MIS Research Center Seminar Series
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM
1st Floor Auditorium, Carlson School of Management

Abstract

Innovation has become inextricably connected with (and has come to be seen as the cause of) growth, one of the Wall Street's mantra. Unfortunately, serendipity is still one of the main reasons innovation happens, notwithstanding enormous investment in the active “management” of innovation. In this presentation, we will discuss successful real-life examples of innovations in each of the innovation process steps: generation and mobilization, advocacy and screening, experimentation, commercialization, and finally diffusion and implementation.  The role of knowledge management in enabling and furthering each of those phases will be highlighted.

Biography

J. Roberto Evaristo, Ph.D.
Knowledge Management Program Office
3M
revaristo@mmm.com, 651-733-4730

Prior to joining 3M in late 2006, Roberto was on the faculty of the Information and
Decision Sciences Department at the University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC), where
he taught courses in Business Systems Analysis and Design, Project and
Program Management, and Management of Distributed Projects. He has
researched and consulted extensively for over fifteen years with work done in the
United States, Japan, Latin America and Europe.

Roberto’s work has focused on the management of distributed projects, with
emphasis on developing and implementing solutions designed to improve
sharing and transfer of appropriate knowledge. One of them, a novel
methodology created to improve crisis management and associated short-term
knowledge transfer decisions, was the basis for a showcase application
developed for Avian Flu Pandemic Preparedness and implemented in Miami
(Miami-Dade Health County Health Department). Other applications related to
business continuity planning have also been developed.

He has published over 30 refereed articles in both academic and practitioner
journals including the Communications of the ACM, IEEE Transactions on
Engineering Management, International Journal of Project Management,
International Journal of Emergency Management, Business Horizons, European
Management Journal, Human Systems Management, and the Journal of
Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce. Additionally, Roberto has
published over 70 book chapters and conference proceedings as well as
engaged in multiple expert panels. Prior to joining the faculty at UIC, Roberto
was Associate Professor at University of Denver in Colorado. He has also taught
graduate and executive education at the Pontificia Universidade Catolica and
Universidade de Sao Paulo in Brazil; Escuela Superior de Administración de
Empresas in Lima, Peru; and at SDA Bocconi in Milan, Italy. He was visiting
Professor at University College Dublin in Ireland, at Agder College in
Kristiansand, Norway, and at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
He has also been keynote speaker in more than fifteen worldwide meetings and
conferences.

Roberto earned his Doctor of Philosophy in Management Information Systems
from the University of Minnesota, his Master of Science in Transportation
Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (PET/COPPE, UFRJ)
and his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the Federal University of
Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil.