“Creativity is the engine for innovation” – Natalie Nixon.
Harnessing creativity and innovation are key components to surviving and succeeding within this modern world. Many industries have had to adapt during these unprecedented times of change, growing risk and uncertainty.
Creative and innovative approaches are necessary to navigate challenges and find new opportunities for growth and success. With that being said, actualising innovation is often a concept that can be illusive for many organisations, both public and private. By driving progress and growth, these keynote speakers and advisors provide actionable strategies and insights, enabling consistent innovation.
In 2024 specifically, they are particularly important for several reasons.
Technology and artificial intelligence are advancing at an unprecedented rate, and new innovations are constantly being introduced. To remain competitive and relevant, individuals and organisations must use these tools to differentiate themselves from others, and provide unique value to stakeholders and customers.
The world is facing complex challenges such as climate change, resource scarcity, social inequality, and political turmoil, to name a few. It is important that companies and governments utilise innovation and creativity, to develop solutions and create a sustainable, equitable future.
Below, we have compiled a list of our Top Innovation & Creativity Speakers. Corporations and governments look to these sought-after experts, helping them reach new heights.
Natalie Nixon
Creativity Strategist: Author of the award-winning book 'The Creativity Leap' and Creativity Whisperer to the C-Suite.
Natalie Nixon is a creativity strategist and author of the award-winning book, The Creativity Leap. She has been referred to as the creativity whisperer and “offers an accessible and simple way for people to think about creativity so that they can innovate consistently”.
Nixon advises leaders on transformation, through the lenses of foresight and creativity. Forbes have also recognised her work and expertise on the topic.
It’s common for creativity to be understood as “doing whatever you feel like” and essentially, put in a box. Nixon debunks this misconception; “it requires wonder and rigour” and is used in all circumstances.
A master at helping others understand complex ideas, she works closely with business leaders to stimulate effective ways of adapting to the future and improving ways of working.
She talks about the correlation between technological innovation and creativity, and how these advancements will impact each other going forward.
Greg Hoffman is a global brand leader, former NIKE Chief Marketing Officer, and founder and principal of the brand advisory group Modern Arena.
For over 27 years, Greg held various marketing, design, and innovation leadership roles at NIKE. As NIKE’s Vice President of Global Brand Innovation, Greg Hoffman led teams tasked with envisioning the future of storytelling and consumer experiences for the brand.
In 2015, Fast Company named him one of the Most Creative People in Business. He has also been recognized for his transformative leadership in the industry through the Business Insider’s 50 Most Innovative CMO’s and AdAge’s Power Players annual lists.
Chris Barton wanted a way to identify songs he was hearing everywhere around him. There wasn’t one – so he invented an app called Shazam. Chris’s creation is nothing short of pure magic.
Chris Barton seeks to delight people by using technology to make seemingly impossible ideas come to life. Shazam, which now has over two billion downloads, is just one of them.
In addition to creating Shazam, which Apple acquired for $400 million, Chris holds 12 patents and played key roles in the early days of Google and Dropbox.
Nayla Al Khaja is the first female film Director/Producer in the United Arab Emirates.
CEO of Nayla Al Khaja Films (previously D-Seven Motion Pictures), she founded in 2007 The Scene Club, Dubai’s first film club, which now counts over 22,000 registered members.
Al Khaja wrote and directed several films, all presented and awarded in international film festivals. She is currently developing her first feature film, Animal.
Al Khaja’s accolades include being ranked among the Top 50 most powerful personalities in Arab Cinema, and 100 most powerful Arabs under 40 by Arabian Business Magazine. She’s also been awarded the Visionary of the Year Award at the Arabian Business Awards, and she is Brand Ambassador for Canon Middle East since 2011.
She was recently declared Entrepreneur of the Year during the Gulf Business Awards 2017.
Nayla Al Khaja
Film Director, Producer and Screenwriter. CEO of Nayla Al Khaja Films and founder of The Scene Club
James Taylor, who started his career managing high profile rock stars – is now an in-demand keynote speaker and internationally recognized leader in business creativity and innovation.
For over 20 years, he has been advising CEO’s, entrepreneurs, educators, governments and leaders from Silicon Valley to Singapore on how to build innovative organizations, unlock creative potential, and increase productivity.
As the founder of C.SCHOOL and the host of multiple global summits, James Taylor has personally interviewed over 500 of the world’s leading creative minds including Silicon Valley tech CEO’s, New York Times bestselling authors, and artificial intelligence pioneers.
James Taylor is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts whose Fellows have included global innovators and leaders including President Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela and Professor Stephen Hawking.
Dr. Beau Lotto is a Professor of neuroscience, author, and successful entrepreneur. He is a main stage TED speaker (with over 7,000,000 views).
A world-renowned expert in the science of perception, Beau reveals why trading certainty for doubt increases our capacity to adapt, lead, innovate, and thrive in the darkness of “I don’t know.”
Beau always seeks to make use of the ways the brain ‘sees’ to enable people and companies to see in a novel and creative way and thus become more adaptable and innovative in a changing world.
Christian Busch
Director, CGA Global Economy Program, New York University & Author, The Serendipity Mindset
Prof. Dr. Christian Busch is a world-leading expert on innovation, purpose-driven leadership, and cultivating serendipity. He is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Forum, and on the Thinker50 Radar list of 30 thinkers “most likely to shape the future”.
Professor Christian Busch is a best-selling author and world-renowned expert on helping companies adapt in our rapidly changing world, by shifting mindsets towards embracing the “unexpected” as an ally. This particular mindset is referred to as, “The Serendipity Mindset” – which has far-reaching impacts on organisations and their long-term success.
Busch describes this as: “when you can look at every situation, and you don’t see the constraints, but instead try to understand… is there some kind of meaning in there, is there some kind of opportunity in there, and can I reframe the situation?”
He directs the CGA Global Economy Program at New York University, and also teaches at the London School of Economics.
Duncan Wardle is the former Head of Innovation and Creativity at Disney, where he helped Imagineering, Lucasfilm, Marvel, Pixar and Disney Parks innovate create both magical and original storylines and experiences for global consumers.
Now founder of iD8 & innov8 he gives audiences around the world a very unique approach to Design Thinking, that places the user at the centre of the creative process and also looks in new and usual places to uncover insights for innovation, helping people capture unlikely connections, leading to fresh thinking and disruptive ideas.
Red Hong Yi is a Chinese-Malaysian contemporary artist who makes work expressing her heritage and Chinese diaspora.
Known as “the artist who paints without a paintbrush”, she creates mixed media installations by reinterpreting everyday materials through the accumulation of objects.
Sotheby’s Institute has named her one of the “11 art world entrepreneurs you should know”. Tatler Magazine has named her one of Asia’s most influential voices in 2020.
Red Hong Yi studied at the University of Melbourne. Her work has been exhibited at H Queens in Hong Kong, the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, World Economic Forum in Davos, and Anchorage Museum in Alaska. Collectors of her work include JP Morgan Chase Bank and actor Jackie Chan. Her art has been featured on publications including Wall Street Journal, TIME, and the New York Times.
Richard Browning is Founder and Chief Test Pilot of Gravity Industries, a company that builds and flies Jet Suits and thus gives a platform and reality to human flight.
The company challenges the seeming boundaries in human aviation and inspires others to dare to ask “What if?”.
Before Gravity Industries, Browning discovered and implemented major new technologies in BP including turning a $30k groundbreaking trade flow analytics (ship tracking) platform still at the centre of the global commodity industry today. It won the BP Group innovation Award and generated more than $50m within 3 months.
Sophia the Robot is the creation of Dr David Hanson of Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics. A former Disney Imagineer, Hanson’s mission is to build machines that are smarter than humans that can learn creativity, empathy and compassion.
Sophia gives a glimpse into the creative and innovative potential of AI and robotics and provides enlightening insights into the provocative moral and ethical questions that accompany non-human intelligent lifeforms.
Sophia is the world’s first robot citizen and the first robot innovation Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme.
