Irving Wladawsky-Berger

Technical Strategy and Innovation Expert

BIG IDEAS

• Innovation in the Knowledge Economy
  We are in the early stages of a profound technology-based revolution with the potential to alter the shape of companies, industries and whole economies, and which could have the kind of impact on us in the 21st century that the Industrial Revolution had on previous generations. Information technologies are the engine driving this revolution, playing the role that “steam power” played in the industrial economy. IT, especially since the advent of the Internet in the mid 1990s, is in the process of transforming just about all aspects of business, society and our personal lives, giving rise to a series of major disruptive innovations and ushering a new, knowledge-based economy.
  
  A few key attributes characterize the market environment in the knowledge economy: it is much more global, integrated and competitive; it is market-facing, people-oriented and service-intensive; and it is highly complex, fast changing and unpredictable. Consequently, the nature of innovation in the knowledge economy is quite different from the past: it is global, open, multi-disciplinary and above all, collaborative.
  
  In this presentation, Irving will discuss the variety of angles innovation can be approached in the new knowledge economy. Some general in nature, that is, what are the major forces driving the changes? He will also speak to industry specific examples where he will uncover key transformations taking place in a specific industries, such as media, healthcare or consumer electronics. And some will be company specific—what does a company need to do to adapt to the changing marketplace and transform its culture?
• Leadership, Management and Business Transformation
  Managing an organization is very challenging and becoming more challenging given today’s unpredictable, fast changing, intensely competitive market environment. Being a successful manager in such an environment is truly difficult: you have to constantly improve your products and services to keep up with fast changing technologies and markets; you have to work hard to retain existing customers and attract new ones regardless of how ferocious the competition is; and you must achieve good financial results quarter after quarter, lest you disappoint shareholders and financial analysts, who will then start asking for your head.
  
  In highly disruptive times, let alone in a time of crisis, being an excellent manager is not enough. The tried-and-true management disciplines are no longer working. Something else, over and above excellent management is required, namely leadership. Leaders must be good managers, but in addition, they have to understand that innovation is a key business imperative, especially in these times of change, in order to help a company embrace new disruptive technologies, adapt to a changing market environment, and help transform its business models and culture as required in order to survive the changes and emerge as leaders in the new environment.
  
  As is happening to an increasing number of companies today, businesses that are not able to innovate and transform themselves risk their very survival. In this presentation Irving will analyze the cases of companies that have gone through near death experiences to understand why some, like IBM, make it through, while so many others have not been able to do so.
• The Cloud: A New Model of Computing for the 21st Century
  The buzz and excitement around cloud computing has been steadily building over the past few years. There is general agreement that something big and profound is going on, although there is no consensus on what cloud computing is. For some, cloud computing is about massively scalable, well engineered data centers that can deliver a huge number of services at high quality and low costs. Others view the Cloud as providing all kinds of services over the Internet, be it software, applications, business processes, computing or storage, all provided “as-a-service.” Yet others don’t see anything new in cloud computing, simply the evolution of the Internet, Grid computing, On Demand, Virtualization and other major IT initiatives of the last decade.
  
  One of the major reasons for both the excitement and lack of consensus is that we are basically seeing the emergence of a new model of computing in the IT world. For the IT industry, a new computing model is a very big deal. In the fifty years or so since there has been an IT industry, this would be only the third such modele—l, ccentralized and client-server computing being the two previous ones.
  
  By monitoring how each industry evolves to embrace cloud computing, we will gain strategic insights into how to prepare for the shift. Irving explores the many implications of cloud computing including virtualization, shared infrastructures, highly disciplined systems management, flexible deployment and scalability.
• Excelling in the Age of Complex Organizational Systems
  Complex systems, whether natural or engineered, are composed of many parts. Over the past couple of centuries, we have made a lot of progress understanding naturally occurring complex systems through the study of physics, chemistry, biology and other sciences. But now, in the 21st century, we need to better understand how to deal with highly complex organizational systems, that is, systems involving people and services as their components instead of just physical “things.” Increasingly, such complex organizational systems are all around us as a result of the levels of integration made possible by the Internet and other advanced technologies. Examples abound, from health care systems, to financial services, transportation, and even cities.
  
  Physically engineered systems−bridges, skyscrapers, planes, and computers−are based on rational, well-behaved components that do what they are supposed to do most of the time. That makes it possible to generally predict the behavior of such systems under widely varying conditions. People, and the services they perform for each other, are the key components in organizational and socio-technical systems. Because people and services exhibit a high degree of variance, that makes such systems intrinsically unpredictable.
  
  Market-facing systems involving people and services need to be managed very carefully. Leaders within organizations need real-time access to information so that it may be analyzed and used to make better informed, more intelligent and smarter decisions. This Information will help leadership better model, optimize the performance, and manage these complex systems.

SNAPSHOT BIO

For over 30 years Dr. Irving Wladawsky-Berger influenced and shaped IBM’s innovation and technical strategy. During his tenure he was responsible for identifying emerging technologies and marketplace developments critical to the future of the IT industry, and organizing appropriate activities in and outside of IBM in order to capitalize on them. He led a number of successful companywide initiatives including the Internet and e-business, supercomputing, Linux, Grid computing and, in October 2002, IBM's On Demand Business initiative. Retired in 2007, Irving continues to consult for IBM on major new market strategies like Cloud Computing and Smart Planet.  
 
A widely sought after expert in the fields of innovation, technology and transformation, Irving was appointed Strategic Advisor in March 2008 at Citigroup to assist with innovation and technology initiatives across the company.  He is helping to formulate Citigroup initiatives related the future of global banking, including mobile banking, Internet-based financial services, and financial systems modeling and analysis.  He was a member of President Obama's Technology, Innovation and Government Reform transition team. The goal of this initiative was to developed a set of policy proposals to make government more open and transparent, leverage high-technology to grow the economy and create jobs, and use social networking tools to involve citizens in government transformation through their collective energy and expertise.

Irving is Visiting Lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and Engineering Systems Division, Adjunct Professor in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group at the Imperial College Business School, and Senior Fellow at the Levin Institute of the State University of New York.  In addition, he is a member of several boards including the InnoCentive Advisory Board, the Spencer Trask Collaborative Innovations Board, the Board of  Directors of the Federation of American Scientists, and the Visiting Committee for the Physical Sciences Division at the University of Chicago.

He was co-chair of the President Bill Clinton’s Information Technology Advisory Committee, as well as a founding member of the Computer Sciences and Telecommunications Board of the National Research Council.  He is a former member of the University of Chicago Board of Governors for Argonne National Laboratories, of the Board of Overseers for Fermilab and of BP’s Technology Advisory Council.  He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. A native of Cuba, he was named the 2001 Hispanic Engineer of the Year.

Dr. Wladawsky-Berger received an M.S. and a Ph. D. in physics from the University of Chicago.

A Closer Look at Irving

FOCUS AREAS
What's on Irving's current research agenda?

A prolific blogger, Irving focuses much of his research and writing on such topics as Cloud Computing, Complex Systems, Diversity, Education and Talent, Innovation, Management and Leadership, Society and Culture, and Technology and Strategy among others.

To learn more about Irving's work, visit his blog at: http://blog.irvingwb.com/ 

ENGAGEMENTS
How have other organizations utilized Irving's expertise, and what's ahead on his schedule?

Irving has worked extensively with the private sector, premiere academic institutions, as well as government groups.

SPHERE OF INFLUENCE
Who shapes Irving's thinking and inspires his work?

Irving puts huge value on the ability to contrast historical points of view in helping to understand current questions surrounding the role of government. He looks to the experiences of the Founding Fathers and the learnings from the Age of Enlightenment for his inspiration.

MIND FUEL
Which blogs, web sites, and industry events does Irving tap into to feed his mind and fuel his creativity?

Given Irving's interest in collaborative innovation, he spends a great deal of time "living on the web." The internet provides him a platform to interact with colleagues for content sharing and creation.