Recent News

Vaulting Into Business

CIS Executive Director Paul Reeder has long supported the Bucks Go Pro Program (BGP) offered through the Eugene D. Smith Leadership Institute within the Ohio State Department of Athletics. The Center for Innovation Strategies has hosted a BGP intern the past few years. This summer, Reeder provided innovation coaching and guidance to Nicole Riccardi, a member of Ohio State’s Women’s Gymnastics team.

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Transform Your Customer Strategy Through Data Innovation

We sat down with Jasmine de Gaia, an Executive at Wells Fargo & Co and Head of Customer Data Strategy, to discuss how organizations can drive innovation and customer experience transformation through the effective use of data. Below is an excerpt from our conversation. 

The sheer amount of data being generated today – through virtually every transaction and interaction  – is staggering. Whether we realize it or not, we leave data bread crumbs via every digital process, every sensor, and every smart device we interact with throughout the course of our days. This isn’t going away, it’s only going to become more so. And now, unlike any time before in our history, we have the ability to manage, store and analyze this vast amount of data with incredible speed and efficiency. Organizations also have a responsibility and an opportunity to accelerate innovation by examining ethical and responsible uses of data to provide enhanced customer experiences.

How can data be used to drive innovation? 

We think of technology as a force that changes the world, and it is. But oftentimes, data is the underlying driver behind many of these innovations. When we begin to understand precisely how much data there is, both within and outside our organizations, and how it’s generated, collected, stored, and managed, and ultimately how to analyze and leverage it, we can start to unlock the power it has to help us provide better customer experiences.

The amount of data that organizations now have access to can feel overwhelming. When thinking about data and innovation, where should people start? 

There are a number of ways that we can tap into the power of data to help us transform and innovate our customer and operational strategies. A good place to start is by seeking to deeply understand the end-to-end customer journey - map out all the touch points you have with your customers, including their engagement with your products and services, even before they become customers, as well as ongoing, long-term customer support. What data is being generated at each stage of the process, where and how are you collecting it, and what’s being done with it today.

Read the full Jasmine de Gaia interview

Creating legacies and leaders, one student at a time

The Legacy Project focuses on the pillars of ‘grit’ — growth mindset, character strength development, financial literacy and goal setting. Angel Stacklin reflects on her experience in this coaching-centered program, for which she is now a student program leader.

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The Center for Innovation Strategies Will Partner with Ohio State's Department of Athletics

The Center for Innovation Strategies is proud to partner with the Ohio State Department of Athletics through the Eugene D. Smith Leadership Institute to help develop student-athlete innovators, as part of the department's recent launch of The Platform™.

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The OnRamp Experience: A Student Perspective

Learn more about our OnRamp innovation program and our partnership with 99P Labs, Honda's, digital proving ground for mobility and energy innovators, from the perspective of one of our talented former students, Matt Komich.

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The City of Columbus Diversity & Inclusion Symposium

The Diversity & Inclusion Symposium is a three-day conference hosted by the City of Columbus. Through keynote speakers, Q&A sessions, and panels, this event explored how to create a culture of inclusion, innovation, and impact within Ohio’s public sector. CIS Executive Director Paul Reeder served as a speaker, contributing his innovation expertise to the conversation.

OnRamp Helps Students Think About Solving Problems in a New Way

Ohio State undergraduate student participants in the Center for Innovation Strategies OnRamp student innovation program recently discussed their experiences in "Learning Unboxed," a podcast developed by The PAST Foundation.

OnRamp connecting Ohio State students and top companies

What started out as a project during Christian Lampasso’s time as an industrial and systems engineering student at Ohio State has quickly — and not so quietly — turned into a full-time endeavor.

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Cannabis industry must take on enforcement inequities to increase diversity

The Moritz College of Law Drug Enforcement and Policy Center and the Center for Innovation Strategies held a panel of legal and business leaders to discuss making cannabis industry employment more diverse, which requires grappling with decades of inequitable enforcement of a product that's still federally illegal.

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Smart Circuit self-driving shuttles fuel Ohio State research

The Center for Innovation Strategies and Ohio State’s Institute for Materials Research collaborated on a three-day INNOVATE-O-thon event in November with DriveOhio, an initiative working to advance smart mobility in Ohio. Each semester, IMR challenges undergraduates studying a variety of disciplines to work with each other, as well as faculty, industry and government representatives to a solve real-world problem. The Center for Innovation Strategies' Executive Director, Paul Reeder, helped facilitate student ideation sessions for this project.

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