NEWS & EVENTS
Award Celebrates Innovation and Collaboration Accelerated Cure honored for fostering innovation and collaboration SUFFOLK’S CENTER FOR INNOVATION AND CHANGE LEADERSHIP (CICL) honored the Accelerated Cure Proj-
ect at their November 7 annual Global Leadership in Innovation and Collaboration Award and recognition day activities at the Sawyer Business School. Each year, the award is given to an organization that fosters and inspires innovation and collaboration. “Our theme for this year’s award was ‘innovation and collaboration that saves lives,’ and that is what Accelerated Cure is all about,” said Robert Defillippi, co-director of the CICL and Sawyer Business School Professor of Strategy and International Business. Accelerated Cure Project encourages collaboration between research organizations and clinicians to learn more about multiple sclerosis (MS). They collect and distribute blood samples to scientists who are studying the disease. In return, the researchers share their findings, which are compiled into a database known as the Cure Map. “What stood out to us was how Accelerated Cure was mobilizing a global network of medical researchers to speed up the process of research underway to find effective therapies for multiple sclerosis,” Defillippi said. Accelerated Cure Project and the CICL share a similar goal, which is to “facilitate collaboration and information exchange that will lead to new insights,” said Colette Dumas, co-director of the CICL and Professor of Organizational Behavior and Management and Entrepreneurship. Robert McBurney, CEO of Accelerated Cure Project, accepted the award on behalf of the organization. As part of the award ceremony, McBurney discussed the organization’s vision, collaborative practices, and effective information exchange. Participants learned how and why “formerly competitive or secretive organizations not accustomed to sharing their hard-won data learn to make themselves and their data accessible to other organizations to foster beneficial innovative practices,” Dumas said. Alex Slawsby, a manager at the consulting firm Innosight, moderated the discussion. Slawsby understands that innovation plays a vital role in solving business problems and de-
Robert McBurney, CEO of Accelerated Cure Project
veloping business strategies. At Innosight, he helps organizations improve their innovation-driven growth. Dumas also interviewed McBurney at the Suffolk University television studio about the importance of innovation in business. Their discussion will be posted on the Sawyer Business School’s YouTube page. The award is just one of several CICL initiatives to integrate best practices of innovation and collaboration within the research, teaching, and service missions of CICL and Suffolk University’s Sawyer Business School. www.suffolk.edu/business /7