What is the Innovation Series?

We interview innovation leaders from around the world and share their insights on corporate innovation.

Innovation Leader: Kevin Dunckley

Kevin Dunckley is the Global Director responsible for Sustainable Innovation and creator of HH Global's industry leading Innovation with purpose program. HH Global is the leading independent marketing execution partner to global brands in 44 countries. Their clients trust them to develop innovative solutions that drive down the cost of marketing print, POS and premiums and creative production while improving quality, increasing sustainability, and speeding time to market. 

What has been your biggest learning as an innovation leader over the last 12 months? 

I think the realisation that the analogue and digital are starting to come together in beautiful ways delivering innovative outcomes. Cutting edge technologies are starting to be used to solve analogue challenges in ways that I never imagined which is really exciting.

Which technology are you most excited by and why? 

Blockchain and AI are the most exciting. The combination of an immutable ledger and a smart algorithm opens up all kinds of opportunities. For example, we are currently using these technologies with a partner to help solve waste materials challenges for one of the biggest technology companies in the world. If successful this pilot will not only save the client money but could actually allow them to monetise their waste materials globally. Hugely exciting!

What is the biggest barrier to corporate innovation you’ve encountered and how did or are you overcoming it? 

Lethargy, complacency, laziness and lack of budget. Firstly you need energy and enthusiasm to drive innovation. Without that nothing will happen. You can sense the lack of it in some industries or companies. Budget constraints are always an issue but a constraint can drive fresh thinking and drive innovation. Turn the constraint into a positive advantage and beg, borrow and bootstrap your way to a pilot.

What will be the key trend in innovation over the next 12 months?  

SustTech - Sustainable technology solutions will grow as the magnitude of the world's challenges become more obvious through climate events (I include pandemics in that). Innovations that match buyers with sellers, communities with helpers and solve next-gen material challenges will increase and rise. Investment into businesses in the SustTech space will grow as ESG requirements increase and business opportunities will be huge in the sustainability space.