“To be successful in today's business environment, companies need to develop cultures and teams that foster and nurture innovation,” said Mark Dziersk, Senior Vice President of Design. “HLB decided to take its 42 years of experience in product design and innovation, ties to Northwestern University Kellogg School of Business and IDSA (Industrial Designers Society of America) and share what is 'going on behind the curtain' with other business executives to help them create innovation cultures - and ultimately, increased bottom line results.”

The first workshop, Innovation Bootcamp, offers the opportunity to learn first-hand how to cultivate innovation and increase idea generation through energetic, team-focused exercises. This is a half-day workshop, and offers tangible tools to accelerate creativity, such as 3x1 brainstorming techniques, visual exercises, and team-focused methodology.

“The creation of the stimulus will be fun and entertaining in this workshop, and the cross-referencing will create criteria that inspires unusual solutions,” Mark continued.

The second workshop, Strategic Portfolio Planning, targets the bottom-line with a powerful method for long-term growth activity driven by a strategic innovation process. Also a half-day seminar, Strategic Portfolio Planning examines new product innovation, mitigating risk and eliminating best guessing practices.

“Generating profits from new product development and innovation is difficult to achieve in today's economy,” said Howard Kavinsky, Director of Strategic Design at HLB. “Returns from new product initiatives are optimized when products are developed within the context of a 'portfolio' rather than as stand alone entities. This workshop offers the opportunity to learn about constructing high yield product portfolios - and a tangible way to manage innovation and product development risk and reward in an environment of uncertainty.”

The final workshop, Innovation Camp, enables participants to generate virtually hundreds of ideas during one full day of highly structured, creative, energetic and fun-filled activities, according to workshop leaders. Among the benefits of this workshop are a set of actionable solutions and strategic follow-through for new product development.

“This workshop will fully engage teams to maximize their creative potential and bring them closer together,” said Phil Corse, Senior Vice President of Marketing Consulting Services at HLB, and adjunct professor of marketing at Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management. “These camps allow companies to gain a full and comprehensive understanding of the current category environment, including market position, competitive products, category trends, and new technologies, materials and manufacturing capabilities. And most importantly, actionable solutions are identified and followed-up with a strategic structured process.”