Who is Edge? Edge began inside of Gundersen Health System as the catalyst for transformation; investing in pioneering startups and gathering transformative concepts from employees and community members, building ideas into healthcare breakthroughs that benefit us all. Now, as of December 2022, Gundersen Health and Bellin Health merged. Edge is excited to target the unified Bellin and Gundersen Health System strategic plan. This plan is targeted at the delivery of superior primary and specialized care in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Upper Michigan. The unified plan of delivering world-class ..read more

Who is FAMI and what do you do for them? Natalie Collins: Farmers Alliance Mutual Insurance (FAMI) is a property and casualty insurance company that provides insurance for farms, homes, autos, and businesses.  Our home office is based in Kansas and our insurance products primarily focus on the rural markets in the Midwest region covering 8 states. I serve as the Vice President of the Enterprise Project Management Office and Innovation. Why is innovation important for FAMI? Natalie: Incorporating an innovation practice is part of FAMI’s strategic plan to help advance our company fo ..read more

Implementing a corporate innovation program can be a complex and challenging process, as it requires significant resources, time, and effort to get it off the ground and ensure its success. In this blog post, we will explore some of the biggest challenges that organizations face when implementing corporate innovation programs, and how you can overcome them. Lack of buy-in from top management One of the biggest challenges of implementing a corporate innovation program is getting buy-in from top management. Innovation can be perceived as risky or unnecessary, and it’s not always easy to convince ..read more

Who is Jason’s Deli and what do you do for them? Amy Schuster: Jason’s Deli’s is a family-owned deli restaurant chain, founded in Beaumont, Texas, in 1976 by Joe Tortorice Jr. As we approach our 46th anniversary, we now operate 240+ locations in 28 states. In 2005, Jason’s Deli was the first major restaurant concept to ban artificial trans fats in the U.S. and later became the first to eliminate high-fructose corn syrup. We offer a variety of choices like gluten-sensitive menu items or vegetarian options, healthy kids’ meals, or our famous salad bar. And, of course, some of the best sandwiches ..read more

In Ideawake’s State of Employee Ideas in 2021, which surveyed over 700 employees across the United States on their opinions towards their employer’s ability to listen and take action on their ideas, one of the questions we asked was what prevented employees from sharing their ideas. Here are the top 5 reasons employees stop sharing ideas along with ways you can use Ideawake to alleviate each of them.   Ideas Falling Into a “Black Hole” One in five (20.8%) of respondents said they stopped sharing ideas because they never heard back from previous ideas they shared. This demonstrates how cri ..read more

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have been at the top of many year-end top-tech lists, and while some companies have successfully integrated VR and AR into its offerings, others have been lagging behind. Facebook’s Oculus, which has produced a suite of VR headsets, and Google’s smart glasses plainly named Glass, are the two most notable brands that, in essence, started the VR/AR trend only to fizzle out shortly being brought to market. While popular media derided these products and their executions—how could two tech monoliths fail so magnificently?, many think—some voices hav ..read more

We get it—you’re busy. It’s the era of people having busy weeks instead of days, calendars filled out months in advance as business moves faster and faster indefinitely. However, with this rapid pace of change, there are new trends and disruptions headed towards your company that will cost your company if you don’t address them now. Right now, every industry is facing technology disruptors, major innovations to how business is done that will result in huge losses if your company isn’t prepared. The transportation industry was most famously disrupted by ride-sharing tech, but many industries ..read more

While you may know the myriad benefits of an internal innovation program, receiving leadership buy-in can be a challenge. Here are some of the incentives you can forward to your boss so your organization can get more competitive and improve your bottom line. Year after year, companies invest more and more in innovation. In 2020, Samsung spent $14.9 billion on R&D, Intel $12.5 billion, and Apple $10.7 billion. These are large organizations with large budgets, of course, but even small- and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) can—and should—follow suit. It’s known that innovation is a key deter ..read more

The best ideas come from the places you least expect, and the story of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos is no exception. Richard Montañez came up with the idea for Flamin’ Hot Cheetos while working as a janitor for Frito-Lay back in the 1980’s. Today, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos is one of Frito-Lay’s top selling products, and Montañez is an Executive for PepsiCo leading multicultural sales and community promotions across their North American divisions and is said to be one of the most respected execs in the food industry. The Inception Richard Montañez is the embodiment of the American Dream. As a student, he stru ..read more

Can you imagine what would life be like without the Post-it Note? A product so synonymous with innovation, Post-its are one of the most versatile products for brainstorming and collaboration ever invented—and it almost never made it to your office. From failing two times to finding market success, the story of Post-it Notes spans a decade but has had an impact that lasts to this day. The Post-it Note Was Invented—By Accident (1968) When Spencer Silver, an employee researcher at 3M, was trying to create a stronger adhesive for the aerospace industry, all he ended up being able to create was ..read more