Institute for Sustainable Innovation (ISI)

Presentation

CVC offers this non-credit programs in a contracted open-enrollment format to organizations.

It is tailored to meet your company’s unique learning objectives. Your staff will engage with industry leaders and world-renowned faculty. The Institute for Sustainable Innovation programs are offered online, in-person, or in a hybrid learning environment.

Co-Chairs

Professora Monica Velasco

PhD. in Business Administration, Tecnologico de Monterrey.

Dr. Velasco has deep expertise in the development of innovation projects and has lead different research projects related to learning innovation capabilities, competitiveness and sustainable development. She is currently a researcher at CONACYT, the most important research institution in Mexico and is a member of IRIS, an impact investment assessment organization.

Alicia Ancona

MBA, The University of Texas at Austin.

Alicia is an expert in the development of digital solutions, problem solving, innovation and digital new venturing. Alicia is a serial entrepreneur engaged in many technology intensive start-ups.

Who we are

Businesses have a vital role to play in solving social and environmental issues through innovation, market development, and entrepreneurship. CVC’s faculty has developed over time the expertise required to link innovation to sustainable performance. The Institute’s focus is to engage companies, local governments and relevant stakeholders in the development projects and educational initiatives leading to increase the innovation collective expertise.

Our resources

We have access to expert academics and practitioners in the arena of innovation, problem solving, digital technologies and sustainability solutions that will give life and cross-fertilize our programs and initiatives with creativity, imagination, experimentation and execution.

Our Philosophy

Innovation is less about novelty and more about impact. The key to our innovation philosophy is to find solutions that have profound impact with limited resource. We call these model high leverage solutions. Our faculty has developed a framework for innovation called Innovation for Growth (I4G).

Identify relevant problems

Generate sensible and intelligent analyses

Significantly enhance their capacity to control and predict

Think in both dimensions: linear and non-linear

Communicate their findings and insights in simple yet meaningful ways

PREMISE 1

We reduce the cost of innovation so it could both contain risks and improve the ROI. The design of cheap business experiments is imperative to the creation of a successful innovation trajectory.

PREMISE 2

Currently there is a tremendous disconnect between humans and technology. We connect human sciences with technology and liberal arts.

PREMISE 3

We aim not to solve, not to resolve, but to dissolve problems in the form of innovation challenges. Innovation requires identifying the problems that matter and moving through them systematically to deliver create/elegant solutions.

PREMISE 4

Even though there is a common belief that usually innovation fails, it doesn’t need to. Innovation almost never fails due to lack of creativity, but because of lack of discipline.

PREMISE 5

The most certain way to fail is to focus ONLY on products. Successful innovators use many types of innovation.

PREMISE 6

We give to much importance to novelty. Novelty wears off quite rapidly. Actually innovations don’t have to be new to the world, only to a market or industry. However, the real innovator is usually the master of the obvious.

PREMISE 7

It doesn’t count until it’s in the market. If the solution is not deployed commercially or has no impact socially then there is no point in doing it.

PREMISE 8

An innovation culture is the premier growth engine for enterprises. An innovation know-how is the premier growth platform. The different types of innovation you can engage represent different growth trajectories your enterprise could pursue.

PREMISE 9

Innovation is about learning to make mistakes, as fast and often as possible, so we can find out what doesn’t work before going to market.

PREMISE 1

The structure defines the backbone of the innovation system. It goes how to structure your profit model, your stakeholder network, how you organize, incentive and align your talent and how you manage your portfolio of innovations projects given a set criteria for investments and expectations.

PREMISE 2

Innovation requires the implementation of a new operating system for the whole organization. As the new reality is constant disruption, an innovation system demands the development of new habits of the mind and a new cognition tool set. Part of this new tool set is the customized design of a structured emergent innovative system. This innovation system supports creates the conditions, processes, practices and routines that will lead to release the organization’s creative potential from its shackles, increase the diversity of innovation teams, and most importantly being able to match the tasks with talent. This dimension activates and mobilizes creativity both with dedication and an open mind.

PREMISE 3

Knowing to Innovate is as important as knowing how to innovate. It is imperative to identify the right innovation opportunities and be very clear about the nature of the innovation we intend to create before beginning any project. The innovation space can focus on:

Product Performance (development of distinguishing features and functionality)
Product Systems (creation of complementary products or services)
Service (how you support or amplify the value of your offerings)
Channel (How you deliver your offerings to customers and users)
Brand (How you represent your offerings and businesses)
Customer Engagement (How you foster compelling interactions)

PREMISE 4

Even though an emergent innovation system could lead organizations to unexpected places, our innovation initiatives should represent the flows of the stream of decisions and actions aimed to reach a particular destiny. The i4g model incorporates to innovation projects parameters that increase and measure the replication and growth potential of the initiatives. The innovation portfolio effectiveness must be measure by the rate of increase in the top line and bottom line. Innovation projects must reinforce each other in the potential to deliver profitable, sustainable and predictable growth.

Program Portfolio

Disruptive Innovation Workshop, Mastering the Unpredictable

New Product Development Strategies Worksho

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Cesar Vallejo College provides a value-driven education focused on increasing your workforce capabilities and relevance while maximizing students’ access.

Our learning experiences will create the required mindset associated with the entrepreneurial spirit: identification of opportunities; risk tolerance and uncertainty; resourcefulness for innovative solutions; rapid recovery from failure, and development of resilience.