Blended program
Innovation in Action

Master innovation through real-world application

Blended program

Innovation in Action

Master innovation through real-world application

Location

IMD campus, UEFA and IOC Headquarters

Length

6 days on campus, 3 live virtual sessions, 2 coaching sessions

Fee
CHF 10,900
Next program starts

28 October 2024

Gain a comprehensive toolbox for innovation breakthroughs and build your entrepreneurial skills

What is the common thread between Yamaha, Alibaba, Microsoft, Uber, and Amazon? These companies are all clear leaders in their industries, and all embrace innovation and entrepreneurial thinking as part of their overall business strategy. To survive and maintain a competitive edge, companies must continuously innovate and re-invent themselves. However, innovation in theory is one thing but applying it in practice to real-world business problems is quite another.

IMD has partnered with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) to bring you the Innovation In Action program. You will put innovation and your entrepreneurial thinking into practice with a real-world innovation challenge, bolster your leadership skills, and apply what you have learned to your own business with a concrete action plan.

Uncover the secrets of innovation

Get hands-on training in ideation, design-thinking and prototyping techniques.

Learn the skills of successful entrepreneurs

Learn to deal with failure and iterate your thinking by making sense of experiments that don’t work.

Turn promising ideas into business opportunities

Identify factors that can derail or slow down your efforts to innovate.

Bolster your leadership to lead innovation

Engage people in your vision with powerful rhetorical and storytelling techniques.

You and your class

This program is designed for individual entrepreneurs, managers and executives across all industry sectors who want to learn the mindset and skills required to steer customer innovations from early concept development to validated breakthrough solutions.

  • Are you trying to grow and sharpen your innovation capabilities as a leader or as a team?
  • Are you working for an established organization that needs to escape the business as usual and explore disruptive new trajectories and business ideas?
  • Are you facing deep customer shifts and searching for a toolbox that will let you imagine new experiences and drive change in your industry?

 

Benefit from a complimentary profile assessment to see if this is the right program for you.

Experience the program
See the program in action and hear from the program director.
Participants get hands-on with an innovation challenge in the kitchen.

Innovation skills are best acquired through concrete hands-on experience

During the program, partnering with UEFA and the IOC, you will practice innovation and hone your entrepreneurship skills. The program is delivered as an immersive experience at the IMD campus as well as 2 days at UEFA and IOC Headquarters in Lausanne. You will get the chance to meet and get inspired by renowned keynote speakers from the entertainment industry and top-level professional athletes.

Throughout the program you will be working on a concrete, real-world challenge and explore innovative ways to rethink customer journey’s during and after major sporting events.

Embrace design thinking and learn key innovation frameworks.
Dive into real-world innovation challenges.
Learn from inspirational industry keynote speakers.
Reflect on and improve your leadership style and effectiveness.
Your learning journey
Module 1 – Launch: Immerse yourself

3 sessions of 4 hours – live virtual
1 one-hour coaching session – live virtual

  • Session 1 (30 September 2024, 13:30-17:30 CET):
    • Kick-off: meet your peers
  • Session 2 (14 October 2024, 13:00-17:00 CET):
    • Think like a designer
  • Session 3 (17 October 2024, 13:30-17:30 CET):
    • Understand what customers want
  • Individual coaching session (1 hour between 21 and 25 October 2024)
Module 2 – Design: Learn, apply and reflect

6 days in Lausanne area
28 October – 2 November 2024

  • 3 days at IMD campus
  • 1 day at a start-up incubator
  • 2 days at UEFA and IOC Headquarters
Module 3 – Transform: Transfer learning to your own context

1 one-hour coaching session, live virtual

  • Individual coaching session (1 hour between 11 November and 31 December 2024)
What our participants say
Nadim Banna, Innovation in Action participant
Nadim Banna

Senior Strategy & Operations Salesforce, Switzerland

A dynamic interplay between theory and real-world application

Innovation in Action was an inspiring program where I experienced a dynamic interplay between sophisticated theoretical principles and their direct application in real-world scenarios. The highlight? Connecting with incredible people driven to shape the future!

Diana Pirciu Vasile

Head of Education, Federatia Romana de Fotbal, Romania

A must for anyone who leads a team

I totally recommend this course to anyone who leads a team, not only sport professionals. The diversity of the group and activities bring the athletic mindset together with managerial style. The power of the group is a main takeaway as well as the ability to use the innovation frameworks. Also, being creative and working in a group helped me better understand the value each person brings in forming a great and complex project.

Martin Urrutia Islas

Global Head Retail Innovation and Experience, LEGO Group, Denmark

Experience innovation from different angles

I came out from Innovation in Action refreshed with new energy and now see innovation from different angles, in ways I have not done before.

Siphamandla Ntombela

Senior Sector Specialist: Manufacturing, Renewable Energy, Transport and Logistics, Absa Group

Leverage innovation to make a meaningful impact

Innovation in Action challenges you to play a role as a leader amongst leaders and ultimately makes you question how you can use innovation in the space you are in to make a meaningful impact on business and on society.

Many organizations tell us they want to be fast, agile, and re-invent the value they can bring to business and society, but game-changing offerings are hard to come by. Most executives struggle to define what it means to be truly innovative. And they want tools that will help them keep up with the rapid pace of change occurring in their business environments.

Read more

Cyril Bouquet Program Director
Cyril Bouquet’s publications
Next start & fee

Length: 3 liVe sessions over 3 weeks plus one week face-to-face at Lausanne campus, IOC, and UEFA headquarters.

Dates
27 Oct – 1 Nov 2025
Location
IMD campus, UEFA and IOC Headquarters
Length
6 days on campus, 3 live virtual sessions, 2 coaching sessions
Price
CHF 10,900

Tuition, teaching materials, and lunch are included.
All fees quoted are exclusive of any value-added or other indirect taxes that may be due in any country.
IMD reserves the right to modify the program dates, location, and fee at any time.

One step closer to joining IMD alumni network

Successful completion of this program takes you one step closer to joining IMD’s powerful alumni network.

130k+ alumni

Networking

250+ events per year

Communities

50+ clubs worldwide

Resources

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