Judges will select winners from seven different categories according to how creative and original their achievements are and the impact these have on their company, the industry, and the wider world
The Economist's Innovation Summit and Awards Ceremony, now in its fifth year, will be held at the London Marriott Hotel, 9-10 November 2006.
The two-day event opens with a prestigious awards ceremony on 9 November 2006 that celebrates the achievements and innovations of individuals, rather than companies or organisations, who have positively transformed global business with their commitment to new ideas and creativity.
Previous winners include Linus Torvalds, inventor of the Linux operating system (2004 Computing), Leroy Hood, for his work on human genome mapping (2002 Bioscience) and Professor Fujio Masuoka, inventor of the Flash Memory Chip (2005 'No Boundaries').
A distinguished panel of judges will select winners from seven different categories with entrants being assessed according to how creative and original their achievements are and the impact these have had on their company, the industry and the wider world.
The seven categories are as follows.
Bioscience.
Energy and the environment (sponsored by IBM).
Social and economic.
Computing and telecommunications.
Consumer products.
Business process (sponsored by UGS).
No Boundaries (sponsored by Nesta).
On 10 November an interactive half-day summit will take place that aims to educate industry leaders about the importance of innovation and of putting good ideas into practice quickly and effectively to gain competitive advantage.
Company directors, chairmen and senior executives are invited to pit their wits against global leaders in innovation, and network with industry leaders from a broad spectrum of industries.
The distinguished line-up of speakers includes:.
Adobe Systems, Stephen Elop, president, worldwide field operations.
BMW, Jorg Reimann, head of marketing Innovations.
eBay Europe, Philipp Justus, senior vice-president.
Finnish National Fund for Research and Development, Esko Aho, president.
HM Treasury, Andrew Gowers, independent reviewer.
