Northeast Ohio innovation leaders recently gathered for the EDGE InnoQuest Session at Akron Children’s Hospital.  Special thanks to Akron Children’s for hosting and sharing more about the Hospital’s Innovation Center and to Dave Loomis of Loomis Marketing who engaged the group in his program on Servant Innovation: Taking Voice-of-Customer to the Extreme. 

During this highly interactive session, Dave addressed:

• The difference between listening and deep listening when conducting voice-of-customer work
• How to find unique insights that move the needle – including great real-world examples
• How timeless principals can be applied to high-tech product development
• How to create compelling outcome statements to guide innovation
• Why empathy, curiosity and customer devotion are more important now than ever.

Dave has helped numerous companies large and small – local and global – drive organic growth through more effective VOC, innovation, branding and digital journeys. 

Also, Akron Children’s shared some of their learnings from their new innovation journey and led us on a special tour of their life-size cardboard mock-up that they are using to redesign their centralized core laboratory.  This ‘prototype’ lab allows them to let employees experience the space before building – minimizing any needed construction corrections as they need to be 100% operational to support this lab that runs 24/7. 

Testimonial:“My 3 takeaways:

1. Having empathy with customers; listen to the customer on what problems they’re solving.
2. Outcomes based; what are the actual outcomes customers are trying to achieve.
3. Providing simpler and less complex solutions; ‘Don’t try to boil the ocean’.” 

– James Dempsey, Sr. Director R&D and Emerging Technologies, GOJO Industries, Inc.

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About the InnoQuest Innovation Management Program:

A collaborative forum offered bi-monthly to leaders and innovation practitioners of mid- to large-sized companies in Northeast Ohio. Participants gain best practices in managing and guiding the innovation process, new working relations with peer companies & leading practitioners and actionable steps to improve a company’s innovation practices. Program content has included: Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing), Lean Start-Up Principles, Design Thinking and Creativity in Leadership. Each session is held at a location of interest throughout the region; past locations have included; Sherwin Williams, The Technology House, NASA Glenn Research Center, Baldwin Wallace Center for Innovation and Growth, Parker Hannifin’s New Innovation Center and the Cleveland Institute of Art.

To participate in the InnoQuest Innovation Management program contact:
Chris Keller (Chris@edgef.org; 216-346-6300) or Grant Marquit (Grant@edgef.org; 216-215-5058)