September 2025 | VOL. 18 | ISSUE 11
The Innovation Newsletter
A Quarterly Newsletter from the Producers of the Innovation Workshop & Tour: A Quarterly Series
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Powering Organic Growth through Product Innovation
INNOVATION WORKSHOP & TOUR: A QUARTERLY SERIES
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INNOVATION SPOTLIGHT
Bipedal Robots
Train your employees - Make sure they understand your processes
Neither Snowballs nor Summits can be reused across multiple departments.
Both Snowballs and Summits require equal levels of customization and long development cycles.
Snowballs are complex, bespoke capabilities requiring significant expertise and time to develop, while Summits are reusable capabilities that can be deployed across departments with minor customization.
Snowballs are reusable capabilities that can be deployed across departments with minor customization, while Summits are complex, bespoke capabilities requiring significant expertise and time to develop.
At the Innovation Workshop & Tour: A Quarterly Series at 3M, Nithin Ramachandran described two archetypes for AI implementation. Which statement correctly matches the archetype with its characteristics?
SUBMIT
December 8 - 9, 2025 | Dallas, TX
Correct Answer: Snowballs are reusable capabilities that can be deployed across departments with minor customization, while Summits are complex, bespoke capabilities requiring significant expertise and time to develop.
Key Takeaways from the Innovation Workshop & Tour: A Quarterly Series at 3M
Evaluate your AI strategy to determine which use cases are "snowballs" and "summits." For snowball strategies, focus more on the application than the technology - look for
ways to reimagine processes using commoditized AI tools.
For summit strategies, prepare for longer development cycles and ensure strong stakeholder alignment before beginning.
OUR UPCOMING EVENTS
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Innovating with GenAI was the theme of Frost & Sullivan’s latest Innovation Workshop and Tour: A Quarterly Series.
Thought leaders from Bayer, CoBank, Medtronic, New Balance and other notable companies shared timely innovation insights and strategies while collaborating with peers in an inspirational setting. The event included a tour of the 3M Innovation Center, where participants learned about many of the technologies underlying the thousands of products developed by the 3M Company. Like the other companies who participated, 3M is in a state of transition, moving from a traditional R&D model to digitally enabled innovation.
Click the arrow in the box to the right to swipe through some of the key takeaways from the major sessions of this event. To read more insights from this workshop & tour, click here.
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Nokia Executive Experience Center
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ARTICLES & INSIGHTS
AI’s ROI Crisis, Robotics & Automation and AI Factories
1
Key Takeaways from the Innovation Workshop & Tour:
A Quarterly Series at 3M
Innovation spotlight
2
3
Two Archetypes for AI Implementation
INNOVATION QUIZ
4
Innovation Workshop at & Tour: A Quarterly Series at Nokia Executive Experience Center,
and more!
UPCOMING EVENTS
Read More
Read More
Read More
NOVEMBER 5, 2025 | southwest locale
Powering Organic Growth through Product Innovation
INNOVATION WORKSHOP & TOUR: A QUARTERLY SERIES
at Nokia Executive Experience Center
LEARN MORE
Key Strategies When Leveraging Partnerships:
DECEMBER 8-9, 2025 | DALLAS, TX
Navigating the Hype: Balancing Confidence and Caution in the Age of GenAI
When designing with AI, understand that the quality of the question / prompt is as important as the system itself
Include both technical AI specialists and philosophical thinkers on implementation teams
Recognize the limits of current language models that generate patterns rather than true understanding
Navigating the Hype: Balancing Confidence and Caution in the Age of GenAI
Panel – Inside Our GenAI Journey: Real-World Uses, Challenges, and Lessons Learned
Panel: Inside Our GenAI Journey: Real-World Uses, Challenges, and Lessons Learned
Focus on data normalization and availability; the quality of data directly impacts AI results
Maintain "human in the loop" processes, recognizing that "cognitive intelligence and lateral thinking" remain uniquely human capabilities
Recognize that AI is "more art than science"— aim for 70% accuracy rather than expecting binary pass / fail results
Establishing Effective Governance Frameworks
for GenAI
Establishing Effective Governance Frameworks
for GenAI
Treat each AI idea like a startup with defined roles: idea submitter as "founder," innovation team as "CEO," and organization as "angel investor"
Focus on customer needs first—"what are they doing today and what do they want to do tomorrow?"
Start by understanding what business problem you're trying to solve rather than implementing AI for its own sake
Unleashing the Potential of GenAI as Your
Innovation Assistant
Unleashing the Potential of GenAI as Your
Innovation Assistant
"Summits" - bespoke, complex capabilities that require significant expertise and time to develop.
"Snowballs" - reusable capabilities that can be deployed across multiple
departments with minor customization.
Ramachandran presented two strategic archetypes for AI implementation:
Evaluate your AI strategy to determine which use cases are which. For snowball strategies, focus more on the application than the technology. For summits, prepare for longer development cycles.
Tangible Ways That Really Work
to Drive Change
Tangible Ways That Really Work to
Drive Change
Measure both hard metrics (revenue, ROI) and soft metrics (engagement, trust) to track AI adoption success
Successful digital transformation depends less on having the best AI models and more on how organizations engage people, build empathy, and rewire their culture
AI transformation is 10% technology and 90% psychology
NOVEMBER 5, 2025 | southwest locale
INNOVATION WORKSHOP & TOUR: A QUARTERLY SERIES
FEBRUARY 10-11, 2026 | SOUTHEAST LOCALE
LEARN MORE
Onur Yüce Gün
Director of Computational Design
New Balance
Moderator: Ryan Culver, Director, AI and Innovation, SelectQuote Insurance Services
Panelists: Shane Achterberg, Director of Innovation, Automation and Architecture, Schneider National, Vinod Das, Director, Pharma R&D, AI Solutions Enablement, Bayer, Jared Goldman, Vice President Innovation & Digital Design, New Balance
Alp Basol
Head of Innovation & AI Center
of Excellence
CoBank
Nithin Ramachandran
Global Vice President – Data
Analytics, MDM,
AI/ML and Gen AI, 3M
Vignesh Shetty
Vice President of Artificial
Intelligence & Software
Engineering
Enabling Technologies, Medtronic
NOVEMBER 5, 2025 | southwest locale
INNOVATION WORKSHOP & TOUR: A QUARTERLY SERIES
may 5 - 6, 2026 | MIDWEST LOCALE
LEARN MORE
Business Model Innovation
Technology Innovation
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Case study: How enterprises can scale AI with factory-style models
By James Droskoki
Global Vice President, AI Sales
Astris AI, A Lockheed Martin Company
AI Factories: Building Innovation at Industrial Scale
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Strategies to implement fast, intelligent, and seamless automation into your business
By Sanjoy Sarkar
SVP, Senior Director -
Application Development & Support
Robotics and Digital Automation
Redefining Innovation Through Robotics and Digital Automation
CLICK TO READ MORE
A new framework that focuses on precisely defined, measurable business outcomes
By Sandeep Bose
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Axyo Inc.
AI’s ROI Crisis: Why 95% of Projects Fail
and How to Fix Yours
ARTICLES & INSIGHTS