23 - 26 July, 2024
Optica Global Headquarters
Washington, District of Columbia USA
Schedule
The 2024 Innovation School will be held in Washington, DC, USA at Optica Global Headquarters from Tuesday, 23 July - Friday, 26 July. For attendees who arrive before 19:00 on Monday, 22 July, there will be an informal meet-and-greet.
There are two mandatory webinars before the school to prepare participants for the fast-paced program. Those who cannot join live, can access the recordings:
- Breakthrough Ideas for Innovation Part 1: Tuesday, 2 July, 12:00 EDT – 13:00 US EDT (UTC-5)
- Breakthrough Ideas for Innovation Part 2: Thursday, 11 July, 12:00 – 13:00 US EDT (UTC-5)
Additionally, the program facilitator Eric Koester will offer office hours on Thursday, 18 July, 12:00 - 13:00 US EDT (UTC-5).
Links to webinars and office hours will be sent with registration confirmation emails.
Participants must attend all sessions for the Innovation School to remain eligible for the housing and economy flight benefit.
17:00-19:00 - Check-in, Meet & Greet Reception. Vote on Pitches.
During the first day, you will come together with other attendees and focus on product/service concepts. You'll learn how to use the lean canvas model to quickly formulate and guide your concept. Through this process, you'll be placed on teams and begin exploring if your idea actually solves a potential customers problem. Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be available at Optica HQ.
08:00 - 09:00 -- Breakfast
09:00 - 09:30 -- Craig Arnold, Princeton University, USA
10:00-12:00 -- Recognizing Original Ideas; Tools for Innovation
12:00- 13:00 -- Meet the Mentors & Lunch
13:00 - 18:00 -- Team Formation; Lean Canvas Model; Conducting Customer Discovery
18:00-20:00 -- Dinner & Activity
Today -- You will continue your customer discovery and pivoting your product/service to better align with potential customer service expectations and needs. Teams will start pitching their progress and receiving critical feedback to hone concepts for greater success. Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be available at Optica HQ.
08:00 - 09:00 -- Breakfast
09:00 - 9:30 -- Lenore McMackin, Red Leader, USA
10:00 - 12:00 -- Customer Discovery (Part 2) & Gathering Evidence
12:00 - 13:00 -- Working Lunch
13:00 - 17:00 -- Pivoting Your Concept & First Practice Pitches/Feedback
17:00 - 17:30 -- Caroline Boudoux, Castor Optics, Canada
18:00 - 20:00 - Dinner
Day 3-- Your team's main challenges will be honing in on a minimum viable product (MVP) and prototypes. You will be working on your key messages, tightening your understanding of the market, competition and your products/service potential. Time will be spent crafting your team's concept to determine potential. Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be available at Optica HQ.
07:30 - 09:00 -- Working Breakfast
09:00 - 09:30 -- Mark Lourie, Coherent Corp, USA
10:00 - 12:00 -- MVP's and Prototypes
12:00 - 15:30 -- Team Focus & Working Lunch
15:30 -17:00 -- Team Pitches and Critiques
17:00 -19:00 -- Team Focus & Working Dinner
17:00 - 18:20 -- Graphic Design Sessions (20m per group)
19:00 - 22:00 -- Optional Team Focus
Final Day -- The morning is spent putting the final touches on your pitch, tightening up your data, understanding who your customer is and your unique value proposition, your market and your competition. Teams will pitch their concepts to a panel of judges with the best presentations announced at end of program. Breakfast and lunch will be available at Optica HQ. The event closes with a light reception.
07:30 - 09:00 -- Working Breakfast
09:00 - 09:30 -- Best Practices for the Perfect Pitch
09:30 - 12:00 -- Final Pitch Preparation
12:00 - 13:30 -- Final Pitches and Judging (Lunch Available)
13:30 - 14:00 -- Rick Plympton, Optimax, USA
14:30 - 15:00 -- And the winners are...
15:00 - 17:00 -- Canapés & Congratulations
