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GETTING CHARGED UP WITH INNWOW

By Jim Dempsey, R&D and Emerging
Technologies

GOJO, by nature and culture, is a very curious
organization. Our science, market, and product
development is based on learning. In the words of
Jerry Lippman, of blessed memory, “Everything I
know I learned from someone else!” With this in
mind, the GOJO Innovation Without Walls (InnWoW)
Team partnered with the Great Lakes Science
Center in Cleveland, whose tag line is “Stay
Curious,” to present the inaugural InnWoW master-
level training workshop. In this daylong event, the
InnWoW Team set out to educate and train GOJO
Pictured: Shneor Levine, Legal, presenting team members on how to properly engage with
at the InnWoW workshop on Confidential
Non-Disclosure Agreements. external partners, whether it be thought leaders, new
suppliers, consultants, partners or inventors. Over
100 GOJO team members were trained during a fun
and interactive day. The training session kicked off with a competition called “The Spaghetti
Challenge,” which is designed to spark creativity and collaboration. Teams competed to build the
tallest structure with only uncooked spaghetti, tape, and string, and it had to support the weight of a
marshmallow—this all had to be completed in a short amount of time. The InnWoW Team followed
with a TED Talk about how this activity encourages collaboration under stress and that
kindergarteners - along with engineers and architects - perform better than business people because
they are constantly trying innovative ways of working by prototyping along the way versus trying to be
CEO of Spaghetti, Inc.!

The InnWoW team proceeded to educate and enrich on the many important external innovation topics
throughout the day, including:
• Innovation at GOJO
• Defining and benchmarking open innovation
• Opportunity identification
• Partner search and selection
• Supplier commercial and technology assessments
• The “Inform & GO” process
• Confidentiality and intellectual property (IP) management
• Relationships and deal structures
• Project and partnership relationship management

Along the way the teams were treated to a Science Center Scavenger Hunt that was fun, informative,
and included a little friendly competition!

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