CCC, GIZ plan course on ‘Innovation Managers’

The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and GIZ SME Development Program together with the University of Leipzig together have planned to conduct a training program to train ‘Innovation Managers’. The 10-day course which is expected to be conducted from 14 to 30 March is aimed at promoting an innovation culture among the Sri Lankan businesses.

This is the first time a comprehensive training program on innovation management is being conducted in Sri Lanka. The objective of the course is to make the participants familiar with the application of the different concepts and tools of innovation management in their organisations. The course is designed for managers of the private sector firms, business consultants, and also entrepreneurs. Course participants will have to identify an innovation project during the training program and the resource persons will provide guidelines on how to develop a plan for innovation in a selected product/service category.

A fundamental principle of this training course is the exchange between the objective and subjective approaches of the instruction process. The objective approach is related to the teaching based on units of knowledge; for instance, creativity techniques, strategic innovation management, etc. Regarding methodology, classical class room setting and case-studies discussions will be used. This procedure allows fluent interaction between students and course facilitators. 

On the other hand, the subjective approach is related to the individual learning efforts of the participants. This offers the participants “space to make their own decisions”, as well as the required flexibility to develop their capabilities and competences, with a special emphasise on the application of innovation management tools in a real project setting. Therefore the final result of the training will be a well-developed plan for innovation in a selected product/service.

The training and coaching will be conducted by Prof. Dr. Utz Dornberger, Director of the International SEPT Program of   Leipzig University and Alfredo Suvelza, an international consultant in innovation management and SME development.

Prof. Dornberger has international experience in five continents and over 35 countries and his academic and professional focus is especially on innovation management in SMEs, entrepreneurship promotion and internationalization   processes. Suvelza has international experience in five continents and over 25 countries. He has been engaged in training and coaching projects in the fields of innovation management and promotion, areas in which he operates as a private international consultant and coach as well.  Upon the successful completion of the course, a certificate for the training course is provided. This certificate will be issued by Conoscope GmbH and Leipzig University. For more details on the upcoming course, contact Chandraratne Vithanage on 077-2200771, 011-5588825 or [email protected].