Building an Innovative Platform for Success

By Harvey Kahalas, Dean, Stuart School of Business and Executive Director, Center for Strategic Competitiveness, IIT

I once heard innovation described as “transformational vision with lasting power”. This description touches on what I believe to be the most critical elements of innovative thinking: the ability to envision new, bold ideas and strategies; the power to enact those ideas; and the impetus to make a positive, transformational impact on the world around us.

Activating the power and possibility of innovation is a focal point of the Center for Strategic Competitiveness (CSC), a research and solutions-development center at Illinois Institute of Technology’s Stuart School of Business. At the CSC, we build partnerships between the corporate, government, and academic communities, uniting resources and expertise to solve challenges. In essence, the CSC harnesses the creativity and intellectual capital of many minds to tackle the problems facing our collective global community.

One of the greatest issues facing our global community today is education, especially in the areas of science and technology. As our world becomes increasingly complex both technologically and environmentally, many of our youngest citizens are simply “falling through the cracks” of the educational system due to lack of appropriate exposure and mentoring support. Studies have long shown that under-served populations, including women and minorities from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds, are particularly under-represented in the science and technology fields, and in higher education. These issues are especially troubling when we consider the very areas our world needs improvement in the most: the management, repair, and protection of our environment, and the critical need for future generations primed to handle this task.

This is clearly a problem too vast for any single community to tackle. The CSC has therefore established a collaborative platform where schools, private foundations, and the corporate community can work together to develop innovative and effective solutions for supplemental education: The Academy for Future Leaders in Science and Technology. The Academy is a summer-long science and technology education and internship experience for Chicago-area high school students that emphasizes the emerging field of Environmental Science and Management, career development and opportunities in higher education.

The Academy has a three-part operational goal for our students:
1) Increase access to Environmental Science and Management education through summer coursework on a university campus.
2) Provide the necessary mentoring support to motivate students to complete their high school education and continue on with post-secondary education, particularly in the science and technology fields.
3) Help students develop an awareness of the emerging “real world” career opportunities in science, technology, and Environmental Science and Management through paid professional internships in these fields.

The CSC has established a collaborative network of schools, businesses and foundations to bring students a rewarding and life-enhancing experience in the inaugural Academy class this summer. Potential academy partners include:

• The Toyota USA Foundation, who awarded a significant grant to the CSC for initial Academy funding;
• Chicago-area high schools, who will collaborate with the CSC to identify prospective Academy students and develop compelling and relevant course material;
• Science and technology-based businesses and government agencies, who will provide summer-long, paid internships that emphasize hands-on learning in Environmental Science and Management to students who may ultimately become leaders in that industry;
• Illinois Institute of Technology, where science and technology classes will take place, exposing students to the richness, diversity, and excitement of a college environment;
• World-class scientists and business leaders, including faculty from the widely recognized Center for Sustainable Enterprise, who will serve as guest speakers and mentors for Academy students.

A web of dedicated partners is only the beginning of our quest to develop a focused, unified supplement to science and technology education for future generations. The CSC’s ultimate goal is to create a reproducible Academy template and to facilitate successful partnerships across the nation. After all, the true value of innovation lies in its ability to transform ideas, lives, and ultimately the world… through the collaboration of many.

To learn more about how you or your organization can become involved with the Academy for Future Leaders in Science and Technology, please contact Marie Vanderford at mailto:vanderford@stuart.iit.edu or (312) 906-6547. To learn more about the Center for Strategic Competitiveness, please visit www.stuart.iit.edu/csc.


Harvey Kahalas is Dean and Harold L. Stuart Professor of Management and Economic Development at the Stuart School of Business at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and the Executive Director of the Center for Strategic Competitiveness as well as the Jules F. Knapp Entrepreneurship Center. Prior to joining IIT, he served as Dean and Professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Dr. Kahalas has been recognized as a Senior Fulbright Scholar and a Distinguished Professor of Management, and is a distinguished lecturer on economic development as well as individual, organizational, and industrial competitiveness. A recognized expert in the areas of training and executive education as well as competitiveness, Dr. Kahalas has extensive corporate experience including providing training programs for leaders from numerous Fortune 500 companies.