We have the pleasure to introduce Innovation Pioneers new Chairman, Anna Bäck. Here you can read more about Anna and her thoughts about Innovation Pioneers:
First of all, Congratulations! How does it feel to be the new chairman of Innovation Pioneers?
Thanks. It feels great and very inspiring!
I got many valuable inspirations from this great community. So it feels fantastic to be able to give back and help connect innovation leaders. I believe that by sharing and supporting each other we can further accelerate much needed innovation in the Nordics and beyond.
You work at Veryday today, how do you think your knowledge from Veryday can be used within Innovation Pioneers?
I have worked globally with innovation in many different industries and several governments, during three years I was based in Shanghai focusing 100% on Asian companies and governments. I think my experiences from global organizational challenges (silos exist in China & Singapore as well!), customer driven innovation and the combination of analytics and deep user insights will be helpful when we are developing innovation pioneers further during 2018.
How come you want to engage in innovation and this network?
Inspiration and diverse perspective are incredibly important for innovation. The trust and quality in this network is unique. So I think that to tackle the challenges we all face as companies, public sector organizations, even cities and governments we need to join forces. At Veryday we believe that together is better. Sweden is world leading in innovation, to keep being among the top in the world we need to continuously share, coach and challenge each other – across industry sectors, governments and functions.
From your perspective, in what ways does innovation Pioneers stand out as a networking platform?
It stands out as a very diverse and inspiring community with members from different industries, backgrounds and cultures who share a passion for innovation. This creates a very open and inclusive atmosphere and is therefore a great platform to share experiences, knowledge and new ideas.
It also is very hands on. The popular innovation in action summit is one of the best ways to really try new methods and get first hand experience of the leading edge topics.
What are your ambitions for Innovation Pioneers for the upcoming two years?
My ambitions are to grow the network, infuse a global perspective to the discussions and to improve the already very high quality of innovation in action. Would love to co-create with the members what the future should be. I also want to bring in topics like AI and VR/AR, humanizing data, emotional ethics and how to combine big and small data (analytics and deep user insights). My hope is to inspire existing and new members to get their companies to the next level!
Thank you so much Anna, we look forward to a great 2018 together!