TEDxInnovation Drive

Vision To create Connecticut’s premier innovation event that challenges assumptions, expands how we define innovation, and equips people to build and teach innovation in any organization.

Goals • Present ideas on how to build innovation into any organization • Challenge deeply held assumptions about creativity, sources of innovation and who becomes an innovator • Strengthen the “innovation muscle” of influencers: educators, leaders, and employers • Inspire curiosity, disciplined risk-taking, and creative confidence that lasts beyond the stage

Audience - By Invitation Only • Companies making truly innovative products in an innovative way • Companies with a Chief Innovation Officer • Thought leaders who think deeply about innovation • Public service employees who practice innovation • Educators (teachers, principals, superintendents) K-12 to college level • Innovators in any field: arts, science, sports, entertainment, psychology, health

Speaker topics we like 1. Embracing failure 2. Framing problems and asking the right question 3. Innovation from amateurs and unexpected places; challenging gatekeeping 4. Stories such as InnoCentive (speaker Simon Hill of Wazoku committed) 5. Frictions that stop innovation and how to overcome them (inertia effort emotion reactance) 6. Role of collaboration in innovation 7. Learning from innovation in different cultures (India Nigeria Israel) 8. Do innovation hubs work 9. Raising creative curious children in standardized education 10. Major innovations in sports arts business technology 11. Gamification of innovation 12. Questioning the 10,000 hour rule 13. Procrastinators and creativity 14. How frustration can increase creativity