Description
Christian Crews and Ted Farrington discuss the role a comprehensive foresight process for R&D can play in improving performance and steering the organization through a turbulent marketplace. Read their article, "Foresight and the Future of R&D," from RTM's special 60th Anniversary issue on "Innovation Management: State of the Art," January-February 2017.
For more information on IRI20138 Futures Study, click here.
Contributors
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Mr. Christian Crews, Foresight, Discovery and Ideation Practice Lead, Kalypso Consulting
Christian Crews is the Principal of Wavepoint, a foresight and growth strategy advisory services firm. He has over 20 years of experience applying foresight to strategic innovation and growth for Fortune 500 and Global 1000 clients including PepsiCo, Goodyear, and CVS. Previously, he was the Global Foresight and Growth Lead for Kalypso LP, a $50 million innovation consulting firm. Christian has written extensively on the use of foresight for growth and innovation. In 2011 he wrote the definitive case study applying futures thinking to research and development and portfolio management (Research Foresights, in Research-Technology Management). In 2013 he led the Industrial Research Institute IRI2038 project, a multi-company exploration of the future of R&D. His use of foresight for innovation was featured in the 60th Anniversary edition of Research-Technology Management, alongside articles by Henry Chesbrough, Erik von Hippel, Robert J. Cooper, and Don Norman.
Christian holds a Master of Science in Studies of the Future from the University of Houston – Clear Lake, and a Bachelor of Arts in English from The College of William and Mary. -
Dr. Ted Farrington, IRI Emritus
Ted Farrington has been active in the IRI for 20 years and led the IRI2038 futures study that was conducted as part of IRI’s 75th Anniversary Jubilee in 2013. In 2018 Ted retired from Kalypso Consulting where he worked for two years as a Kalypso Fellow specializing in the use of strategic foresight, breakthrough innovation and improved R&D management processes to drive innovation and growth. Previously, he retired from his position as Sr. Director, PepsiCo Advanced Research in 2014 and has spent 35 years in R&D with companies including P&G, Kimberly-Clark, James River, and Johnson & Johnson. Over his career Ted has held positions ranging from R&D researcher to Vice-President of R&D. He was an Assistant Professor of Engineering at the Institute of Paper Chemistry during the 1980’s.
Dr. Farrington has a BS degree in Math and Physics, and an MS in Mathematics from Clarkson University, an MS in Chemical Engineering from Caltech and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Maine. He holds 18 US patents and has written a book about leadership in large organizations titled “What Do I Do Now? Becoming a 21st Century Leader”.