SVIIL: Technology-Driven Business Innovation

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Program overview

‘Disrupt or be disrupted’—this mantra cannot be truer in today’s era of uncertainty. One thing that is certain, however, is that new technologies are fundamentally transforming business.

Silicon Valley Innovation & Investment

Leadership Week: Technology-Driven Business Innovation is a timely program that will leverage the complementary strengths of CKGSB—a leading business school from Asia that has educated many founders of disruptive companies such as Alibaba, Tencent and ByteDance—with UC Berkeley Engineering—a global leader in engineering education—to help high-potential start-up leaders, investors and techno-centric executives to individually and collectively leverage emerging technologies in order to establish, grow or disrupt their businesses.

This program will help you:

  • Capture emerging technology trends and their business implications
  • Immerse into the entirety of the innovation journey
  • Receive mentorship from UC Berkeley industry leaders
  • Join CKGSB’s ecosystem of a new generation of unicorns that are globally and socially responsible

In addition to the world-class faculty of CKGSB and UC Berkeley, participants of the program will have an opportunity to listen to those who have played critically important roles in the companies that have shaped the world we live in, including:

  • The former Chief Strategy Officer of Alibaba
  • The Co-founders of Tesla
  • The former Chief Technology Officer of Meta (Facebook)

The program includes:

  • 4 days of interactive learning, group projects, pitching and networking
  • VIP access to the Annual Demo Day of BlockChain Xcelerator with a focus on Web 3.0
  • VIP access to 2022 Innovation Conference of DECODE, a technology, innovation and entrepreneurship community jointly organized by UC Berkeley and Stanford

Who should apply?

  • Entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs:
    Capitalize on the latest technology to start, build or transform your company
  • Investors and investees:
    Stay attuned to the next breakthrough technologies and their business impacts
  • Executives in incumbent organizations:
    Successfully introduce transformative changes to capture new tech-driven business opportunities

Why choose this program?

Capture emerging technology trends:
Hear from academic and industry leaders in Blockchain, Al, Robotics, Virtual Reality, Augmented Cognition, etc. Become adept in identifying the latest tech trends and learn how to discern the hype from what's commercially viable.

Immerse yourself in the whole innovation journey:
Hear from the world's leading tech companies and VCs and learn how they scout, develop, implement and benefit from innovation. Refresh your transformation and innovation strategies, and learn how to smartly invest or attract investment.

Access mentorship by UC Berkeley executives:
Connect your learning with mentoring from leaders who have driven successful innovations. Learn to apply effective innovation mindsets and frameworks to see real impact in your organization.

Expand your network and connect with global leaders:
Join a global cohort of accomplished peers with diverse perspectives. Conduct meaningful exchanges with a supportive community.

Basic Program Information

Location: UC Berkeley

  • Program date

    TBC

  • Fees

    Face value: USD $9,800


    Includes tuition, cases, materials, site visits, breakfast & lunch and closing ceremony/dinner

About the Organizers

CKGSB

Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) is China’s first faculty-governed, privately-funded business school. It boasts more than 46 full-time, world-class faculty members, most of whom were tenured at top global schools, such as Duke, Wharton and Yale. CKGSB’s influential student and alumni network represent the best, brightest and most influential leaders in China, with more than half at the Chairman or CEO level.

CKGSB has nurtured 136 unicorn companies since its inception. It has a vision of developing a global ecosystem that nurtures the next generation of breakthrough innovation. More than 4000 global executives have participated in CKGSB programs offered in English and other non-Chinese languages since 2009.

UC Berkeley College of Engineering

UC Berkeley College of Engineering is recognized globally as a leader in engineering education. It has a reputation for intellectual rigor and talent for developing technologies that improve quality of life and entrepreneurial spirit are reflected in both faculty and students.

The Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology (SCET) is the premier institution on the UC Berkeley campus for the study and practice of “technology-centric” entrepreneurship and innovation. Since 2005, SCET has created the foundation of Berkeley’s entrepreneurship ecosystem including SkyDeck, the Fung Institute, the Engineering Leadership Professional Program, Global Venture Lab, and an extensive ecosystem of UC Berkeley and Global partners.

Program Curriculum

  • Emerging Technologies
    • Web 3.0
    • AI: Digital Twin, Renewable Energy, Robotics
    • Blockchain: in-depth exploration
    • Decentralized Finance
  • Tech-Driven Innovation
    • Business Value of Future Technologies, Opportunities & Best Practices
    • Innovation Engineering Framework – Index & Mindset
    • Design Thinking for Entrepreneurs & Intrapreneurs
  • Developing or Investing in New Business
    • The Next Generation of Unicorns
    • Smart business in the digital economy
  • Learning Experience
    • New Business Simulation through Group Projects
    • Theory Meets Practice: A Guided Mentorship
    • Company Visits to Frontrunners in the Global Innovation Ecosystem
Featured Faculty and Industry Speakers
  • XIANG Bing
    Founding Dean, Professor of China Business and Globalization, CKGSB
    Prof. Xiang is a leading authority on China business. His insights on the innovations in China, globalization of Chinese companies, China’s development models, global implications of China’s transformation and economic disruption have been widely acclaimed. He has served as an independent board member of a number of companies (including three Fortune Global 500 companies) listed in Hong Kong, Mainland China and the United States. He is a member of the International Advisory Council of Fundação Dom Cabral (FDC), a member of the Global Advisory Board of Yonsei School of Business in Korea, a member of the Advisory Board of Asia House in London and a Counselor for One Young World Summit in Dublin. He has also served as a member of the Board of Trustees for United Way Worldwide (US) from 2011-2017.
  • ZENG Ming
    Former Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), Alibaba Group;
    Former Professor of Strategic Management, CKGSB
    Prof. Zeng served as an Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of Alibaba Group Holding Limited. Before joining Alibaba, Prof. Zeng served as the Professor of Strategic Management at CKGSB. Prof. Zeng is a frequent contributor to the world's leading management journals, including Academy of Management Review, Organization Science, Journal of International Business Studies, Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review and California Management Review.
  • SUN Baohong
    Dean's Distinguished Chair, Professor of Marketing, Associate Dean for Americas, CKGSB
    Prof. Sun is the Dean's Distinguished Chair and Professor of Marketing at CKGSB. She also serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, and Journal of Marketing. Her extensive consulting experience includes work with major corporations including Bosch, Boy Scouts of America, Highmark Insurance, John Deer and IBM. Her research focuses on rational and strategic consumer choices and dynamic structural models; dynamic and interactive marketing mix and customer information management; and, most recently, on modeling dynamic and inter-dependent consumer decisions on e-commerce and social media platforms.
  • Tarek I. Zohdi
    Will C. Hall Endowed Chair

    Chair of the UCB Computational & Data Science & Engineering Program

    Professor of Mechanical Engineering

    Associate Dean for Post Baccalaureate Programs, College of Engineering, UC Berkeley
    Tarek I. Zohdi received his Ph.D. in 1997 in Computational and Applied Mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany from 1997 to 1998 and then a lecturer (C2-Oberingenieur) at the Gottfried Leibniz University of Hannover in Germany from 1998 to 2001, where he received his Habilitation in General Mechanics (Allgemeine Mechanik). Approximately one out of every twenty doctoral degree holders in Germany is allowed to proceed with a Habilitation. It is the highest academic degree in Germany and is usually required to obtain the rank of full Professor there and in other parts of Europe. In July 2001, he became an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He was promoted to Associate Professor in July 2004 and to Full Professor in July 2009. 
  • Ken Singer
    Managing Director of the Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, UC Berkeley.
    Ken Singer has been the Managing Director of the Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology at the University of California, Berkeley since 2012. Ken is the co-creator of the Berkeley Method of Entrepreneurship Education and is the inventor of the game-based Challenge Lab course now taught in several universities around the world. Ken is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and has been a guest lecturer at Tech de Monterrey (Mexico), Pontificia Universidad de Catolica (Chile), Tallinn Tech University (Estonia), Kaunas Technical University (Lithuania), Aalto University (Finland), Tsinghua University (China), UFMG (Brasil) and numerous Grandes Ecole in Paris. He works with governments and universities to foster entrepreneurship education and consults with corporations on product and innovation management. Ken is also the co-founder of the Applied Innovation Institute, a nonprofit that sponsors student competitions around the world, including the Arab Mobile App Challenge now in its 3rd year.
  • Marc Tarpenning and Martin Eberhard
    Tesla Co-founders
    Marc Tarpenning and Martin Eberhard are American engineers, inventors and technology entrepreneurs, who jointly founded Tesla Inc. in 2003. Eberhard served as Tesla's original chairman, and its CEO until late 2007. Tarpenning served as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Vice President of Engineering.
Academic Directors
  • Baohong Sun, CKGSB
    Dean's Distinguished Chair, Professor of Marketing, Associate Dean for Americas, CKGSB




  • Tarek I. Zohdi, UC Berkeley
    Will C. Hall Endowed Chair
    Chair of the UCB Computational & Data Science & Engineering Program
    Professor of Mechanical Engineering
    Associate Dean for Post Baccalaureate Programs, College of Engineering, UC Berkeley

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