Who we are - The Institute for Innovation Development is designed to be an educational and business innovation catalyst for the financial services industry.  We are dedicated to educating, arming, supporting and motivating member firms in making innovation best practices a vital cornerstone for their business growth.

What we are about: The most important word in our name is "Development." We are not going to just talk about innovation, think about innovation, we are all about doing innovation; learning to harness it, making it practical and bottom-line, defining steps and applying it to benefit our businesses. It’s about bravely confronting, head-on the rapid rate of change in our industry and world around us!

Why this is important: In a world of constant, unrelenting change, we need to learn about innovation because innovation is all about change. Innovation is the art and science behind understanding, creating, managing and delivering change. In a rapidly changing world, innovation becomes a potent business survival mechanism. Innovation, and its component skills, does this by focusing our vision forward, consistently challenging our thinking, and most importantly, keeping us from being blindsided.

Main benefits: We will get to the heart of the question of what exactly is innovation and learn to start harnessing it as a practical, bottom-line business tool to help us grow and differentiate our businesses more effectively. That’s the main byproduct of innovative thinking and innovation processes – dynamic growth and competitive differentiation.

Blog structure: We will be alternating posts that will explore all aspects of innovation from a business perspective; report on innovation activities and case studies both within and outside the financial services industry; and interview and engage top innovation practitioners, who work globally across industries, for their unique viewpoints as business growth specialists.

Parting question: Over the next five years, will innovation and change overwhelm you or will you harness innovation as a key part of your growth and business strategy? Will you be blindsided by change or be an innovation leader? This blog and the Institute for Innovation Development were designed to be your ongoing partner to support innovation leadership for your business and your community.

The Institute for Innovation Development is an educational and business development catalyst for growth-oriented financial services firms. We position our members with the necessary ongoing innovation resources and coaching to drive and facilitate their growth, differentiation and unique community engagement strategies. The Institute launched with the support and foresight of our Founding Sponsor partners – Innovation Equity Partners, Pershing, Ultimus Fund Solutions, Fidelity, Meridian IQ & Charter Financial Publishing (FA & Private Wealth magazines). Together, we help make innovation happen. For more information or to join, click here.