PODIM March 24, 2009

The 29th PODIM Conference will gather experts from different countries to address numerous development issues, and to search in fruitful discussions among participants the appropriate answers. Main conference topics are always at the cross-section of sharing reach knowledge and experiences of entrepreneurs, managers, innovators and academics. At very successful 28th PODIM Conference which hosted over 300 participants, 69 authors from 12 countries contributed to understand better the power of linking and networking. We have learned that people are the most precious and scarce resource needed for development of a company and a region. To meet people, exchange experiences, seek joint development opportunities, and develop trust and mutual relations has its purpose. In the business world the purpose is clear: to create products and services that meet the needs of customers, bring profit to company and provide long-term competitive success.

29th PODIM conference is aimed at just that - at consideration and effective approach to creating winning products and services. We want to face the challenges of developing profitable products and services.

Issues to be addressed

It is not possible to conquer the global market by being average! Trafficking is all paid less and with an average product or service the company is not able to generate sufficient margins to survive as the market does not recognize the high price for a mediocrity. How to withdraw from the average? How to create products and services that will attract increasingly demanding customers? How to be exceptional? Innovation only is not enough, to exploit business opportunities it must be combined with excellent entrepreneurial initiative. Creating a winning, profitable products and services is one of the most risky and at the same time the most fatal activity of modern enterprises. Some companies permanently flourish and keep winning, others fail. So what separates winners from losers?

Searching for answers, the PODIM conference will address the following issues:
• Developing winning products and services in highly uncertain contexts
• Creating value that consumers are willing to pay for
• Business Models to Create New Value
• Winning in a Mature Market
• Linking product development to business strategies
• Advanced design technologies and groupware, experimentation and prototyping in development of winning products and services
• Internet support in product development
• The role of marketing in creating winning products and services (analysis of user needs, branding, etc.)
• Roadmapping
• Overcoming departmentalism and managing cross-functional interfaces
• Nurturing innovation by managing creative talents, specialists and professionals
• Creating and sustaining creative and innovative climate in the company
• Corporate entrepreneurship, new ventures, academic spin-offs
• Open Innovation practice
• Disruptive technologies
• Integration of ICT in traditional products
• New service development and opportunities in web-based services
• Product development in communities and in cooperation with communities
• Using Internal and external networks to drive Innovation
• Networks of innovators and virtual organizations
• Alliances, joint ventures, outsourcing and forms of collaboration
• Industry-university collaboration for new product development
• Industry analysis and technology foresight
Who are the participants

At the oldest and most prestigious Slovenian conference on innovation and entrepreneurship we expect some 400 participants: established entrepreneurs and managers, heads of development, marketing and HRM departments, influential opinion-makers, innovation policy makers, banks representatives and venture capital providers, innovation and entrepreneurship researchers, representatives of support environment for entrepreneurship and innovation, students and young researchers.

Venue

The conference will take place in Hotel Habakuk, which lies on the slopes of Pohorje, a ten-minute drive from the centre of Maribor - the economic, business, cultural and university centre of the region. This five-star hotel has been chosen because of its excellent conference facilities and top-class service.

Official Website: http://www.podim.org/