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Page | 1 Ci2012 EVENT SUMMARY Creative Innovation 2012 was an outstanding event that explored Wicked Problems, Great Opportunities! Leadership and courage for volatile times. It was a place to inspire, connect and learn. Creative Innovation featured world-changing innovators, futurists, inspired thinkers from around the globe who gathered together with leaders and curious souls in an interactive world. It was a place to network with like-minded people and to learn techniques and strategies; unlock and share ideas and gain empowering experiences. It was a place to imagine and plan for the future! Ci2012 featured more than 40 international and Australian speakers, thinkers and leaders including Baroness Susan Greenfield (UK), Scott Anthony (Singapore), Wade Davis (Canada), Geoff Mulgan (UK), Richard Rumelt (USA), Nadia Rosenthal (UK), Adam Kahane (Canada), Dr Thomas Frey (USA), Michael T. Jones (USA), Dr Iain McGilchrist (UK), Adam Kahane (Canada), Li Cunxin, Megan Clark, Michael Rennie, Steve Vamos, Eric Knight, Bernard Salt and many others. Their expertise and knowledge spanned the fields of creativity, innovation, leadership, future, “The Asian Century”, medical research, high performing workplaces, start-ups, entrepreneurship, technology, courage and much more….

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Ci2012 EVENT SUMMARY Creative Innovation 2012 was an outstanding event that explored Wicked Problems, Great Opportunities! Leadership and courage for volatile times. It was a place to inspire, connect and learn. Creative Innovation featured world-changing innovators, futurists, inspired thinkers from around the globe who gathered together with leaders and curious souls in an interactive world. It was a place to network with like-minded people and to learn techniques and strategies; unlock and share ideas and gain empowering experiences. It was a place to imagine and plan for the future!

Ci2012 featured more than 40 international and Australian speakers, thinkers and leaders including Baroness Susan Greenfield (UK), Scott Anthony (Singapore), Wade Davis (Canada), Geoff Mulgan (UK), Richard Rumelt (USA), Nadia Rosenthal (UK), Adam Kahane (Canada), Dr Thomas Frey (USA), Michael T. Jones (USA), Dr Iain McGilchrist (UK), Adam Kahane (Canada), Li Cunxin, Megan Clark, Michael Rennie, Steve Vamos, Eric Knight, Bernard Salt and many others.

Their expertise and knowledge spanned the fields of creativity, innovation, leadership, future, “The Asian Century”, medical research, high performing workplaces, start-ups, entrepreneurship, technology, courage and much more….

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Interspersed throughout the conference were artistic talents creating art, poetry, music and comedy to transport delegates into a right-brained headspace if possibilities! Everyone shared their experiences and had the opportunity to participate in the discussions during the deep conversations, master classes, Q &A sessions and lunchtime hotspots. The event also honoured 10 scholarship winners making a difference through social innovation and enterprise.

Ci2012 attracted over 800 participants over the 2 day conference, 2 deep conversations, 9 master classes and Gala Dinner supporting Creativity Australia’s unique With One Voice social inclusion programs. The conference delegates included CEOs and Directors of major ASX-listed companies, owners of SMEs, academics, and executives from health, banking, finance, advertising, arts, media, education, industry, innovation and government sectors. Over 40% of the delegates were from regional areas and interstate and there were also a number of international delegates in attendance.

Conference attendees were inspired, provoked and gained a deeper understanding of our increasingly wicked problems and the importance of courage, creativity leadership and building a culture of innovation in these uncertain and volatile times.

“You are the world’s best organizer! The smallest detail & the big picture!”

"Creative Innovation is a wonderfully inspiring and thought leading

conference. Its magic is not just in the impeccably curated global speakers &

mind blowing conversations but in the way it mobilises networks to connect.

Bring on 2013! " Darryl Nichols

Official Opening Session

As the doors opened the Composer-in-Residence Stefan Cassomenos played a virtuosic piece on the piano. Later on, Master Drummer David Jones joined Stefan in an improvisational groovy vibe ending with an incredible drumming riff.

A specially created video to a speech by John F. Kennedy on moral courage and leadership set the scene to be followed by a song without words by our Diva and Founder Tania de Jong.

The Prime Minister Julia Gillard welcomed speakers and delegates to Australia and spoke of the importance of innovation and creativity at all levels. Victorian Treasurer Kim Wells MP welcomed delegates to “Melbourne, the most liveable city in the world” and officially opened the conference.

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Tania then took us to the journey of how this forum had come into life three years ago in order to bring people together across sectors to break down siloes, build a can-do culture of innovation and transfer knowledge and solve problems collaboratively through “creative abrasion” and positive human collisions.

To cap off a spectacular opening “Joey” the Horse from War Horse trotted into the room to wow the crowd. The master puppeteer, Finn Caldwell from the National Theatre London explained the differences between actors and a puppet and the creative aspects of puppetry. The horse cantered off leaving delegates inspired and ready for anything!

Twitter Trends – Ci Global Number One all over Australia

“The wisdom, wicked thinking, creative solutions, vast experience, great

conversations, and the music all really touched my soul. Thanks for a terrific

few days of brain food.” Dr Ann Quinn

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Day 1

Wicked Problems, Great Opportunities

At the first session, Tim Dalmau, the moderator explained the theme of Creative Innovation 2012, Wicked Problems and Great Opportunities and “wicked problems are those far from certainty and agreement” and we have to pause to “rethink how we think”. He said in these volatile times, we have to adapt to change quickly and “Change is not about reorganizing or redeveloping, it is about re-conceiving”.

Eric Knight, the author of Reframe: Solving the world’s trickiest problems, talked about counter insurgency theory with an example of reframing the problems in a way by focusing on terrorism rather than terrorists around the globe. He said “The age of knowing what the future holds is over” and “It is not about being right, but instead, knowing when you are wrong and having the capacity to change”.

Dr Megan Clark, Chief Executive of CSIRO, shared with the audience what we will be seeing in the future. She said “The world will value experiences far more than the physical products in the future”, and she also warned us “In this history, the actions of one species (ours), will affect all species on earth”. The six megatrends that we will be seeing in the future are: More from less, Going Gone?, Silk Highway, Forever Young, Virtually Here and Great Expectations.

Scenario planner Adam Kahane drew a distinction between adaptive scenarios, intended to help the participants understand and adapt to the future, and generative scenarios, intended also to help them influence and improve the future. He shared with the audience his experience of a 10 day scenario team which included illegal guerrillas and paramilitary teams and Government in order to create the future scenario of Columbia. He said “we have to tell new stories in order to be able to create new futures”.

At the end of the session, Adam Kahane’s book “Transformative Scenario Planning: Working Together to Change the Future” was launched at the conference and his book become the first of a number of book launches to take place at Creative Innovation 2012.

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Who wants to live forever?

Science journalist Dr Elizabeth Finkel moderated the session. Professor Nadia Rosenthal spoke on ageing and how chronic diseases and costs of healthcare go up and productivity goes down with ageing. According to her, there are three ways to increase health span: by reducing environmental stress, changing metabolisms, and producing regenerative medicines. Then she talked about how mammals have lost their regenerative capacity and how the stem cells can be activated. She gave an example of Axolotls which have a full spectrum of immune cells that don’t scar similar to human beings. Her research is further focused on whether we can grow back a limb in similar fashion or even regenerate a heart?

Professor Silviu Itescu and his team at leading stem cell company Mesoblast have been working on commercializing adult stem cell-based products for large clinical indications with unmet clinical needs that present long-term sustainable market opportunities. Driven by the fascination towards stem cell research, Dr Itescu began to look for more effective ways of restoring damaged tissue, particularly the heart.

He shared his experience during his journey as an entrepreneur about taking personal risks to build his business and the challenges along the way. And he says the challenges are high risk when associated with novel platform technology, the uncertainties associated with early stage companies in a difficult commercial situation and the scepticism by investors that a transition of science and clinical medicine to entrepreneurial leadership could be successfully achieved.

Baroness Susan Greenfield talked about mind changes and development of a mind. Our brain is just like our muscle, it grows in the way we use it. She said children who spent an excessive amount of time playing digital games had an enlarged area of the brain which is the main hub of the reward system.

This meant that they got more reward from playing even when losing, in a similar way that gamblers' brains compel them to keep betting when the odds are against them.

The study, the first to examine the brain structure of teenage gamers, adds to an ongoing debate among experts over whether heavy computer gaming could be considered an addiction.

She suggested that we should give our children a better “real” environment rather than spending their time on computer and video games.

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“Awe inspiring. Can’t wait for Ci2013!”

“Absolutely the best conference I’ve ever attended. Exceptional organisation, care and attention to detail not to mention the brilliant speaker line-up!”

Start-up Reality! From idea to market

This session was moderated by CEO of Commercialisation Australia Doron Ben-Meir. Ruslan Kogan, founder and CEO of Kogan.com online retail shop, shared his personal story of entrepreneurship and its ups and downs. He said “There are two parts in entrepreneurship, one is inventor and another one is athlete, and people tend to forget about the athlete part”. The three questions he asked to every start-up are: 1. What is your competitive advantage? 2. Do you add value? 3. Do people around you think you are crazy? If you answer yes to all these questions, you're ready to be an entrepreneur!

Professor Robin Batterham AO, talked about the role of intrapreneurship in large organizations. He said “Large organizations do not want to innovate, but in the resource industry, they have to”. He also demonstrated only 1 out of 3000 raw ideas become successful.

Jason Drew, an eco-entrepreneur said “the industrial revolution is now over, now this is the time for a sustainability revolution”. He also noted that we are in the midst of times of revolution and any company that does not face that they need an environmental focus will fail. He awed us with his eco-focused businesses and how they are innovating in an increasingly resource constrained world.

The Asian Century and Innovation

Bernard Salt started his speech by saying that China’s economy is now 50% of the US economy. China is progressing towards super power status based on the ideal of middle class aspirations. He also thinks that China will run into a labour problem at the end of this decade and may lose its “cheap labour” edge.

He also introduced the Dubai-Effect, where people will work in Asia and relax in other countries and that Australia will benefit from the Dubai-Effect relationship with China. At the end he said stronger cultural shifts are expected with the increasing Asian population in Australia.

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Innosight’s Scott Anthony from Singapore gave us the innovation lessons from Asia and how to drive growth in emerging markets. His key five lessons for succeeding in an emerging market are: Going native to develop empathy, camping out at intersections, build ecosystem and local autonomy. He mentioned a new business model D.E.F.T. (Document your idea, Evaluate it through multiple lenses, Focus on critical strategies, Test, learn and adjust). He asserted that failure is the most important step in success. The real game changers are the ones who can tolerate failure and keep going with humility.

"The thing that struck me was the value of the collisions between academics,

thought leaders, advisors, artists, entrepreneurs, business people, and

government officials. The unusually eclectic mix led to some fascinating

discussions and deep insights. It was an unusual conference, in a very

positive way." Scott Anthony

Day 2

Where is technology taking us?

In this session moderated by MC Michael Pope, Google’s Chief Technology Advocate Michael T Jones shared his vision of education in the future and how the internet (Google) is going to change the current education system. He also shared how Google Earth is taking to the underwater world where only scuba divers can see.

NESTA CEO Geoff Mulgan talked about innovating democracy and the democratisation of innovation. He questioned how we are going to move the world’s brain power from concentrated research to open innovation. He envisioned that open innovation and crowd sourcing will play a major part both in corporate and government world in the future.

Michael Harte shared his story as Chief Information Officer at Commonwealth Bank (CBA) and how CBA has become the number one bank in customer satisfaction by using innovation. He shared his thoughts on innovation among society and mentioned “now our cultural challenge is taking people from experimenting to the DOING, the work of making it real”.

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As the final speaker of the session, the US futurist Thomas Frey gave us a glimpse of the future with teacherless education, the nature of the steel industry, and printable houses. He said that 2 billion jobs would disappear by 2030. He also noted some technologies that need to be developed such as control gravity and flash dark.

“Ci2012 was fascinating and stimulating. The presentations were great and the

attendees were an interesting and diverse group. It challenged my thinking.”

Fiona McNabb (Non-Executive Director)

High Performing Workplaces

Non-Executive Director Steve Vamos discussed how we can get better at having wicked conversations and be comfortable being uncomfortable. According to Steve, we need to look at improving work places by using simple direct language which changes behaviour. There cannot be high performance without having tough conversations about purpose and priority and whether they both are aligned with each other. He ended his speech by saying we need to say no to many good ideas so we don’t end up doing too much and focus on what’s really important.

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UCLA’s Father of Strategy Richard Rumelt talked about how our lives have evolved from 1885–1925 giving examples of electricity and street lamps, tramways, telephones, automobiles. He asserted there should be a match and focus on what’s important and what’s doable. He believes that real leaders take responsibility. It’s not saying ‘blame me’ if it doesn’t work but for establishing a framework where people can work. It’s vital to define the challenges that they can deal with, and come up with ideas and work principles so they can take the first step. Leadership is about learning how to take the next step and taking responsibility for that.

McKinsey’s Michael Rennie said the greatest learning experience of your life, as a leader, is creating a big enough, scary enough goal and accomplishing it through developing safety in the team. If there is love (support, respect, trust) in the team, then that is your security net which enables you to achieve the scary goal. If the work is not big enough and you don’t get pushed, you don’t get stretched. If you have a big goal but not the supportive environment, then you just have fear and more fear. And you cannot have high performance unless the goal to be accomplished is tough, challenging and has some meaning.

Courage, thinking and leadership to create a successful future

Author and psychiatrist Dr Iain McGilchrist explained how the brain works. He said “our brain works by seeing parts and space and we need to take the broader view” and with some visual demonstrations he showed us context is important. We need left and right brain both individually and simultaneously – need to be held together and apart. There is a hierarchy of attention – start with the big picture and then pay attention to the detail. We need to take the broadest possible view or we will miss the predators and dangers. About creativity, he noted “The nature of creativity is to make space for it”. At the end of the talk, he left us with “Don’t just do something, listen”.

Li Cunxin, the author of Mao’s Last Dancer, told us a vivid story of himself coming out of the time of Mao’s revolution and how far he had come in his journey. How he was chosen as 1 of 44 ballet dancers and that tiny little chance was the point when everything changed. He said “so many ideas are left in people’s minds and live on as just dreams. You have to dream those dreams and live it too”. We need to have a curious mind to think BIG and dream and the courage to take the first and second steps.

As the final speaker of the conference, anthropologist Wade Davis took to the stage with poetic words and his amazingly beautiful and evocative photos. He shared all the knowledge he had about different tribes from different parts of the world, from Polynesians, Tibetan monks, Aborigines to Inuit and Amazonians. He said some of the answers we are looking for may be hidden among ancient cultures.

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We’re all brothers and sisters … race is an utter fixation. We are all cut from the same genetic cloth and are interconnected. We share the same genius. The other cultures of the world are not failures to be us; rather, they show us what it means to be human.

The event concluded on Friday afternoon with tributes and a flash mob by the

Creative Innovation team and volunteers with all the attendees joining in.

Onwards to Ci2013!

“Congratulations on getting an amazing (seriously!) group of incredible

speakers together and running a fantastic conference. Totally awesome!”

“A superbly mounted event: congratulations. I was deeply impressed.”

Robyn Williams, ABC Science Show

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Ci2012 Mural and Graphic Recordings: (All recordings will be on website soon)

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