Adobe 'Idea Mentor' To Speak On Fostering Innovation At Work
The leader of Adobe Systems Inc.'s innovation efforts is scheduled to lead an interactive workshop on "intrapreneurship" next month at Penn State's Smeal College of Business. Rick Bess, an "idea mentor" at Adobe, will lead a discussion entitled "What It Takes to Be an Entrepreneur Inside a Larger Company" at 4:40 p.m. on Oct. 31 in the Business Building's Struthers Auditorium.
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (September 20, 2007) – The leader of Adobe Systems Inc.'s innovation efforts is scheduled to lead an interactive workshop on "intrapreneurship" next month at Penn State's Smeal College of Business.
Rick Bess, an "idea mentor" at Adobe, will lead a discussion entitled "What It Takes to Be an Entrepreneur Inside a Larger Company" at 4:40 p.m. on Oct. 31 in the Business Building's Struthers Auditorium. The interactive seminar is open to all students within current entrepreneurship courses as well as those who are considering such courses. Faculty are also welcome.
Bess will discuss the similarities and differences between being entrepreneurial in a start-up and within a larger company, and what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur in both cases.
"We're delighted to welcome to Smeal a leader in fostering innovation within large organizations," said Anthony Warren, director of Smeal's Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship. "It's not easy for a successful company to locate and develop all the innovative ideas that its workforce comes up with. Rick's initiatives to ensure that every good idea is heard, no matter from where within Adobe it originates, are on the leading edge of the innovation movement."
One such initiative is Adobe's new Idea Champion Showcase, a quarterly event at which Adobe employees can share new ideas with company executives. Fast Company calls it an "American Idol-style opportunity for good ideas to bubble up."
Bess has been an engineer and computer scientist in large aerospace companies. After spending time in three start-ups, he joined Adobe to manage the way that the company finds and develops new innovative ideas.
