YPO members examined innovation through a variety of lenses — geographies, industries and technologies — on 9 May, the third day of 2018 YPO Innovation Week. Through live and virtual events, YPO members networked with leading thinkers and learned about positive disruption and staking a position at the forefront of change.

Innovation in the culture

InnovNation Israel’s champion and YPO member Nirit Harel sums up the event’s 360-degree approach as “challenging participants’ traditional concept of innovation and what constitutes advancement. Members begin to envision innovation as a state of mind that can be applied to every sector and area of their lives — from how they work, to how they exercise, consume food, experience culture and beyond.”

This is a tall order, but day two of the event met it in fine style in the startup city of Tel Aviv, Israel. Participants visited the Birthright Innovation Center, engaged in speed-networking with local YPOers and leaders in the Israeli investment community at the site of the first national pre-state bank, and witnessed a special krav maga session highlighting innovations in Israeli martial arts. The day came to an end with a cocktail tradeshow and a gala dinner focused on top Israeli innovations and their impact on the world, held at the Yitzhak Rabin Center, where participants learned about the late Prime Minister’s commitment to innovation in geopolitics as a way of bringing people in the region closer together — in Harel’s words, “innovation in peacemaking.”

A cutting-edge World Tech Summit

World Tech Summit (WTS) Co-Chair Nicole Larrauri set high expectations for the event by promising that members would leave with “at least three applications of how technology can improve or enhance their business or their life.” To that end, the summit featured both peer-to-peer networking and formal presentations.

Scott Galloway, author of “The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google,” gave opening remarks, and remaining sessions focused on the future. As YPO member and event co-chair Dan Hoffman pointed out, “YPO CEOs don’t just need to know about the future, they make the future. WTS is a chance to be thoughtful about the world we’re creating.” The future-focused presentations covered  such topics as space, health care with augmented-reality surgery performed on stage, city and transportation, and work.

Larrauri points to WTS as an opportunity for YPOers to “educate themselves about the leading edge and bleeding edge of technology.” Hoffman agrees, but for a different reason: “We need to band together now to prevent the robots from winning. WTS is where that begins.”

YPO Innovation Week wraps up on Friday, 11 May. See ypoinnovationweek.com/schedule for upcoming events and registration information.