3M Wows the crowd at Pub@Hub event

3M South Africa Managing Director, James Marshall, who provided a fascinating insight into the drivers of successful innovation in the $18 billion diversified technology company.

Members of The Innovation Hub's INNOV8 high-tech community gathered en mass recently for another completely sold out Pub@Hub business networking evening.

The international "pub talker" for the evening was 3M South Africa Managing Director, James Marshall, who provided a fascinating insight into the drivers of successful innovation in the $18 billion diversified technology company. Headquartered in St Paul, Minnesota, 3M has operations in more than 60 countries and serves customers in nearly 200 countries with leading positions in the health care, industrial, display and graphics, consumer and office, safety, security and protection services, electro and communications, and transportation industries.

Creating innovative products and services is the cornerstone of life at 3M. For nearly a century, 3M's unique culture has fostered creativity and given employees the freedom to take risks and try new ideas. This culture has led to a steady stream of new products. With no boundaries to imagination and no barriers to cooperation, one good idea has swiftly led to another. So far, more than 50 000 innovative products have emerged from this process, which started with 3M's founder. He espoused a philosophy of valuing employee contributions by encouraging management to empower employees and respect their contributions. That philosophy, which clearly worked well in the early years of 3M's history, continues to guide the company today.

The principles that James discussed remain valid for companies of all sizes, everywhere. The big winners in the future will be those that match new, marketable ideas with customers before anyone else. This requires flexibility and creativity and a willingness to take risks.

Pub@Hub host, Martin Yuill, thanked James for sharing his thoughts, ideas and valuable insight with members of the INNOV8 community, and 3M for being the prize sponsor for the evening.

Pub@Hub events bring together leading lights of the local high-tech and knowledge intensive communities, and provide a focal point for the commercialisation of new technologies, the seeding of high-growth companies, and speeding up the flow of cutting-edge ideas about markets, products, services, processes, and technologies.

If you are interested in becoming part of the INNOV8 community and its associated activities and events, or have colleagues or business associates who might benefit from an invitation to attend such business networking occasions, click here!

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