The IPMA Innovation and Change Special Interest Group (I&C SIG) held the Future of New conference on February 18, 2021. The event managed to gather over 100 participants from 35 countries!

Prof. Dr. Mladen opened the event, and Tim Jaques was the emcee for the event. This virtual event featured speakers from Europe and North America including A-List Hollywood Director David Dobkin, international bestselling author Michael Lewrick, and Innovation guru Susan Reed. Brigitte Schaden, past-president of IPMA, hosted a panel featuring Prof. Dr. Martina Huemann, Prof. Dr. Paul Baumann, and Susan Reed. The event was co-organized by IPMA-USA, and president Joel Carboni provided the closing remarks.

The conference explored the relationship between project management and innovation. The event began with a series of questions to explore:

• What new skills are needed for PMs to be ready for the challenges of tomorrow…sustainability, data science, complex business challenges, automation, and AI?
• What are the project of the future – the forces that will shape them, and the tools we will employ?
• How can projects be a more perfect catalyst for innovation and change?
• What sorts of project leaders will survive and thrive in the coming era of perpetual change?
• How can today’s project leaders manage transformation?

Speakers presented practical approaches to innovation. Michael Lewrick presented tools and techniques on Design Thinking. Susan Reed spoke on Innovation Game Changers for Project Managers. And David Dobkin discussed creativity and the economics of movie-making with Tim Jaques.

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