Innovation by SIT

Our latest Innovation Community meeting focused on Sustainability and Innovation.

The Israeli Innovation Community brings together, for networking and enrichment, top managers and individuals with an interest in innovation. The meetings are interactive, informal and down to earth, and always include discussions among the participants and with the lecturers.

Previous meeting featured:
· Chef Daniel Pekkar, who spoke about molecular cooking,
· Dr. Oren Zuckerman from the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), in a session with the participants’ children, on Scrath – Learning in the 21st Century,
· Seven leading Israeli industrial designers in a hands-on, prototype-building session on Design and Innovation,
· Vali Kulitz Munis, a Gelotologist (more commonly known as Medical Clown) on the development of new professions,
· And many more.

The sustainability meeting was opened by Erez Zimhony, a consultant in water engineering, formerly the Innovation and IP manager of world leader drip-irrigation company Netafim. Erez gave a background overview of the environmental movement, from the romantic approach till the Kyoto protocols. The group then discussed in small teams their personal commitment to issues of sustainability, their organization’s respective commitments, and what more could be done.

The discussion was followed by a session led by Dr. Noam Gressel the CEO of Assif Strategies, which offers environmentally-sound, sustainable initiatives for businesses. Noam shared his views on sustainability, regulation, and technologies, and led a lively (i.e. emotional…) discussion. Many participants asked that we post Noam’s slides, and here they are for your review and comments.

Sustainability is a topic which we discussed here in the blog, and which Amnon Levav, SIT’s Managing Director, spoke about publicly in Greener by Design 2008. Amnon will also be a keynote speaker at the Spring 2009 Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) in Chicago, and will speak again in Greener by Design 2009 in San Francisco. Additionally, Yoni Stern, our VP of Business Development, talked about this topic at the Frost & Sullivan GIL conference, and will guest lecture this month about SIT’s approach to innovation in sustainability in the Darden School of Business.