Innovation is the way forward
“It is very gratifying to see the level of engagement and the quality of the projects coming out of our first WW innovation program. The 23 students who completed it have really put their hearts and heads into this!”
Knut Arnesen, vice president innovation in WW, is generous with thanks to the participants as well as all the others who supported the program. “If you look at the top companies on the Fortune 500 list you will find that most of them are into innovation in a big way. They have understood that the process of thinking new and developing new ways to do things never stops. It is a way of life.” Andersen adds that plans for the 2008 programme are already nearing completion.
An historic event
Friday 9 November was the culmination of the first innovation management programme run by the WW Academy. Since the program started in February, these 23 “chosen ones” from 11 nations have digested more than 1 800 pages of literature and attended 40 lectures held by top professors at universities in Norway, Singapore and in San Francisco, California. It was crunch time. It was their opportunity to present their work to the top management of the WW group.
Seven innovative projects
Of 20 projects presented when the programme started, seven where chosen to be developed further. Thru these projects the students have shown how we all as employees can contribute to innovation in the WW group.
The jury, consisting of professor Torger Reve and professor Per Ingvar Olsen (BI Norwegian School of Management), Dag Schjerven and David Tandy (Wilhelmsen Maritime Services), Arild Iversen (Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics) and Knut Arnesen (Wilh. Wilhelmsen) and headed by Ingar Skaug (Wilh. Wilhelmsen), were presented:
- Three environmental related projects – waste management, recycling of vessels as well as using kite on vessel
- One logistics project challenging the group’s existing logistics strategy
- Two projects related to new web applications – one to recruit and retain seafarers and one to optimise and make port calls even more efficient
- One project to roll out an innovative culture in the group
Everyone a winner
Waste to Value (W2V), developed by Iver Iversen and Hans Joachim (Kobi) Koblischke. The winner was closely followed by two runner ups – the logistics project, developed by Eric Ebelig and Dan Leon (American Shipping and Logistics Group), Christoffer Knudsen (Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics) and Benedicte Gude (Wilh. Wilhelmsen), and the crew on net project, My:C, developed by Jane Bordal (Wilhelmsen Ship Management), Snorre Eide (Wilhelmsen Maritime Services) and captain Gerard Menezes.
Reflecting on the conclusion of the first round, Trude Husebø, head of WW Academy said that everyone was a winner. “The innovation program had a lot of ripple effects; all positive. For us at the WW Academy, it helped draw us up to a new level. As for the students themselves, I could see how their horizons expanded as a result of the lectures by some of the top people in the field. It was win win all the way, and it is really exciting to think about the program in 2008.”
About the programme
The Innovation Management in the Global Knowledge Economy is developed by WW Academy in close cooperation with BI Norwegian School of Management and especially professor Torger Reve and professor Per Ingvar Olsen.
See Related information for more information about the programme.