The Story Behind the Model:
A few years ago, I sat down for a meeting with the CTO of a Chinese tech giant.
He told me about a startup with breakthrough technology, but he was hesitant. “The founder seemed… disrespectful,” he said.
Later, I met the founder. “They’re just fishing for our IP,” he complained.
Neither of them was right.
What stood between them wasn’t the value of innovation, it was culture, mistrust, misaligned expectations.
The human factor.
During my time leading my country's Economic Mission in South China, I saw this pattern again and again. Innovation partnerships weren’t made or broken by technology, but by collaboration. Whether it’s across divisions, between organizations, or even between humans and AI it's often the case.
That deal fell through. But many others didn’t.
In the following years, I helped close multi-million-dollar cross-border deals by promoting more than just innovation.
Since then, I’ve carried that same approach into everything I do: opening new markets in a global corporation, building alliances, advising startups, SMBs and even launching a podcast on AI and creativity, and most recently, co-founding my own startup about human differentiation.
To pass this insight forward and help organizations face today’s strategic challenges with creativity, alignment, and shared vision I created "Internnovation".
The Challenge of AI Era
In today’s disruptive business landscape, strategy isn’t just a top-down planning tool; it’s a response mechanism to fast-changing technological, environmental, and competitive pressures.
We live in a chaotic yet facinating world where, our key goal is staying relevant when everything else is comdotized.
Innovation, creativity, and collaboration are no longer optional. They are strategic imperatives.
What’s the challenge?
- Traditional Innovation strategy models are no longer enough, as the future becomes increasingly unpredictable and complex.
- To stay relevant, companies must continuously reimagine themselves, both structurally and strategically, embracing new ways of thinking, collaborating, and innovating.
The INTERNNOVATION Workshop
The INTERNNOVATION workshop introduces a unique model that bridges internal strategic thinking with external innovation, all grounded in human-centered collaboration.
Based on interdisciplinary experience across fields such as diplomacy, business and strategic partnerships, entrepreneurship, content creation, and open innovation strategy, the model emphasizes the comparative advantage of each and every individual.
Who is it For?
This workshop is designed for cross-functional teams, innovation units, product and R&D teams, strategy leaders, and any group working across silos within an organization.
By aligning diverse stakeholders around shared goals and unlocking the creative potential within each individual, it lays the groundwork for faster decision-making, more adaptive planning, and a lasting culture of innovation.
Keynote: "How Not to Lose to AI?" Innovation in the AI Era
According to the World Economic Forum, 55% of roles will require creative thinking. At the same time, using AI the wrong way can erode that very ability. In a world of content saturation and with LLMs (GenAI) tending to produce look-alike outputs, human creativity is often the best way to differentiate ourselves and our organization.
Our task as employees and managers is to nurture the human spark in every person actively. Cognitive diversity is the key to differentiation and Innovation.
So how do we make sure we’re not replaced by a competitor?
We build a culture of innovation and creativity not in spite of GenAI, but with it. It starts by adopting an entrepreneurial mindset, even inside large, distributed organizations.
This session draws on conversations from my podcast, “AI & Creativity,” plus insights (and a few funny stories) from years of working with hundreds of entrepreneurs, from SMB owners to startup founders. We’ll also share a practical toolkit from the latest technologies that actually spark creative, innovative thinking, rather than just generate more content.
Who is this for?
Broad teams (e.g., offsite days), innovation leaders, aspiring and experienced entrepreneurs, startup founders and operators, marketing leaders, product and R&D teams, and anyone seeking to strengthen human creativity alongside AI.