On a rainy November night Innovation Social celebrated it's fifth birthday at Anomalous Space in Islington. The night was a combination of original members and the new mixing over King Prawns and King Tone and it was a total delight.
We kicked-off with a welcome talk from Nadya and Lawrence where Nadya shared the highlights of the first five years and the plans for the next - read all about it here. Suffice to say it includes more thought-leadership, more inspiration and most importantly of all more connections.
We then had the absolute honour and privilege to welcome Antonio Fernandez aka King Tone to the floor to talk about his experience of turning the Latin Kings from a gang to a political party. His tale included stories of crime, prison, violence, politics, hope and positive change. It was one of the most mind blowing stories many of us have had the privilege to listen to. Huge thank you to Deborah Rey-Burns for connecting us with Antonio.
Time to eat and another privilege - we treat the Socials well - as we partnered with Wok+Wine to experience serendipity. Wok+Wine use proven psychological methods to create new connections and drive moments of serendipity and we loved having Pete Mandeno, the co-founder, talk us through the inspiration for Wok+Wine as well as the psychology behind it. The food is secondary to the Wok+Wine experience but suffice to say much business was done over a 12 foot table of jumbo prawns.
Then came the moment everyone was waiting for - the inaugural Innovation Social awards. Innovation Social is nothing without it's Socials so it seemed perfect to end the year by recognising those amazing Socials who have supported us along the journey. A huge congratulations to:
Alex Jenkins for Innovation Social most loved speaker
Dan Machen for Innovation Social most loyal Social
Liz Pavitt for Innovation Social most loyal social
Felix Morgan for Innovation Social best original
The Dots for Innovation Social start-up of the year
Us.ai for Innovation Social start-up of the year
Richard Fearn for Innovation Social investor of the year
Jaunt VR for Innovation Social brand of the year
Lorenzo Wood for Innovation Social Innovator of the year
Tracey Follows for Innovation Social Trailblazer of the year
The night drew to a happy close with Innovation Social celebrating it's birthday in the way it knows best - conversation, connections and inspiration fuelled by brilliant people in the perfect setting. Here's to the next five years.
A huge thank you to Beatrice Finauroat Teads for partnering with us to make the fifth birthday possible. And also to Nathan Gaydhani for the amazing photography.
On October 12th and 13th Innovation Social came to New York holding our inaugural Innovation Social Global. Global's are our premium meet-ups where we invite fifty Innovation Leaders and Thinkers to spend a day and half discussing the key issues and sharing experiences and learnings. Think of it like an Innovation Salon - a historical concept for the gathering of like minded people to learn, challenge and evolve. The inaugural Innovation Social Global was only made possible thanks to the support of our wonderful Partners - TDA Creative, Google and EQT Ventures. Thank you so much Abby, Lars and Ted.
Innovation Socials' first foray to New York was a huge success and the attendees gave it an overwhelmingly positive score of 8.7 out of 10. A few of our favourite quotes are:
"A coming together of leaders, influencers and decision makers, sharing real experiences, challenges and information in a respectful, egalitarian and fun way.
"Innovation Social is a perfect balance of inspiration speakers and opportunity to meet new people"
For our 28th Global, we delved under the creative hood of our home city, London. With a creative industry worth £35 billion to the economy and providing 800,000 jobs in the capital, London is a creative juggernaut. A deeply ingrained history of innovation runs through it’s veins, it continues to provide the backdrop for some of the world's most boundary pushing thinkers, doers and culture makers. As Samuel Johnson famously said “to be tired of London is to be tired of life”.
The theme for CS London was EXPLORATION and we curated an agenda that showcased some of the most exciting individuals and companies that currently reside in the city.
We kicked off the event with our That's Me That Is session which was mixed with a visit to the local climbing wall followed by a visit to the amazing Forman's Smoked Salmon restaurant on Fish Island.
We relocated to Wimbourne House on Day 2 and were treated to a day of inspiring stories of exploration. Stephen Attenborough of Virgin Galactic who told us that most of us would have the chance to experience space while Shilpika Gautam told her story of becoming the first ever person to Stand Up Paddleboard the entire length of the river Ganga in India. Seetal Solank talked about how she explores new materials and designs that reflect the world around us while Harris Elliot talked about his work as a visual storyteller, Dunstan Bruce (frontman of 90s anarcho-pop band Chumbawamba) gave an extremely amusing account of the rollercoaster ride that took the band from DIY squat gigs to Madison Square Gardens and back again while Adah Parris invited us to see ourselves as Artists by exploring our understanding of our relationship with our own identities.
March 2017, Innovation Social held our fifth Innovation Stories – Innovation Social’s annual Summit. The event was a sell-out with 150 people congregating in Brick Lane to get a one stop dose of Innovation inspiration.
Nadya, co-founder of Innovation Social, kicked off the Summit with her view on how the Innovation industry has changed over the past 5 years. She focused on Innovation's development - from tinkering in a basement to the commercial exploration of adjacent industries. The Innovation industry has matured and professionalised and it has been fascinating watching the many twists and turns it has undergone.
We then heard from an incredible collection of speakers who covered stories of talking pizza chatbots, an app to improve help improve mental wellbeing, VR and AI. We also tackled some very big topics like the war on talent and key learnings from being an innovation lead.
The day was topped off by an incredible dinner at the studios of Bompas & Parr.
Our 4th ever Brand Social, the theme was the Art & Business of Creativity. Speakers to help us uncover the perfect match between Art and Business included Paula Zuccotti, ethnographer and author of Every Thing We Touch: A 24-Hour Inventory of Our Lives, Mr Bingo, famous for his Hate Mail, Mark Earls aka Herdmeister, author of Copy Copy Copy, Nick Blunden, Chief Commercial Officer at Business of Fashion, Karen Boswell, Head of Innovations at AMV BBDO and Helen Job, co-founder of The Akin.
To get a deeper insight into what came out of the session, do feel free to download the report HERE.
An inspiring selection of talks and panels from key creative leaders to give you the low down on what everyone was buzzing about at Cannes 2017.
The session was divided up into 4 strategic content areas.
Bringing content from the Cannes stage to London.
Putting the spotlight on two of the 15 women chosen to take part in the ‘See It Be It’ initiative from Cannes.
We shared which work truly inspired our Creative Leaders and why it made them think F**k that was good.
Our panel discussed the key trends, creative highlights and future forecasting to help the audience understand ‘what and where next?’
Here are some of our favourite quotes from the event.
"Creatives have to be brave in themselves. Do stuff that has real talk-ability" Trevor Robinson OBE, Quiet Storm
"Let's make mental health a more everyday conversation in the work place" Michelle Morgan, Livity
"Stay curious, stay empathetic" Johnny Vulkan, Anomaly
"Solving a problem that doesn't exist, is a sure fire way of how not to win an Innovation Lions" Nadya Powell. Utopia
"If you want a job in advertising, head towards the small, fast growing niches." Tom Ollerton, We Are Social
