Furman offers customer-centric innovation program

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Furman University has created Customer-Centric Innovation, a three-day program to help organizational leaders adapt to the speed of innovation.

The course, offered through the Center for Corporate and Professional Development, is scheduled for April 21-23 in the Thomas Anderson Roe Art Building on campus.

“Innovation moves at the speed of ideas and, increasingly, ideas in the business world are driven by customers,” according to a Furman news release, “and to meet customer demands, or to create them, organizations need to move quickly and with the customer in mind.”

“Gone are the days when innovation is a mandate reserved for marketing or R&D managers,” Anthony Herrera, executive director of Furman University’s Office for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, said in the news release. “Now the pressure is on everyone to create growth and innovation.”

The program will combine experts in design thinking with Furman professors who will teach related topics, such as neuroscience, communication, art and philosophy, the release said. The program, and others being planned, are aimed at managers and senior leaders from a variety of organizations, from K-12 education to health care to the automotive industry.