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Appleton, Wis. (August 13, 2008) — Innovationedge, a global strategic innovation consultancy, has announced the addition of Mike Italiano to their innovation strategy team. As Director of Business Development, Italiano will help clients create new products, services and business models by leveraging structured open innovation techniques to discover, analyze and define new partnerships, alliances, and business propositions.

“As a new leader on the Innovationedge team, Michael will provide an in-depth understanding of our clients’ needs, market trends, and innovative business propositions that generate outstanding experiences for their customers,” said Cheryl Perkins, president and founder of Innovationedge. “We are pleased that his expertise and excitement for new inventions, brokering, and deal structuring will broaden our market reach and positively impact our current and future clients.”

Italiano is an experienced professional with over 16 years of leadership experience in strategic business, cross-functional team leadership, deal-structuring, negotiation and execution, and strategic alliance management. He is passionate about creating value through business development and open innovation.

Prior to joining Innovationedge, Italiano held many senior management positions, including leading Kimberly-Clark’s Business Development, Global Alliances and Technology Acquisitions team. Prior to his tenure with Kimberly-Clark, Michael was Director, Corporate Development with Schwarz Pharma, Inc. where he was involved in a series of high-value transactions leading up to the ultimate sale of the Schwarz Group. Italiano began his career with Deloitte & Touche and subsequently spent several years in various financial positions with Cooper Power Systems, Inc., a division of Cooper Industries.

Italiano earned his MBA from the University of North Carolina and his Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting, Magna cum Laude, from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Although no longer currently practicing finance and accounting any, he is both a Certified Pubic Accountant and a Certified Management Accountant.

About Innovationedge:
Innovationedge is a global strategic innovation consultancy based in Wisconsin. The team’s fearless champions of innovation break barriers to help executives define their business strategy, develop new capabilities, design a winning organizational structure, and deliver breakthrough innovations through a robust growth pipeline of solutions and new-to-the-world innovations. The company also gives inventors an edge by crafting winning business propositions and creating strategic corporate partnerships that deliver commercial success. For more information, visit Innovationedge.com.

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Appleton, Wis. (July 7, 2008) — Innovationedge, a global strategic innovation consultancy, assisted in the development of KlenzPod™ which recently won the inaugural Innovation Award at the annual World of Wipes (WOW 2008) Conference. Mick Gordon, the inventor of KlenzPod, was honored for his innovative approach and elegant solution to the lack of efficient wet wipe disposal facilities on the market. This award-winning new system was developed for offices and public buildings to provide employees and customers easy access to single wet wipes.

“I am truly delighted that KlenzPod has won the Innovation Award at WOW 2008. KlenzPod and the related suite of products have received numerous top awards at some of the biggest inventors shows in the world. However, this accolade is particularly important because it has been awarded by those directly involved in the non-woven industry who understand the industry and the commercial impact that KlenzPod could have,” says Gordon.

The stylish new KlenzPod system introduces a suite of patent-pending innovations to many industries, including consumer use, industrial applications, food service and health care. The key innovation in the KlenzPod system is the NippleNozzle™, which allows only one wipe to be pulled from the dispenser every time. This provides easy use, prevents moisture loss and eliminates unnecessary waste. The elegant dispenser can also be mounted securely to walls, medical trolleys, bathroom stalls and changing stations in office facilities, hotels, or restaurants.

“We have purposely designed the system to not only be easy to use, but also look great. The KlenzPod is receiving enthusiastic acceptance from those who would like to install them where appearance is of critical importance in addition to functionality,” says Mick Gordon, inventor of KlenzPod. “Everyone who sees them loves them, so we hope we can come to an agreement with a major manufacturer in the near future and get the product out to a very eager public as soon as possible.”

Also attending WOW 2008 was Cheryl Perkins, CEO and founder of Innovationedge, who along with her colleagues, assisted with the development of the product. Innovationedge is continuously dedicated to assisting in the development of new and innovative products, including new ways to improve hygiene.

“We are thrilled to be part of an award-winning innovation that will add value across many industries and provide businesses with a stylish, fast and easy solution to keep their employees healthy,” said Perkins. “At the end of the day, business is important, but if your business can improve the lives of others, it’s a great feeling.”

The WOW 2008 Conference, held in Chicago from June 16-18, was organized by INDA, Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry and devoted solely to wipes. The WOW Awards recognize and reward the industry members who bring innovative and value-added processes and product enhancements to the wipes market. KlenzPod was among five other products nominated by the industry earlier this year.

About Innovationedge:
Innovationedge is a global strategic innovation consultancy based in Wisconsin. The team’s fearless champions of innovation break barriers to help executives define their business strategy, develop new capabilities, design a winning organizational structure, and deliver breakthrough innovations through a robust growth pipeline of solutions and new-to-the-world innovations. The company also gives inventors an edge by crafting winning business propositions and creating strategic corporate partnerships that deliver commercial success. For more information, visit Innovationedge.com

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Appleton, Wis. (May 20, 2008) — Cheryl Perkins, Founder and President of Innovationedge, is pleased to announce the addition of Julie Gerstle to her team.

As Innovationedge’s Business Development Leader, Gerstle leverages her expertise in strategy development and marketing to help clients identify and execute innovative change, enabling them to harness disruptive innovations to succeed in an increasingly competitive market.

Gerstle brings more than a decade of experience in marketing and strategic planning for hi-tech and consumer companies. She is also a graduate of Princeton University and received her MBA (with distinction) from Oxford University Said Business School. Prior to moving to the Fox Cities area, she was an account executive for BBDO where she led advertising campaigns for Wrigley’s Spearmint. Gerstle also conducted in-depth competitive analysis as a Market Intelligence Analyst at IBM, which resulted in leading and implementing growth plans as a product manager for IBM’s WebSphere Portal.

“Julie brings a dynamic excitement to our team and our expanding list of clients,” says Perkins. “Her valuable expertise helps clients to identify market gaps and opportunities, research competitive trends, and develop business plans that focus on turning great ideas into executable actions.”

About Innovationedge:
Innovationedge is a global strategic innovation consultancy based in Wisconsin. The team’s fearless champions of innovation break barriers to help executives define their business strategy, develop new capabilities, design a winning organizational structure, and deliver breakthrough innovations through a robust growth pipeline of solutions and new-to-the-world innovations. The company also gives inventors an edge by crafting winning business propositions and creating strategic corporate partnerships that deliver commercial success. For more information, visit Innovationedge.com.

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Appleton, Wis. (April 14, 2008) — Learn how to complete the circuit of innovation with Jeff Lindsay of Innovationedge as he presents “Bridging the gap between corporations and external inventors: Completing the circuit of innovation” at the April 17 WIN-Northeast meeting.

The event will be held at the D J Bordini Center, 5 Systems Drive, near the Fox Valley Technical College campus in Appleton. Registration and networking begin at 4:45 p.m. The cost is $5 for WIN members, $10 for non-members and included with WIN corporate memberships.

Innovationedge is a firm that helps companies strengthen their innovation and intellectual asset strategy, and helps inventors get their products to market. Inventors and entrepreneurs often face puzzling barriers when seeking to tap into the power of major corporations to commercialize their products or services. Lindsay, the company’s director of solution development, will explore some of these barriers, including several “innovation fatigue factors” and strategies for overcoming them.

Lindsay will also explain tailored marketing strategies and development of an intellectual asset portfolio, including low-cost intellectual assets other than patents, that tells a story in synch with the marketing story.

Prior to joining Innovationedge in 2007, Lindsay spent 13 years with Kimberly-Clark Corp., where he was corporate patent strategist and senior research fellow.

The event is hosted by Fox Valley Technical College through the Bordini Center.

WIN is the membership subsidiary of the Wisconsin Technology Council, the independent, non-profit science and tech policy advisers to the governor and the Legislature. To join WIN, go to www.wisconsintechnologycouncil.com or contact Liz Katz at 608-442-7557, ext. 27 or e-mail Liz.

About Innovationedge:
Innovationedge is a global strategic innovation consultancy based in Wisconsin. The team’s fearless champions of innovation break barriers to help executives define their business strategy, develop new capabilities, design a winning organizational structure, and deliver breakthrough innovations through a robust growth pipeline of solutions and new-to-the-world innovations. The company also gives inventors an edge by crafting winning business propositions and creating strategic corporate partnerships that deliver commercial success. For more information, visit Innovationedge.com.

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Mumbai, India (February 15, 2008) — Cheryl Perkins, Founder and President of Innovationedge and former Chief Innovation Officer of Kimberly-Clark has received the “Excellence in Innovation” Award in recognition of her innovative contribution and leadership. The ceremony honored Perkins as well as other industry leaders at the Asia Pacific Congress, “Indira India Innovation Summit,” in Mumbai India.

The two-day extravaganza attracts more than 60 countries and 900 delegates for knowledge sharing and to help CEOs, Innovation and HR professionals from various organizations to learn the latest trends. The highlight of the summit is the Global Excellence Awards ceremony.

“It’s an honor to receive this award that recognizes my leadership and contributions to innovation,” said Perkins. “It is especially gratifying to receive this honor in a country that consistently demonstrates passion and commitment for innovation.”

“Cheryl’s leadership and contribution to the field of Human Resources is well known, and the position she occupies in the fraternity is strategic and iconic,” said Tom Hilton, Global Chairman of the Asia Pacific Conference. “As a thinker and a doer, Cheryl is a role model and a believer in change.”

Perkins was also a featured speakerat the summit in Mumbai, and focused her presentation on fostering and promoting a culture of innovation to drive revenue and growth and deliver high impact, sustained innovation that successfully capitalizes on new markets and consumer expectations.

The first-ever Indira India Innovation Summit is sponsored by the Indira College of Engineering and Management (ICEM), Pune. The summit exposes academia to the world’s leading-edge innovation practices and to create a platform for intellectual exchange of ideas to drive future innovation in Industry. For more information, click here.

About the Indira College of Engineering and Management

With one of the finest infrastructures in the Mumbai region, ICEM’s residential campus spreads over 20 acres and comprising of modern hi-tech laboratories in a wi-fi computing environment. The learning philosophy of ICEM has a strong emphasis on application oriented learning, with an attempt to inculcate innovative thinking among the aspiring engineers of tomorrow.

About Innovationedge:
Innovationedge is a global strategic innovation consultancy based in Wisconsin. The team’s fearless champions of innovation break barriers to help executives define their business strategy, develop new capabilities, design a winning organizational structure, and deliver breakthrough innovations through a robust growth pipeline of solutions and new-to-the-world innovations. The company also gives inventors an edge by crafting winning business propositions and creating strategic corporate partnerships that deliver commercial success. For more information, visit Innovationedge.com.

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Neenah, Wis. (January 1, 2008) — Cheryl Perkins, President and Founder of Innovationedge, has announced a partnership with the UK-based research firm Pure Insight. The partnership will provide real-world insights and innovation best practices from thought-leading practitioners via a library of Web-based presentations.

Innovationedge will be the sole U.S. solutions provider to host Pure Insight Web seminars, or “Webinars,” which will enable corporate innovation leaders, inventors and entrepreneurs to access the most current innovation best practices right from their desktop.

The Webinars will cover a range of topics including strategy, structure, culture, open innovation and portfolio management, to name a few. Each Webinar presentation will provide examples and insights into ways to implement leading-edge innovation practices, and allow listeners to hear the successes and challenges directly from those who have successfully faced and solved them.

“The unique partnership between Innovationedge and Pure Insight provides a wide range of educational opportunities for anyone who leads their company’s innovation charge, as they look for ways to build their internal capabilities and grow their organizations through structured innovation practices,” said Cheryl Perkins. “Webinars allow us to efficiently provide innovation insights to the right people at the right time.”

“We are excited to work with Innovationedge to expand the reach of our insight driven Webinar offering into North America and to build on the success we have experienced by working with some of the most admired companies in Europe,” said Klaus Schnurr, co-founder and Chief Executive of Pure Insight. “The partnership will allow us to expand our network of global thought leaders to deliver even greater value products and services for our customers.”

Both live and recorded Webinar sessions can be found at Innovationedge’s Webinar Page.

About Innovationedge:
Innovationedge is a global strategic innovation consultancy based in Wisconsin. The team’s fearless champions of innovation break barriers to help executives define their business strategy, develop new capabilities, design a winning organizational structure, and deliver breakthrough innovations through a robust growth pipeline of solutions and new-to-the-world innovations. The company also gives inventors an edge by crafting winning business propositions and creating strategic corporate partnerships that deliver commercial success. For more information, visit Innovationedge.com.

About Pure Insight:

Pure Insight specializes in providing strategic and practical business information for practitioners in design, product development, innovation and technology. With over 300 corporate customers and 500 contributors across 20 countries, its practical tools and information are delivered in convenient formats suited to the demands of busy professionals. Webinar customers include 3M, Goodyear, Bayer, Boston Scientific, Clorox, FedEx, Honeywell, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Xerox, and many others.

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Appleton, Wis. (DATE, 2008) — Innovationedge Founder and President Cheryl Perkins announced today that Innovationedge and partner InnovationPoint will collaborate with the Russian government to bring a consortium of that nation’s most promising scientific institutes and inventors together with American corporations.Innovationedge and InnovationPoint were awarded a multi-year contract with Russia’s International Science and Technology Center (ISTC), based on each company’s expansive network of clients and partners at Fortune 50, 100 and 150 companies. As external strategy and innovation consultants, both Innovationedge and InnovationPoint have led marketing and business development activities with companies across diverse industries including Hewlett-Packard, Phillips, Cisco Systems, Inc., Colgate–Palmolive Company, Kimberly-Clark, WD-40, Genentech, PepsiCo, Dean Foods and numerous other leading companies.Russia’s ISTC provides former U.S.S.R. weapons scientists and engineers with opportunities to redirect their talents to civilian activities. ISTC grants are awarded on a competitive basis. “This is exciting news for Innovationedge as we forge new strategic partnerships between Russian inventors and U.S. corporations to deliver commercial success,” said Perkins, founder and president of Innovationedge and former Chief Innovation Officer for Kimberly-Clark. “The partnerships we build will span U.S. companies across diverse industries to bring new capabilities, skill sets, operating models and strategies leveraging these externally skilled resources.”

Innovationedge, a consultancy based in Wisconsin, is collaborating with InnovationPoint, a consultancy in California, to deliver a competitive advantage to U.S. corporations that see the strategic benefits of tapping into the expertise of Russian innovators. These scientists are highly skilled in biotechnology, agriculture, biomass, health care, nanotechnology and bioengineering. Innovationedge and InnovationPoint will formally launch its partnership with ISTC in Moscow this month.

“Through Open Innovation, we can tap into new capabilities that organizations in the United States currently do not possess at a fraction of the cost. Our partnership with ISTC not only will benefit the scientific community in Russia, it will provide an enormous competitive boost to U.S. companies that join the ISTC Partnership Program,” said Soren Kaplan, Managing Partner at InnovationPoint.

Perkins added, “We will design a team-based, collaborative model with ISTC to deliver high-quality results as well as create alignment to ultimately ensure rapid delivery of solutions.  The key to success will be to match technology capabilities and innovation strategy to US-based industry-specific trends and opportunities.”

About ISTC

The International Science and Technology Center (ISTC) in Moscow employs thousands of former Soviet scientists in useful civilian work. The ISTC was developed to counter the threat of “brain drain” from the former Soviet Union to countries wishing to acquire nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons. The ISTC’s principle activity is to develop, approve, finance, and monitor science and technology projects for peaceful purposes.  For more information visit http://partners.istc.ru/eng/. 

About Innovationedge:
Innovationedge is a global strategic innovation consultancy based in Wisconsin. The team’s fearless champions of innovation break barriers to help executives define their business strategy, develop new capabilities, design a winning organizational structure, and deliver breakthrough innovations through a robust growth pipeline of solutions and new-to-the-world innovations. The company also gives inventors an edge by crafting winning business propositions and creating strategic corporate partnerships that deliver commercial success. For more information, visit Innovationedge.com.

About InnovationPoint

InnovationPoint is a strategic innovation management consulting firm focused on helping organizations achieve business breakthroughs that grow the top line - through opportunity identification, new business creation, strategy development and new product, service and category innovation. InnovationPoint also helps its clients build sustainable innovation capability by addressing strategic, organizational and cultural challenges. www.innovation-point.com
Questions, contact:

Amy Spreeman
Marketing Strategy and Communications
Innovationedge
920-967-0475
aspreeman@innovationedge.com

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Appleton, Wis. (October 29, 2007) — Cheryl Perkins, Founder and President of Innovationedge and former Chief Innovation Officer for Kimberly-Clark, announced today she has partnered with author and marketing expert Hunter Hastings to deliver a webinar on “Insights to Innovation.” The webinar is geared for anyone wishing to significantly improve innovation in their organization through new insights capabilities and tools, and will run on Oct. 30 at 2 p.m. Eastern.

The announcement comes the same day as the release of Hastings’s new book titled, Improve Your Marketing To Grow Your Business, in which Perkins shares her expertise on how building a new insights capability delivers innovation.

“Insights are the raw material for innovation. If you have identified an insight about your customer’s or consumer’s needs, it’s possible that you can meet those needs in a unique and superior way. In this book as well as in the webinar, I cover the critical nature of insights that shed light on the motivations that drive behavior,” said Perkins, President of Innovationedge.

Perkins helped Hastings pen one of the chapters in the book, and the foreword is by her friend and former boss Tom Falk, CEO of Kimberly-Clark. For more information on Hastings’ book from Wharton School Publishing, click here.

About Innovationedge:
Innovationedge is a global strategic innovation consultancy based in Wisconsin. The team’s fearless champions of innovation break barriers to help executives define their business strategy, develop new capabilities, design a winning organizational structure, and deliver breakthrough innovations through a robust growth pipeline of solutions and new-to-the-world innovations. The company also gives inventors an edge by crafting winning business propositions and creating strategic corporate partnerships that deliver commercial success. For more information, visit Innovationedge.com.

About the Author
Hunter Hastings is the co-founder and CEO of EMM Group (www.emmgroup.net), an enterprise marketing management consulting firm that helps clients unleash growth by applying best practice-based marketing processes and marketing technology. Hastings has led innovative marketing consulting practices throughout the world, ultimately founding the revolutionary marketing approach now called enterprise marketing management. 

For the latest innovation trends and insights, be sure to check out Cheryl’s “On the Edge” Blog page at www.innovationedge.com.

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(London) October 23 – Cheryl Perkins, Founder and President of Innovationedge and former Chief Innovation Officer of Kimberly-Clark will be a featured guest panelist for this year’s Burning Questions  2007: Leading for Innovation. The event is sponsored by Harvard Business School Publishing, and is held October 24-26 at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower in London.

The invitation-only gathering of global business leaders is designed to stimulate open engagement between thought leaders and senior executives charged with plotting their organization’s strategies for the next two-to-five years. The conference agenda is to ask the essential “burning” questions are around how you do it, and the format is highly-interactive panel sessions around several key innovation topics.

Perkins will be featured on a panel titled, “Culture: How do you create sustainable innovation capability?”

“A winning culture of innovation isn’t just about generating ideas, but about solving the driving problems your customers are having. This conference not only asks the important burning questions, it delivers practical and applicable answers about how these ideas can be incubated into profit-making business solutions that resonate with your customers,” explained Perkins.

Joining Perkins at the Burning Questions conference will be innovation thought leaders from companies all over the world, including Coca-Cola, Symantec, Unilever, Google, Capital One and more. For more information visit the Harvard Business Review Burning Questions 2007 site.

About Innovationedge

Innovationedge is a strategic innovation company founded by Cheryl Perkins to lead companies to identify and transform insights, designs, technologies and capabilities into total solutions and new-to-the-world innovations. The company’s fearless champions of innovation break barriers to help executives define their strategy, develop capabilities, design a winning organizational structure and deliver breakthrough innovations through a robust growth pipeline. Innovationedge also gives inventors an edge by crafting winning business propositions and creating strategic corporate partnerships that deliver commercial success.

For the latest innovation trends and insights, be sure to check out Cheryl’s “On the Edge” Blog page at www.innovationedge.com.

 
 Media Contact:Amy Spreeman 
Innovationedge
920-967-0475
aspreeman@innovationedge.com

About Innovationedge:
Innovationedge is a global strategic innovation consultancy based in Wisconsin. The team’s fearless champions of innovation break barriers to help executives define their business strategy, develop new capabilities, design a winning organizational structure, and deliver breakthrough innovations through a robust growth pipeline of solutions and new-to-the-world innovations. The company also gives inventors an edge by crafting winning business propositions and creating strategic corporate partnerships that deliver commercial success. For more information, visit Innovationedge.com.

About PDMA:
Tri-State PDMA is the local chapter of the national Product Development and Management Association, the premier global advocate for product development and management professionals. The mission of the Cincinnati Chapter of PDMA is to build a vibrant community of practitioners, academics and service providers that share experiences and knowledge of the principles, practices and processes of effective product innovation. More information is available at the Tri-State PDMA Website.