QUESTION & ANSWER WITH
MICHAEL PHILLIPS PLEASE TELL US ABOUT THE LAUNCH OF THE CENTER FOR WORKPLACE INNOVATION AT THE INNOVATION AND DESIGN BUILDING. As you know the Innovation and Design Building is home not just to the Boston Design Center but to a great number of professionals spanning many design disciplines: architects, interior designers, furniture designers, product designers, graphic designers, tech companies, foundations, and more. We are sitting on one of the world’s most compelling talent pools and our goal is to activate this group and create a multidisciplinary endeavor and national platform for sharing the latest thinking in workplace design and innovation. HOW WILL YOU FORMALLY LAUNCH THE INITIATIVE? We started by reaching out to our community and found our ideal partner: Design Museum Foundation. They are an organization that is focused on exploring how design drives innovation. In a nutshell, that is our goal with the CWI. We liked that they were Boston-based, and we were attracted to their growing presence in major U.S. cities with an ability to produce pop-up programming and social media platforms across the country. From there we have formed an advisory council that will act as our think tank and ambassadors for CWI. DESCRIBE THE TYPE OF PROGRAMMING WE CAN EXPECT. We will launch this fall with a Workplace Innovation Summit signature event to be held annually, pulling together the thought leaders of the industry for keynote presentations, demonstrations, and workshops. We will offer regular programming throughout the year in the form of articles, videos, interviews, and multimedia content for member organizations. WHAT TOPICS WILL YOU EXPLORE? The design of how we work and where we work has always been important, but attention and discourse has crescendoed in recent years, as it is clear that well-designed workplaces translate into higher productivity, team happiness, employee retention, and increased revenue. We are going to tap into our collective resources and really explore how we can enhance these benchmark goals in the workplace. We hope our partners and friends at the Innovation and Design Building will take advantage of all that this endeavor has to offer. For all inquiries, please contact Michael at mphillips@idbostonmagazine.com.
Michael Phillips President, Jamestown Executive Editor, ID BOSTON