Taking Social Innovation to Scale - A Case Study

Cedric Hodgeman

Cedric Hodgeman is Co-Founder of UBELONG.

Ayesha Khanna

Ayesha Khanna is Founder and Director of the Hybrid Reality Institute, a research and advisory group focused on human-technology co-evolution, geotechnology and innovation. She is a Partner at K2S Advisors which provides strategic and financial advisory services in smart and sustainable cities, technology and infrastructure. She is also a Faculty Advisor at Singularity University and directs the Future Cities group at the London School of Economics. A technology and innovation strategy expert, Ayesha has over ten years of experience advising clients and cities on scenario analysis, product development, digital branding and customer experience. Her clients have included Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, UBS, American International Group, and Deutsche Bank. Ayesha is frequently interviewed in the media and was featured by the New York Times. She is a regular speaker at industry, marketing, and academic conferences related to emerging technology trends and intelligent cities.

Ayesha is the author of Hybrid Reality: Thriving in the Emerging Human-Technology Civilization (TED Books, 2012) and Straight Through Processing (Reed Elsevier, 2007), and was series editor of The Complete Technology Guides for Financial Services published by Reed Elsevier. She has written for diverse publications such as BusinessWeek, TIME, Newsweek, Forbes, Strategy+Business, and Foreign Policy. She also blogs on human technology co-evolution at Big Think. She is currently working on a book titled The Generative City.

Ayesha is on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Lifeboat Foundation, a Fellow at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, on the Board of Advisors of Humanity+, and co-curator of TEDxGotham. In 2010, she co-chaired the Innovation Advisory Board for the New York City congressional campaign of Reshma Saujani.

Ayesha has a BA (honors) in Economics from Harvard University, an MS in Operations Research from Columbia University and is completing her PhD in Information Systems and Innovation at the London School of Economics. She lives in New York and Singapore.

Rob Shelton

Rob Shelton is a Partner at PRTM Management Consultants and leader of the Global Innovation Practice. In 2010 PRTM’s Innovation Practice was ranked #1 in strength of methodology among all consultancies.

He is co-author of Making Innovation Work (Wharton School Publications, 2006; currently in 11th printing) and co-editor of The Creative Enterprise (Praeger, 2007). His area of focus is integrating innovation into the strategy, organization, and operations of companies. He has worked with leading companies in the energy, clean tech, electronics, computers, telecommunications, financial, and consumer goods.

Mr. Shelton is the co-founder and a board member of a leading incubator in Silicon Valley recognized for its unique contributions by the White House, the California Governors Office, and the City of San Jose. It was selected as the best US business incubator in 2009 and by Forbes in 2010 as one of the Ten Top Incubators Changing the World.

Most recently he published an innovation survey, Caught in the Crossfire. The key takeaway is that executives are betting on innovation to provide growth during the recovery.

His work has been published,quoted, and referenced in The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Forbes, and Financial Times among others. In addition, he has been interviewed on CNN Financial News and NPR. He has authored numerous articles in the US, India, China, and Europe.

Mr. Shelton has been a guest speaker at the House of Commons, Stanford University and at at leading companies, and companies and executive conferences in the US, China, Japan, India, Korea, Abu Dhabi, and across the European Communities.

He was previously Vice President and Managing Director at Arthur D. Little, Managing Director of the SRI (Stanford Research Institute) Worldwide Technology Management Practice and senior consultant at Booz, Allen & Hamilton in technology and business management consulting.