In this session ACCA and Nesta launched a pilot study which tested the Malaysian National Corporate Innovation Index on SMEs. The pilot has given us valuable insights into the issues faced by the sector in identifying investment and return on innovation. The project has paved the way for new thinking in the area and we will be running a UK pilot this year (due to be out in autumn 2015).
The role of the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) was also explored, drawing on the importance of understanding intellectual capital and the ability to account for it.
Prior to Nesta, Ben was head of open innovation at the Big Innovation Centre, and a senior researcher at The Work Foundation. He worked on projects ranging from corporate and government open innovation, to youth employment, social media at work, the creative industries, the changing employment deal, and design innovation policy.
He collaborated on the development of London Creative and Digital Fusion, an EU-funded programme supporting London-based creative and digital SMEs. He also worked for nine years as a researcher and lecturer at Henley Business School, teaching people management, innovation and research methods on their global MBA and DBA programmes. His research clients at Henley included Ford Motor Company, Petroleum Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS), the Department for Education, the EU Commission, and the BBC.
Ben holds a PhD from Henley Business School at the University of Reading, which focused on the evaluation of management and leadership development programme.
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