In this Innovation Leadership Masterclass brought to you by the SME@UTS program, we focus on how organisations can use innovation methods like design thinking, agile project management and new approaches to business model innovation to lead and drive strategic innovation initiatives.

We introduce essential elements of contemporary innovation methods, provide practical examples, and allow lots of time for questions and discussion.

The masterclass will be presented by A/Prof Jochen Schweitzer. Our industry guest is Tarra van Amerongen, Head of Design, Atlassian.

What you can expect to learn:

Introduction to Design Thinking methods and mindset
Key insights from a recent case study of strategic innovation
The role and importance of leadership for innovation
Practical tools and techniques that enable you to foster innovation in your organisations

Why you should attend, feedback from our previous masterclass:

70% said the masterclass stimulated new idea
60% said the masterclass gave insights into the potential of innovation methods & tools
60% are likely to use the learning from the masterclass to drive strategic innovation initiatives

About your presenters:

Associate Professor Jochen Schweitzer is Director of Entrepreneurship at the UTS Business School. He also serves as the Faculty Director of UTS’s Executive MBA and the Bachelor of Entrepreneurship (Honours).

Trained as both an engineer and a social scientist, his work focuses on strategy, entrepreneurship, and innovation issues with a special interest in design thinking, emerging technologies, and the future of work. Jochen was Visiting Scholar at Stanford University and Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) School of Design Thinking at Potsdam University. He has taught at the UTS schools of Design and Architecture, Macquarie University, Shanghai University and Sydney School of Entrepreneurship.

Prior to becoming an academic, Jochen was a Principal at PricewaterhouseCoopers' Strategy practice. As an expert advisor, he provides insights into emerging trends, alternate perspectives and fresh ideas to several private and government organisations. Recent advisory roles included growing corporate innovation capabilities, developing strategic innovation performance, crowdsourcing ideas for climate adaptation in public transport, evaluating on-demand transport solutions, developing social entrepreneurship policy, and developing future of work skills and capabilities.

Tarra von Amerongen is Head of Design with Atlassian. Tarra is a design and innovation practitioner with experience in large corporates, start-up and consultancy. She is a part-time lecturer for the UTS Innovation by Design course, taking MBA students through the design thinking journey to solve real world client problems. Tarra's main role is as the Head of Design for a team of design practitioners in cross-functional development teams at Atlassian. She is also a board advisor for Flow of Work, an HR Tech scale-up, and is a board member for the Australian PUblishers Association. Previously Tarra has held the following positions: Managing Director for Ustwo digital product studio, National Design Director for ANZi (now 1835i), Group Director for Fjord (now Accenture Song) in ANZ, Design Lead at BCG Digital Ventures, and Innovation Manager at the Commbank innovation lab (now X15). The common thread throughout her design career has been getting others excited about the power of design, applying the methods for tangible business outcomes, and knowledge sharing with the businesses she operates in to create design thinking advocates

About SME@UTS

SME@UTS is designed to help SMEs confidently invest in innovation and digital technologies. This integrated program provides SMEs with a progressive and customised pathway towards technology adoption and innovation. This concierge style service helps SMEs gain access to innovation expertise, research capabilities and world class technology facilities that will allow them to underpin their business growth. This masterclass is one of many that will be delivered at no cost to attend as part of the SME@UTS program which is partly funded by the Commonwealth Department of Education, Skills and Employment.