a graduate trainee, and during his career with the company he has gained a wealth of experience across both emerging and developed markets.

Mark was appointed chief innovation officer in 2022 responsible for Diageo’s innovation strategy, research and development, and sustainability.

Prior to his current role, Mark ran a number of global brands in Diageo including Guinness, Baileys, Smirnoff & Captain Morgan. Mark also spent time leading the scotch category in Asia, based in Singapore, and as marketing director of Russia & Eastern Europe based in Moscow.

Mark is a third generation Guinness worker: his father worked for 43 years in the brewery in London and his grandfather was the doctor for the brewery prior to that.

Katja Busch

Chief commercial officer, DHL

Since February 2018 Katja Busch has been responsible for the sales organisation “DHL Customer Solutions & Innovation” (CSI) as chief commercial officer & head of CSI at Deutsche Post DHL Group. From January 2013 – January 2018 Katja Busch was chief sales officer (CSO) DHL Parcel Germany in the Post – eCommerce – Parcel division. Prior to this she was divisional board member for DHL Parcel for over six years in the Mail division at Deutsche Post AG responsible for domestic sales including customer service for Parcel. 

Appointed CSO of DHL Parcel Germany in 2013, Busch assumed overall responsibility for customer service for both Mail and Parcel business units, including 22 call centres operated by Deutsche Post Customer Service GmbH. From March 2014 – January 2018 she headed international customer service for the Group’s Post – eCommerce – Parcel division. In August 2016 she also assumed responsibility for the newly created Global eCom* Key Account Management unit. 

Following an education in natural sciences, Busch spent seven years in various sales roles at TNT Express Germany before moving to Deutsche Post DHL Group in 1997. After serving as service branch head and business department head, she was appointed Head of Marketing & Sales in January 2004 at DHL Express Austria based in Vienna. In March 2006 she was appointed Divisional Board Member for DHL Parcel Germany. Katja Busch was born September 15, 1969.

Scott Somerville

Chief marketing officer, E.ON UK

Scott is currently chief marketing officer for E.ON UK leading the brand, marketing and sponsorship efforts to drive business growth and position the company for continued success in the coming years.

Through its marketing efforts and initiatives the company has seen strong results in shifting brand perception, improving NPS drivers, increasing traffic and ultimately supporting stronger commercial results.

These core marketing activities across owned, earned and paid channels are helping to build and accelerate E.ON’s transformation to a sustainable organisation truly focused on its customers and renewable energy.

This has and continues to be during a period of unprecedented cost of living challenges for consumers and amidst changes in a sector that consistently faces the highest levels of public, media and political scrutiny as it addresses challenges affecting people’s daily lives and big global issues such as the climate crisis.

Scott speaks regularly at leading marketing and business events across multiple themes but in particular on the connections companies need to create with consumers to protect and improve their reputation through engaging storytelling and creative strategies.

Prior to joining E.ON he built his career in integrated brand and marketing agencies working on behalf of a range of clients in many different sectors.

Kerry Sheehan

Head of AI policy, UK Government AI Regulation Taskforce

Kerry is head of AI policy for a UK Government AI Regulation Taskforce.

Recognised in the UK and globally for innovation leadership and the development and application of technologies, including AI, Kerry was formerly head of service development and innovation where she designed and worked on implementation of new organisational and service models (digitisation, automation, AI, upskilling and culture change).

A trained machine learning developer, and also working on the non-tech side of AI development and implementation, Kerry is an award-winning innovator. Kerry was a finalist for the AI-Conics AI for Implementer of the Year, a strategic advisor to the Alan Turing institute on the development of its latest 5 Year Strategy and is listed in the top 100 women in AI Ethics globally.

Kerry is a member of the International Data Science Foundation and the Responsible AI Institute.

Kerry is a member of the AI Advisory Group at the Confederation of British Industries, supports the British Standards Institute develop global AI Standards and provides Board-level counsel on AI to businesses, organisations, AI start-ups, including in the UK and Africa.

Kerry is a passionate advocate of social mobility in AI and provides free coaching to those from under represented communities, those who need a hand up, and with upskilling.

Thomas Lee-Devlin

Global business correspondent and co-host, Money Talks podcast, The Economist

Thomas is The Economist‘s global business correspondent. He covers cross-industry shifts in the business world. Prior to The Economist, he worked as a management consultant at Bain & Company, advising clients across a range of sectors. During his time there, he also led research for the firm’s global think tank, Bain Futures. He studied economics at the University of Sydney.

Lesley Salmon

Senior vice-president, chief digital & information officer, Kellanova

Lesley Salmon was appointed senior vice-president, chief digital & information officer, Kellanova, previously Kellogg Company, in February 2019. She is a member of Kellanova’s executive committee.

Ms. Salmon joined Kellogg in 2014. She served as the European chief information officer, with geographic coverage of all European countries, plus Russia, Egypt and UAE and had regional accountability for information technology, global business services and the european enterprise PMO. She played a key role in operational, tactical and strategic execution across all areas of the business, driving growth initiatives and delivering multi‐million-dollar savings.

Prior to Kellogg, Ms. Salmon had more than two decades of experience in the consumer packaged goods industry.

She began her career with United Biscuits, spending 13 years working on major IT projects, moving through the ranks from junior business analyst to IT controller. Following that, Ms. Salmon moved to Premier Foods where she led the end‐to‐end SAP program and supported the integration of a major acquisition.

Ms. Salmon then moved across industries for five years, leading a major transformation of the IT function within Galaxy Optical, the largest Optical Manufacturer in the U.K. Throughout her career, she has been a passionate leader and ally in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (ED&I). She believes in creating teams and a culture where everyone feels they belong; amplifying her voice to support the advancement of women in technology. Lesley is the executive sponsor of the K Pride and Allies Business Employee Resource Group (BERG) which advocates for equality for LGBTQ+ communities around the world.

Ms. Salmon resides in Wigan, a small town in the North West of England.

Experts from The Economist Group included:

Arjun Ramani

Global business & economics correspondent, The Economist

Arjun Ramani is The Economist’s global business & economics correspondent. He joined the paper as a Marjorie Deane intern and has written covers on venture capital (“Adventure Capitalism”) and economic policy (“Enter Third Wave Economics”). Before that he worked on an emerging markets trading desk at Citadel. Arjun’s economics research on the “Donut Effect” of Covid-19 on America’s largest cities has been covered by Bloomberg, The Washington Post and The Economist among other papers. He graduated with honours from Stanford University where he studied economics and computer science and was a Kennedy Prize winner for best undergraduate thesis.

Jeremy Kingsley

Global lead, strategic foresight, Economist Impact

Jeremy Kingsley is global lead for strategic foresight at Economist Impact and regional practice lead for technology and innovation within Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He helps corporations, foundations, governments and non-profit organisations navigate and shape complex issues in technology and innovation policy. Prior to this Mr Kingsley was technology editor at The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). He joined The Economist Group in 2017 from Nesta, an innovation foundation, where he oversaw the Challenges of Our Era research programme. He has 15 years’ experience covering technology, innovation and business issues as a journalist, researcher and consultant at WIRED, The Economist, EIU, Financial Times, Slate and the Future Laboratory.

John Ferguson

Global head, New Globalisation, Economist Impact

John is the head of Economist Impact’s New Globalisation practice. He is responsible for leading and developing the practice across different geographies and sectors, including both public and private organisations. As the global economy is being transformed by multiple forces including geopolitics, technological progress and climate change, the practice works with clients to navigate these structural shifts and lead conversations towards global progress.

A frequent public speaker, his delivery style helps to provide context to many global issues in an insightful and accessible way, supported by his 15 years in policy and economic analysis.

Most recently, as Director of Macroeconomics, he was responsible for guiding The EIU’s global economic analysis across 200 countries. Prior to this, he was Director of Country Analysis and Global Forecasting. John holds a Master’s degree in International Economics from Sussex University where he specialised in macroeconomics and trade, and an Honours degree in Psychology from the Australian National University.

Dexter Thillien

Lead analyst, technology and telecoms, Economist Intelligence Unit

Dexter Thillien is lead technology and telecoms analyst at the EIU. He has been an analyst since 2008 and joined the EIU in September 2021. Mr Thillien’s areas of expertise include regulation, the intersection between technology and industries as well as between technology and geopolitics, and the strategy of big tech companies. He was recently the lead writer for reports on 5G and cyber-security. Mr Thillien has presented at several telecoms-specific trade conferences, including events organised by the European Commission, and has produced webinars for a wide range of clients.

2024 sponsors included

Platinum sponsor.

Founded by mathematicians and cyber defense experts in 2013, Darktrace is a global leader in cyber AI, delivering complete AI-powered solutions in its mission to free the world of cyber disruption. We protect around 8,800 customers from the world’s most complex threats, including ransomware, cloud, and SaaS attacks.

Our roots lie deep in innovation. The Darktrace AI Research Centre based in Cambridge, UK and The Hague, Netherlands, has conducted research establishing new thresholds in cyber security and AI, with technology innovations backed by over 145 patents and pending applications.

Our ground-breaking Self-Learning AI learns the day-to-day patterns of an organisation’s entire digital ecosystem to provide bespoke protection based on what is normal and abnormal for your business. Using its unique understanding, the Darktrace platform creates a feedback system that helps organizations prevent, detect, respond to, and heal from cyber incidents.

Our customers include public sector agencies, education institutions, media, organizations supplying critical infrastructure, and businesses of all sizes across every industry.

Headquartered in Cambridge, UK, Darktrace has more than 2,200 employees located across more than 110 countries.

Siegel+Gale

Siegel+Gale  is a global brand experience firm. With unlimited imagination and a dedication to the facts, we cut through the clutter—and unlock success for our clients. Since 1969, we have championed simplicity for leading corporations, nonprofits and government organizations worldwide. Clients have included CVS Health, Bristol Myers Squibb, and NBA, to name a few. No matter the brand challenge, we activate our brand purpose: to make it simpler for our clients and colleagues to succeed. Furthermore, we embody our four core values of smart, nice, unstoppable, and inclusive. We are a part of Omnicom Group Inc., and we have strong partners all around the world.

Sabancı Holding

Sabancı Group, headquartered in İstanbul, Türkiye, is a prominent conglomerate led by Sabancı Holding, engaging in diverse sectors such as banking, energy, industrials, building materials, financial services, retail and digital. Sabancı Group unites Türkiye and the World, for a sustainable life with leading enterprises through its performance culture, dynamic portfolio management and value creation via data driven ecosystem. It focuses on sustainable and profitable operations, bolstered by strategic finance, business development, and adherence to competitive corporate governance practices.

The Group’s management structure includes an Executive Committee overseeing major decisions, under the guidance of a Board of Directors with specialized subcommittees in audit, corporate governance, risk, and sustainability. Sabancı Holding’s strategic pillars involve nurturing a performance-oriented culture, where annual evaluations based on financial and ESG criteria drive short and long-term incentives.

In dynamic portfolio management, Sabancı Group focuses on growth and strengthening its market leading positions in its core businesses and investing in new growth platforms, particularly in energy and climate technologies, advanced material technologies, digital technologies and healthcare ecosystem. The Group’s overarching goal in its approach to dynamic portfolio management is maximizing shareholder returns while maintaining its healthy balance sheet structure. The Group’s international presence spans 14 countries, partnering with global entities like Ageas, Bridgestone, Carrefour, E.ON, Heidelberg Materials, and Skoda, underscoring its multinational reach.

Listed on Borsa Istanbul since 1997, the Sabancı Family jointly controls Sabancı Holding as a majority shareholder, while 49.61% of the Holding’s shares is publicly traded.

Gold sponsor

More than two decades ago, Red Hat had a vision for developing better enterprise software. By collaborating with IT leaders, open source advocates, developers, and partners, we created the foundation for our technological future: Red Hat® Linux®, followed by Red Hat Enterprise Linux. But that was just the beginning.

Today, Red Hat continues to be a leader in open source software development, with a broad portfolio of products and services for enterprise IT. From Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) to system admins and developers, IT departments around the world rely on us to deliver solutions that meet their business needs. Red Hat is a leading contributor to key open source projects like Kubernetes, with the enterprise platforms and expertise to support the hybrid cloud capabilities organizations need for modern business.

Our passion for open source software helped expand a movement that now leads the way in application development, performance, and security. Red Hat uses this experience to provide technologies and services to more than 90% of Fortune 500 companies.

Many organizations now use open source technology in their enterprise environments, but desire the added stability and expertise of an enterprise life cycle and expert technical support. For more than 25 years, Red Hat has worked with customers to deliver the right mix of community innovation and business security and reliability. We believe in transparency, openness, and neutrality—and this focus helps us build and maintain crucial relationships with hundreds of open source software communities.

Silver sponsor

Fetch . ai , a Cambridge-based  AI  company, is redefining the possibilities of an intelligent and connected world through its  AI  agent-based technology.  Fetch . ai ’s infrastructure technology enables developers and businesses to build, deploy & monetize through an agent-based modular platform for the new generation of  AI  applications. The company’s core product, DeltaV, fuses Language Models (LLMs) and  AI  Agents to create an open and dynamic marketplace that connects users to services and reimagines the current search experience.

Gate One, part of the global communications group Havas, is a leading digital and business transformation consultancy, focused on designing and delivering meaningful change for some of the world’s most interesting, innovative and influential organisations. We work closely with the C-suite and extended leadership teams across blue-chip companies, private businesses and major government departments to conceive and deliver the big ideas that will transform their organisations.

Our extensive experience of working on complex transformations means we know how to create the conditions that will drive success, deliver value and help you meet your most challenging goals. We work in close collaboration with you to design a solution that’s customised to your needs, building your ownership and capability as we go along. This creates a ripple effect and ensures the changes we implement together are meaningful and sustainable.

Miro is a visual workspace for innovation that enables distributed teams of any size to dream, design, and build the future together. Our mission is to empower these teams to create the next big thing.

Over 60 million people and 99% of the Fortune 100 rely on Miro throughout the innovation lifecycle to clarify complex ideas, center customer needs, and deliver products and services faster — all supported by best-in-class security, compliance, and scalability.

CI&T (NYSE:CINT) is a global hyper digital specialist, a partner in AI-powered digital transformation and efficiency for 100+ large enterprises and fast growth clients. As digital natives, CI&T brings a 29-year track record of accelerating business impact through complete and scalable digital solutions. With a global presence in nine countries and a nearshore delivery model, CI&T provides strategy, data science, design, and engineering, unlocking top-line growth, improving customer experience and driving operational efficiency. Recognised by Forrester as a Leader in Modern Application Development Services, CI&T is the Employer of Choice for more than 6,000+ professionals.

Associate sponsor

Kontent.ai’s mission is to help the world’s leading organizations achieve an unparalleled return on their content. In the industry’s first AI-powered CMS, content teams plan, create, and optimize content and deliver it to any channel—quickly, securely, and flexibly. Kontent.ai is designed to support organizations with exacting governance requirements, often in highly regulated industries and with complex content supply chains. Tight permissions control all operations; enterprise-grade security and privacy keep content safe. With a demonstrated ROI of 320%, Kontent.ai customers, including PPG, Elanco, Zurich Insurance, Cadbury, and Oxford University, benefit from a measurable step change in how their teams operate, increasing content velocity, mitigating risk, and maximizing yield. Kontent.ai is a Microsoft partner, MACH Alliance member, and recognized vendor by Gartner and Forrester. Learn more at: kontent.ai.

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Entrepreneurship: the engine of growth driving our economy.

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Benevolent by nature, Kartik is a serial entrepreneur and a pro skydiver. He lives life king-size. Founder & MD of Smartt.Studio .

Entrepreneurship, the art of starting and managing a business venture to make a profit, is the driving force behind our economy's growth.

As a serial entrepreneur, I've witnessed how entrepreneurship is foundational for innovation, job creation and wealth generation. Based on my experiences, here are some ways that entrepreneurship drives the growth of our economy and how individual leaders can become strong contributors to this growth:

Four Ways Entrepreneurship Acts As An Engine Of Growth

Entrepreneurship stimulates competition in the marketplace. When new businesses enter an industry, they often introduce new products or services that can challenge established firms. This competition can lead to lower prices, improved quality and increased innovation as businesses strive to differentiate themselves and meet consumer demand. This healthy competition can ultimately benefit consumers who are able to access a wider range of products and services at more affordable prices.

There are four main ways I see entrepreneurship working to drive our economy; these are areas I think you should keep in mind when starting an enterprise.

Successful entrepreneurs are always looking for new and innovative ways to solve problems and meet the needs of consumers. They are willing to take risks and invest in new ideas that others may not have considered. Through their innovative ideas, entrepreneurs create new products and services, improve existing ones and find better ways to do things.

Job Creation

Entrepreneurship is a significant contributor to job creation. As new businesses are created, they need people to work for them. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a vital role in economies and are a significant source of employment with " two out of every three jobs added to the economy" being from SMEs.

Wealth Creation

Successful entrepreneurs not only create jobs but also generate wealth for themselves and their employees. As their businesses grow and become more successful, they generate profits that can be reinvested to fuel further growth.

Economic Growth

As hinted at with innovation, entrepreneurship ultimately leads to the creation of new industries, products and services that increase economic activity. Entrepreneurs greatly contribute to economic development through their fresh innovations.

Contributing To This Engine Of Growth

Here are some ways that entrepreneurs can help drive this growth.

1. Social entrepreneurship. This blends business goals with social or environmental objectives. I encourage you to create ventures that address pressing issues such as poverty, education, healthcare or climate change. By aligning your business with a social mission, you can create positive change while still pursuing profitability.

2. Ethical practices. I believe that you should also prioritize ethical considerations in your business operations. This includes fair labor practices, responsible sourcing, environmental sustainability and giving back to the community.

By demonstrating a commitment to ethical behavior, you can both build trust with consumers and contribute to a more sustainable future. For example, while I do have a team outsourced in India, I make sure there is a benchmark pay for team members and the agency managing them gets a percentage above it.

3. Collaboration and partnerships. Seek opportunities for collaboration with other businesses, nonprofits or government organizations. By joining forces, you can leverage collective resources, expertise and networks to amplify your impact and address complex challenges.

As a start-up, it is all about capitalizing on the partner ecosystem. You may be surprised at the amount of support that is available: Cloud credits from AWS, a business account with Apple, numerous entrepreneur clubs—just to list a few of the ways that organizations give support and invest in the future.

4. Customer-centric approach. Look to truly understand the needs and desires of your target market. Conduct market research, engage in active listening and seek feedback to ensure that your products or services genuinely meet the needs of your customers.

5. Mentorship and support. Pay it forward by offering mentorship and support to aspiring entrepreneurs or disadvantaged individuals.

I find that mentorship is imperative and a non-negotiable, for it is a very different game when you reach your first thousand compared to when you reach your first million. You need somebody experienced who has been a part of a larger organization and is a subject matter expert. My own mentor has been critical in supporting me when it comes to strategy, helping me outline my vision and craft a road map.

Overcoming Challenges

Of course, entrepreneurship is not without its challenges. Starting a new business requires significant resources, including capital, expertise and time. Many entrepreneurs face significant barriers to entry, such as a lack of funding, regulatory obstacles and market saturation.

The main challenges that I believe we can most immediately solve include a lack of access to resources, education and training. To help solve access to resources, we should advocate for policies and initiatives that provide entrepreneurs with access to funding, business support services and mentorship programs.

As far as education and training, we can prioritize equipping aspiring entrepreneurs with the knowledge, skills and mindset necessary to navigate the challenges of starting and managing a business. This includes utilizing the earlier-mentioned mentorship and partnership programs.

Starting a business can be a challenging and rewarding journey, requiring a combination of hard work, dedication and a willingness to take calculated risks. However, the potential rewards can be immense, not just for the entrepreneurs themselves but for the entire community.

I believe that entrepreneurship is not just about creating wealth; it's about creating value and making a positive impact on society. Entrepreneurs are the ones who identify unmet needs and develop solutions that improve people's lives.

Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?

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Harris has proposed a slew of economic policies. Here’s a look at what’s in them

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris is out with a string of new economic proposals focused on food prices, taxes, housing and medical costs that she says will empower the middle class.

WATCH: Harris debuts economic proposals to lower costs for Americans

The plans constitute the first major policy proposals that Harris has released in the nearly four weeks since President Joe Biden bowed out of the race and endorsed his vice president.

A look at what Harris is proposing:

Food prices

After years of polling showing that Americans are worried about inflation, Harris is aiming to contain prices where they have often been most conspicuously felt — at the grocery store . She’s promising to, during her first 100 days in office, send Congress proposed federal limits on price increases for food producers and grocers. Harris also is seeking new authority for the Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general in states across the country to enact steeper punishments for violators. She also wants to use government regulators to crack down on mergers and acquisitions among large food industry businesses that the vice president argues have contributed to higher prices.

Harris is calling for the construction of 3 million new housing units over four years, which she says will ease a “serious housing shortage in America.” She also plans to promote legislation creating a new series of tax incentives for builders who construct “starter” homes sold to first-time homebuyers.

She also wants a $40 billion innovation fund — doubling a similar pot of money created by the Biden administration — for businesses building affordable rental housing units. Harris also wants to speed up permitting and review processes to get housing stock to the market more quickly.

WATCH: Why lower-income renters in Austin are struggling to find affordable housing

Harris further says she can lower rental costs by limiting investors who buy up homes in bulk, as well as curbing the use of price-setting tools that she argues encourage collusion to increase profits among landlords. She also wants to expand a Biden administration plan providing $25,000 in potential down payment assistance to help some renters buy a home, so that it will include a much larger swath of first-time home buyers across the country.

The vice president also has endorsed repurposing some federal land to make room for new affordable housing, an idea that Biden endorsed while still running for president and that Trump has also spoken about favorably.

Taxes and medical costs

Harris wants to speed up a Biden administration effort that has allowed Medicare and other federal programs to negotiate with drugmakers to lower the cost of prescription medications, aiming to cut the price tags of some of the most expensive and most commonly used drugs by roughly 40 percent to 80 percent starting in 2026. She’s also promised to promote competition with steps to increase transparency within pharmaceutical company pricing practices.

READ MORE: FDA says Florida can import prescription drugs from Canada

Harris also pledged to work with state entities to cancel $7 billion of medical debt for up to 3 million qualifying Americans.

The vice president also proposed to make permanent a $3,600 per child tax credit approved through 2025 for eligible families, while offering a new $6,000 tax credit for those with newborn children. She says a Harris administration would work to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit to cut taxes for some frontline workers by up to $1,500 and reduce taxes on healthcare plans offered on the marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act.

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Starting a business is an exhilarating journey, filled with potential and promise. For entrepreneurs in Utah, the state's vibrant economy, supportive community, and strategic location offer a fertile ground for innovation and growth. However, as with any entrepreneurial endeavor, there are common pitfalls that can derail success if not carefully navigated. Here’s how to avoid these traps and steer your startup towards success in Utah.

Thorough Market Research

One of the most critical steps in launching a startup is conducting thorough market research. Understanding the needs, preferences, and behaviors of your target audience in Utah can help you tailor your products or services effectively. Failing to do so can lead to a mismatch between what you offer and what the market demands.

Engage with local business communities, attend networking events, and utilize resources like the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development. Use surveys, focus groups, and data analytics to gather actionable insights.

Creating a Robust Business Plan

A detailed business plan is essential for outlining your business’s roadmap. This includes your business model, target market, financial projections, and marketing strategies. Many startups fail due to the lack of a clear, actionable plan.

Spend ample time drafting a comprehensive business plan. Utilize templates from reliable sources like SCORE and seek feedback from mentors and industry experts. A well-crafted plan can also attract investors and secure funding.

Managing Finances Wisely

Financial mismanagement is a common cause of startup failure. This can stem from overestimating revenue, underestimating expenses, or failing to secure sufficient funding.

Keep a tight grip on your finances. Regularly update your financial statements and forecasts. Consider hiring a professional accountant or utilizing accounting software tailored for small businesses. Secure adequate funding through loans, grants, or investors, and ensure you have a buffer for unexpected expenses.

Adapting to Technology

In today's digital age, leveraging technology is crucial. Whether it's using advanced software for operations, engaging customers through digital marketing, or ensuring a robust online presence, technology plays a pivotal role in business success.

 Invest in the right technology that aligns with your business needs. For instance, if you need a strong online presence, collaborating with a custom WordPress development company can create a tailored website that reflects your brand and enhances user experience.

Building a Strong Team

Your team is the backbone of your startup. Hiring the right people who share your vision and complement your skills is vital for growth and innovation.

Take time to build a strong team. Look for individuals with diverse skills and experiences who can contribute to different aspects of your business. Foster a positive work culture that encourages collaboration, innovation, and continuous learning.

Effective Marketing Strategies

Even with a great product or service, your startup can struggle without effective marketing. Reaching your target audience and standing out from competitors requires strategic marketing efforts.

Develop a marketing strategy that includes both traditional and digital marketing tactics. Utilize social media, email marketing, SEO, and content marketing to reach and engage your audience. Consider working with marketing professionals or agencies to optimize your efforts.

Networking and Community Engagement

Networking is a powerful tool for business growth. Engaging with the local business community can provide valuable insights, support, and opportunities for collaboration.

Attend local business events, join industry associations, and participate in community activities. Building relationships with other entrepreneurs, potential customers, and business leaders can open doors to new opportunities and partnerships.

Continuous Learning and Adaptation

The business landscape is constantly evolving. Staying informed about industry trends, market changes, and new technologies is crucial for long-term success.

Commit to continuous learning. Attend workshops, webinars, and conferences. Encourage your team to stay updated with the latest industry developments. Be willing to adapt your strategies and operations as needed to stay competitive.

Launching a startup in Utah presents numerous opportunities, but it also comes with its share of challenges. By conducting thorough market research, creating a robust business plan, managing finances wisely, leveraging technology, building a strong team, developing effective marketing strategies, engaging with the community, and committing to continuous learning, you can navigate these common pitfalls and set your startup on the path to success.

Remember, the entrepreneurial journey is a marathon, not a sprint. Stay patient, persistent, and proactive, and you’ll be well on your way to achieving your business goals in Utah.

Copyright © 2024 SCORE Association, SCORE.org

Funded, in part, through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.

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August 15, 2024

Since 2003, the Michigan State University (MSU) Product Center, part of MSU Extension, has assisted in business expansions resulting in total investments of over $455 million and creation of 3,673 jobs.

In 2023, the MSU Product Center:

• These clients were entrepreneurs who participated in one or more counseling session. 
• Led to the creation of 202 jobs.
• Helped retain 102 jobs with existing businesses that would otherwise have been lost.
• Had clients launch 93 new food and beverage products.
• $4.46 million in owner investment
• $4.98 million in other capital investment/grants
• $1.72 million in loans

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In 2023, the MSU Product Center's Food Processing and Innovation Center (FPIC) helped 26 clients launch 14 new products with 107 production days.

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• Venture Development

The MSU Product Center provides vital venture development services for new and emerging businesses. Innovation counselors across the state deliver one-on-one counseling to clients and assist with developing concepts and business plans, navigating the regulatory process and accessing the supply chain.

Thanks to the MSU Product Center's close relationship with MSU campus staff and faculty, clients can access specialized services such as product classification and process authority review, nutritional labeling, food science, food processing and safety expertise, and packaging assistance. 

The Food Processing and Innovation Center is the nation's leading independent commercial food development, processing, packaging, and research facility. The center's real-time production environment supports the creation of vibrant new food products. Businesses big and small rent the state-of-the-art facility, which features the latest in processing and packaging technology to help reduce their risks and discover ways to take their operations to the next level. Products made in the Center comply with Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations. 

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Accelerated growth services works with established businesses that want to improve their market performance. The MSU Product Center helps clients meet the high-level food safety and certification required by retailers. These strategic planning services also assist companies in charting a course for business expansion. 

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The strategic research group services a broad and diverse client base. Market analysis, feasibility studies and economic impact reports provide clients with the data they need to make key decisions. 

Making It In Michigan Conference and Trade Show

The Making It In Michigan Conference and Trade Show is an annual event designed to assist food business entrepreneurs. The conference provides educational sessions with a focus on starting and expanding food businesses. The trade show offers a venue for entrepreneurs to showcase their products to retails buyers and the general public.

2024 Making It In Michigan Award Winners

Entrepreneur of the year award.

Chunk Nibbles, Brad Conklin, chunknibbles.com

Start-Up to Watch

Mushroom Angel Company, Dominique DaCruz and family, themushroomangel.com

Value-Added Agriculture Award

M & R Pickling, Ruth Yoder

Barrier Buster Award

Sticky Spoons Jam, LLC; Aiye Akhigbe, stickyspoonsjam.com

Young Innovator Award

Protein Pints, Paul Reiss and Michael Meadows, proteinpints.com

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A millennial dentist with $231,000 in student debt is worried he'll have to sell his home or get a second job if Biden's new repayment plan is axed

• David, 30, got affordable student-loan payments through the SAVE plan.
• But the 8th Circuit blocked the plan, leaving 8 million SAVE borrowers in limbo until the court issues a final ruling.
• If SAVE is permanently blocked, David said he might have to sell his house or get a second job.

David had no problem making his student-loan payments over the past year. That could soon change.

After graduating from dental school in 2019, David — who requested to use a pseudonym to protect his privacy but whose identity is known to Business Insider — said he had over $260,000 in student loans , even after receiving partial scholarships to fund his education.

David, 30, said he aggressively started paying off his student loans during the pandemic payment pause to take advantage of the interest-free payments, and he got his balance down to just over $231,000, according to documents reviewed by BI. However, the pause ended in September 2023 when interest started accruing again, and at that point, he was in the process of paying off the dental practice he purchased in 2021.

His wife also has student-loan payments, and he said he pays his dental staff more than he pays himself, so his finances are strained. That's where President Joe Biden's new SAVE income-driven repayment plan comes in — the plan lowered David's monthly payments to $280 a month from over $1,000, giving him and his wife the financial freedom to invest in other areas of their lives, like purchasing a home.

"Practicing the way I do at my office, I'll never be the type of dentist that owns a lake home, but I don't want to be that type of dentist," he said. "I just want to be able to go to work to help my patients and go home without having to worry about whether or not I'm going to be able to make a house payment."

That house payment is now a concern. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the SAVE plan in its entirety on July 18 as the legal process progresses, in response to two lawsuits groups of GOP state attorneys general filed earlier this year to block parts of the plan . This means that for now, the fate of SAVE is up in the air, and 8 million enrolled borrowers are on forbearance until a court issues a final decision. It's unclear when exactly that could be.

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Should the plan ultimately be blocked, David said he might have to sell his home or get a second job to afford higher student-loan payments again.

"Right when my wife and I felt like we were in a position to start a family and start the next chapter of our lives, it feels like the rug got pulled out from underneath us because it sure seemed like the SAVE plan was something that we could rely on," David said.

"We took a risk in deciding to purchase a home and stop renting," he added. "And as a result, we've made a calculation for our future with incorrect data."

'It's almost too scary to even think about'

Even with the financial strain of the student-loan payments, David made clear he's not asking for any loan forgiveness.

"I made my bed, and I got to sleep in it," he said. "So you'll never hear me say that I think that my student loan should be absolved."

But he's highly concerned about his fate with the SAVE plan up in the air. Along with potentially having to sell his home and get a second job, David also said he and his wife want to start a family, but doing so will not be possible if they both have to contend with high monthly student-loan payments.

"I would love to be saving for my 401(k) and retirement, and I'd love to start a family, but really, this is going to be a deciding factor as to whether or not we're financially secure enough to have a child," David said. "It's going to cause instability at home and instability with our jobs. And ultimately, that's what causes me the most stress as a human being: instability."

The Education Department has warned that permanently blocking SAVE would be a significant administrative burden, requiring the department to recalculate every borrower's payments while servicers have to inform borrowers of the changes.

However, the GOP attorneys general who filed the lawsuits said the plan is an overreach of Biden's authority and comes with a cost to taxpayers. They cited an estimate from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania that found the SAVE plan could cost $475 billion over 10 years.

For now, all David can do is wait for the final court decision, and he's not feeling optimistic.

"There's just so much uncertainty. It's almost too scary to even think about," he said. "So I've kind of resigned myself to the fact that SAVE won't go through. I can't depend on it."

Are you enrolled in the SAVE plan and concerned about student-loan payments? Will student loans influence how you vote in the election? Share your story with this reporter at [email protected] .

Watch: Supreme Court strikes down Biden's student-debt relief plan

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Harris and Trump Offer a Clear Contrast on the Economy

Both candidates embrace expansions of government power to steer economic outcomes — but in vastly different areas.

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By Jim Tankersley

Jim Tankersley has covered economic policy in presidential elections since 2004.

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald J. Trump flew to North Carolina this week to deliver what were billed as major speeches on the economy. Neither laid out a comprehensive policy plan — not Ms. Harris in her half-hour focus on housing, groceries and prescription drugs, nor Mr. Trump in 80 minutes of sprinkling various proposals among musings about dangerous immigrants.

But in their own ways, both candidates sent voters clear and important messages about their economic visions. Each embraced a vision of a powerful federal government, using its muscle to intervene in markets in pursuit of a stronger and more prosperous economy.

They just disagreed, almost entirely, on when and how that power should be used.

In Raleigh on Friday, Ms. Harris began to put her own stamp on the brand of progressive economics that has come to dominate Democratic politics over the last decade. That economic thinking embraces the idea that the federal government must act aggressively to foster competition and correct distortions in private markets.

The approach seeks large tax increases on corporations and high earners, to fund assistance for low-income and middle-class workers who are struggling to build wealth for themselves and their children. At the same time, it provides big tax breaks to companies engaged in what Ms. Harris and other progressives see as delivering great economic benefit — like manufacturing technologies needed to fight global warming , or building affordable housing.

That philosophy animated the policy agenda that Ms. Harris unveiled on Friday. She pledged to send up to $25,000 in down-payment assistance to every first-time home buyer over four years, while directing $40 billion to construction companies that build starter homes. She said she would permanently reinstate an expanded child tax credit that President Biden temporarily established with his 2021 stimulus law, while offering even more assistance to parents of newborns.

She called for a federal ban on corporate price gouging on groceries and for new federal enforcement tools to punish companies that unfairly push up food prices. “My plan will include new penalties for opportunistic companies that exploit crises and break the rules,” she said, adding: “We will help the food industry become more competitive, because I believe competition is the lifeblood of our economy.”

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