University of Michigan Certification for Innovators

Ann Arbor, Michigan, March 31, 2016 (Newswire.com) - The University of Michigan College of Engineering is offering a certification for innovators through the Certified Professional Innovator (CPI) program. In its second year, the program builds the innovation skills of participants to become highly practiced innovation leaders. It is developed and conducted through a partnership with the Innovatrium, an innovation consulting company and think tank in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Jeff DeGraff, the founder of the Innovatrium and the leading faculty of the program, is a well-known professor at U of M Ross School of Business. He has consulted with many of the Fortune 500 companies to assist them finding their growth engine.

"The number one challenge organizations have right now is that they lack the right culture and competency to make innovation happen. They may have a great strategy, but they can't execute it,"

Jeff DeGraff

“The number one challenge organizations have right now is that they lack the right culture and competency to make innovation happen. They may have a great strategy, but they can’t execute it,” DeGraff stated.

The CPI program is designed to develop the competency of small groups of people, who can then mentor others in their organizations and change organizations practices, process, and leadership behavior. It focuses on action learning and participants are expected to bring a real innovation challenge. Its integrated curriculum includes videos, 2-day bootcamp session, an assessment, tools, and coaching for 3 months. The 2-day boot camp session is offered twice a year. The Spring program is coming up on April 28 and 29.

In the first year of the program, participants came from companies in diverse industries, from Apple to Quicken Loan. They jumpstarted their projects in the bootcamp session and produced a proof of concept during the 3 month coaching period. They worked on very different projects, from developing a new healthcare device that will be deployed in space to creating a new travelers’ tool.

The merit of the program is evident in the participants’ enthusiasm. Asked if they would recommend the program, all of them said yes. One participant commented, “[The] best learning experience ever, it is fun yet very relevant to work. [It] fills in lots of knowledge voids and provides lots of food for thoughts for future follow up on!” Watch this video to see what those past participants had to say: http://innv.at/CPI-Overview.

For more information, go to http://innv.at/CPI-umich or contact Sandra Hines at 734-647-5381 [email protected].