John Kao is a leading authority on innovation, business creativity, organizational transformation, and emerging technologies who has been dubbed “Mr. Creativity” and “a serial innovator” by The Economist. John has been a trusted advisor to senior leaders of both public and private sector organizations; he has advised numerous countries including Finland and Singapore on their innovation strategies as well as leading firms such as Nike, Intel, and BASF. He is the author of the best-selling books Innovation Nation and Jamming: The Art and Discipline of Business Creativity. By training, Dr. Kao has a BA from Yale College, an MD from Yale Medical School, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He taught at HBS from 1982-96, where he specialized in innovation and entrepreneurship. He has also held faculty appointments at the MIT Media Lab, Yale College, and the US Naval Postgraduate School. John is also a jazz pianist and a Tony-nominated producer on film and stage: he was producer of the Broadway play, Golden Child, and executive producer of Mr. Baseball
ITIF hosted an expert panel discussion featuring European Commission, Deputy Director-General for Research and Innovation, Signe Ratso, on the thinking and inspiration behind the European Innovation Council, how it will work in practice, and how it is expected to change the face of European innovation over the next decade.