PDMA Connections - February 2025

Nominations are open for the 2025 PDMA OCI Award until February 28, 2025!

Do you know an organization—perhaps yours—that has distinguished itself by its ability to consistently identify, develop, and launch breakthrough innovations and best practices? If so, please take a few minutes to complete the nomination form. You can also learn more about OCI on the PDMA website.

The nomination deadline has been extended to February 28, 2025—giving you more time to recognize an organization for its innovation excellence.

PDMA’s Global Student Innovation Challenge 2025 submission portal is now open and ready to receive your innovation ideas!

The Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) is pleased to offer the 6th annual Global Student Innovation Challenge. This challenge encourages and supports students developing novel, real-world offerings—including products, software, or services. Students currently enrolled full-time at a university academic program, either in an undergraduate or graduate level, are eligible to participate. The top three finalist teams will be invited to present their project as part of the PDMA International Inspire Innovation Conference, September 13-16, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. You can review the rules and guidelines of the challenge, as well as videos of the winning teams from previous years, on our website. Please thoroughly review the rubric to ensure you meet all the criteria.

The submission portal is now accepting applications with a deadline of June 1, 2025.

Calling all student Innovators in the Carolinas! We are excited to announce our 2025 student innovation competition. The competition offers you an opportunity to showcase your ideas and business acumen, network with business leaders, and win cash prizes! Plus, by participating, you can set yourself up for great career opportunities with an experience that will jump off your résumé and set you apart from the crowd.

Save the date to hear keynote speaker Ty Hagler and the some of the best next generation of innovators in the Carolinas present their ideas.

The showcase will be held on Friday, April 18 at Noon EDT. Watch for more details soon!

Recent kHUB Postings:

• To stay ahead in today’s competitive market, it's essential for organizations to integrate sustainability into their New Product Development (NPD) processes. By embracing the Eco-Stage-Gate model, companies can streamline their path to sustainable innovation, overcome regulatory and technical hurdles, and meet evolving customer demands. Don't miss the opportunity to enhance your NPD approach—adopt sustainability as a strategic advantage today and drive both innovation and growth for the future. In his latest kHUB article, Building Sustainability into Your Product Innovation Process, Dr. Robert Cooper provides the rationale, template, and details for embedding sustainability into your organization’s New Product Development Process. Follow his introduction, analysis, examples, considerations, and benefits of eco-NPD.

• In this video and linked article, STAR, a Universal, Repeatable, Strategic Model of Corporate Innovation for Industry Domination, Ronald Berman introduces the STAR model. He underscores the challenges that organizations face when trying to innovate—including internal barriers such as existing expertise, staffing, compensation, information systems, market focus, organizational culture, and a general aversion to risk. The STAR model for corporate innovation is a theoretical framework designed to help organizations overcome these obstacles. It helps companies build the necessary structures and advocacy to innovate effectively, allowing them to develop products, services, and internal processes that position them as market leaders. It also aids in identifying, accepting, and deploying new technologies that can create a competitive advantage that is difficult for others to replicate.

• Chapter 2 of the Body of Knowledge emphasizes the critical role of strategy in product management and development. A well-defined innovation strategy is essential for maintaining competitiveness, driving growth, and adapting to evolving market demands. Achieving long-term success requires dedication, time, and a structured approach. Begin by fostering a culture of creativity and innovation while aligning your strategy with clear objectives and actionable steps. In the article Developing a Product Innovation Strategy, kHUB editor Rose Klimovic outlines the key purpose and steps to help organizations craft and implement an effective innovation strategy.

• PDMA’s local chapters continue to hold online events. We post the recordings and presentations from the local events on kHUB’s Local Chapter Content – on Demand for you to access and view at your convenience. There are dozens of presentations from PDMA chapters around the world. Check out some recent content from the Carolinas Chapter:

November 12, 2024: Communication or the Lack Thereof: Why Your Product Team is Misunderstood
October 8, 2024: The Power of Integrating Customers Into Your Product Development Black Box
September 10, 2024: The Business Model Canvas

kHUB Most Popular Content:

See what your competitors and peers have viewed in kHUB recently. The following content is among the most accessed last month:

Along with these still popular classics:

This is an opportunity for a program manager, product manager, functional manager, and similar industry professionals to participate in a discussion session during an upcoming virtual meeting of the User Experience and Human Factors Leaders Consortium. To be considered as a speaker, you must have previously engaged with practitioners who perform user-centered research and/or design activities involving user experience, human factors, usability, human-computer interaction, etc. Your role in the discussion session will be to inform the Consortium members about your experience with those practitioners so the members can learn what you consider to be examples of good and poor practitioner contributions to the development of a product, system, or process. For more information, please contact Stan Caplan at scapan@usabilityassociates.com.

PDMA is growing! Meet and connect with our new members by signing into the PDMA community on our website.

PDMA welcomed these new members in January 2025. We look forward to working with you!

Individual Members

Ahmad Al-Shagra
Garth Brown
Sean Burke
Taylor Callahan
Al Carl
Janna Coy
Amit Dhar
Sarah Dickinson
Brian Dodge
Piyush Hurkat
Jeremy Jarrell
Brendan Kane
Kelly Kuzemchak
Jim Nichols
Andidiong Nkwazema
Yuvaraj Padmanabhan
Srinivas Pullabhotla
Eddie Rodriguez
Raghul Sekar
Abhilasha Sharma
Antony Soosai
Stan Tarosky
Siddhant Waghmare
Michelle Weaver
Ryan Wills

Student Members
Brianna Alexander
Yatish Bangera
Jameion Blakely
Oliver Carson
Le Vinh An Doan
Jonny Henderson
Anthony Hinojosa
Jing Li
Xiaoshu Lin
William Mabry
Pallavi Mahapatra
Russell Newberry
Stephannie Okimura
Zak Olech
Brian Owenga
Arianna Rodriguez
Alonzo
Daniel Tillman
Tasha Wiley

Academic Members
Russell Driesen
Matt Mayfield
Shaocai Su
Hing Fung Wu