For this particular workshop I teamed up with Prof. Jeremy Bowes of OCAD University, who teaches the graduate course “Understanding Systems” in the Strategic Foresight & Innovation program and who was on sabbatical and ready for that kind of exploration. Over several weeks Jeremy and I worked hard on comparing approaches, vocabulary and concepts until we had a common foundation to actually talk about the workshop’s content itself. From there our exploration began and slowly a common vision of the interplay between systems and business models started to emerge. We presented our understanding of that interplay at the Philadelphia workshop on December 14 and 15, which was well received. Now the exploration continues and there are many more insights to gain.

Philadelphia’s DEC College is in itself a bold experiment in interdisciplinary post-secondary education, building a common core between the faculties of Design, Engineering and Commerce. By creating the space for faculty and fellows to explore and experiment they are creating an excellent innovation environment to bring much needed answers to the state of post-secondary education.

As usual for DwD sessions this one promises again to intersect the boundaries of multiple disciplines and provide a great exploration experience. Details cam be found here.

Thor Muller CTO & Co-founder of Get Satisfaction answers this question with: Yes! Serendipity is not blind luck. It’s a skill-set common to the world’s most admired businesses, and it produces quantifiable results.

Thor will unveil a new framework—the eight elements of planned serendipity—that organizations and individuals can use to make a habit of serendipity at the upcoming Unfinished Business Lecture on Thursday, November 10, 2011 at 5:45 PM at OCAD university’s AUDITORIUM, Main floor, 100 McCaul Street.

The event is free but you need to register here.

Aware of these challenges the CIO Association of Canada (Toronto Chapter) organized two peer-to-peer event in June and in October of this year to explore in more depth the issues related to social media. Both sessions were very well attended and the conversation morphed quickly to the broader concept of “social business” rather than the limited scope of social media. It became rapidly clear that addressing these issues in the enterprise requires a more extensive interaction around a focused agenda. Leveraging its partnership with Forrester’s Research, the CIO Association co-sponsored a full-day workshop aimed specifically at training executives and managers on developing and implementing a social business strategy.

The workshop is taking place on November 17, 2011 at the Toronto Marriot Eaton Centre Hotel (525 Bay Street). Government, education institutions and non-profits as well as CIO Association members receive a discount on the price (use code CIO10). To register click here.

Fast forward two years. The SFI program’s success is widely acknowledged inside and outside the institution. In September 2011 the program will be taking in its third cohort. Meanwhile, the sLab has moved from small projects to a few major ones: the Media Futures 2020, a collaboration of multiple organizations led by sLab is about to be wrapped up; an sLab team has been contracted to provide inputs to the strategic planning process of OCADU for 2012-2017; members of sLab are participating in the team leading the “Take Ontario Mobile” (TOM), a collaborative project developing a vision for enabling Ontarians to access services from any device anywhere; and sLab has just started an important foresight project on Economic Futures Ontario (EFO).

Among the characteristic buzz and apparent chaos of project deadlines and the completion by the 2009 cohort of their Major Research Projects for graduation an interesting and promising capacity in the field of foresight is emerging. sLab specific methodologies are solidifying and one can almost touch the experience gained through intense engagements with real projects.

We are proud to have been involved since the beginnings in these interesting activities and look forward to continue to contribute to this unique space that sLab is carving for itself.

This year’s CIO Exchange will be held 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM on September 15, 2011 at the Toronto Board of Trade, 77 Adelaide St. West, 4th Floor, Toronto. The theme is focused on the transformation of the ICT function in the organization and the implications for the role of the CIO in the future.

More information and registration here.

Following the presentation by three IDC research leads, participants had an opportunity to discuss these technologies and their impact on the organization, as well as an opportunity to pose questions to the IDC team.The discussion was interesting and what participants shared of their own experiences provided a level of insight rarely found in similar events. Here are in no particular order some of the things I learned there:

• SMEs are leading in cloud use for storage and backup, while larger organizations are leading in cloud processing.
• Push to the Cloud is driven by business imperatives not IT. IT needs to build the organization’s cloud governance.
• US based cloud providers a lesser concern lately, probably due to convenience!
• Open data will be storming Canadian public sector. Over 30% of government organizations (all levels) are working on open data initiatives.
• A converged wireless WAN data services offering is to be expected from Rogers and Bell in 2011.
• By end of 2011 50% of all Canadian cell phones will be smart phones.
• Security for mobile is imperative: need to install counter-measures on all end points or monitor such end points centrally.
• Some organizations are pushing enterprise policies to private mobile devices connecting to their networks.
• Outsourcing usually brings out hidden problems of the organization and risks loosing inherent knowledge accumulated previously.

All in all it was an event well worth attending. For information on next event of CIOCAN check out their web site at www.ciocan.ca

Industry speakers will address the evolving role of colleges in Ontario’s innovation strategy. Students and their industry sponsors will share their experiences with the projects they have worked on and describe the economic benefits to the company and the economy.
In addition, federal and Ontario government leaders will speak to the importance of innovation. Speakers from other provinces will offer insights about the key components colleges have found to be successful in creating flourishing applied research partnerships with industry.

The event will be held at the Sutton Place Hotel in Toronto on February 15th.

The purpose of the initiative has been simplified to three words: Connect, Inspire, Transform:  The gold is to connect people, share inspiration and have that result in change.