‘In the Studio With Zao: Innovator Connect’ is a series of invite-only roundtable events. We bring together our intrapreneur and entrepreneur community and broader client networks to collaboratively discuss pressing topics in the innovation space.

Current & Previous Participants

Innovator Connect Sessions

13th December 2023

In this session, we discussed how to embed customer centricity earlier on in the innovation pipeline, moving away from viewing customer centricity as purely
process-based. We explored the following questions:

  • How might we create working innovation relationships with customers?

  • How might we help decision makers in our organisations to be more open to genuine customer feedback?

A Collaborative Approach: How to Embed Customer Centricity in Innovation

24th October 2023

Innovator Experience: Unblocking Pathways for Innovators to Make Innovation Happen

In our recent roundtable of change makers, innovators and enablers, we discussed how to create innovation pathways with a human-centred focus, off the back of our Innovator Experience (IX) webinar. We explored the following questions:

  • How might we overcome the ‘capacity’ blocker for innovation in organisations?

  • How might we create more human-centred innovation pathways?

15th February 2024

This event was co-hosted by Places for London, TfL’s property division. We discussed the importance of collaboration in maximising innovation performance, how to overcome the key challenges that restrict the success of innovation collaboration and the strategies that can be leveraged to optimise their benefit.

  • Why, how and where to find the right partners to elevate innovation

  • What does successful collaboration look like? How can you make that happen, practically

Innovation Collaboration: How to leverage partners, clients and ecosystems to boost innovation

Roundtable Sessions

11th May 2022

In this session we discussed some of Innovation Leaders’ most pressing challenges in innovation within large organisation. We focused on two main theme areas, in the context of the people factor of innovation,

  • Senior Leaders: the sponsors and senior stakeholders who are backing innovation

  • Innovation Talent: the people who are actually doing and delivering innovation propositions

How Can Leaders Drive Higher Return On Innovation By Mastering The People Factor?

21st September 2022

In this session we discussed how HR leaders are able to garner a sense of best practices and opportunities for improvement in innovation . HR is often challenged in helping build innovation capabilities across the workforce but the question is:

  • What is really the role of HR in innovation?

  • How can HR leaders best enable people, and therefore the organisation, to innovate?

What is the role of HR in Innovation?

9th February 2022

How Can Intrapreneurship Programmes Go Beyond Canvases, Post-its, Interviews and Pitches?

In this session we explored some of the most pressing challenges Innovation Leaders encounter when developing and deploying Intrapreneurship programmes. We discussed three main areas:

  • Alignment on problem briefs and opportunity areas

  • Return on Innovation (ROI)

  • Identifying, developing and retaining the right talent

30th January 2024

In this session with Healthcare Innovators, we discussed the diverse opportunities for Generative AI in Commercial operations and Medical Affairs. The discussion focused on two critical aspects:

  • Identifying the highest value use cases of Generative AI in commercial/medical affairs

  • Understanding the blockers to making these use cases a reality

Opportunities for Generative AI in Commercial/Medical Affairs

Do you want to join the next session?

Let us know whether you are interested in joining future sessions and become part of our community of innovators.