All articles by Steven Melendez

Article Linking Innovation, Corporate VC, and M&A at Allegion
January 14, 2025 | By Steven Melendez
Allegion reshaped its innovation ecosystem by emphasizing deep internal engagement—from rapid prototyping in its Pin & Tumbler studio to a part-time corporate venture structure. We speak with Robert Martens, Allegion’s chief innovation and design officer and president of Allegion Ventures, about how this approach fuels successful ventures, keeps employees invested,...
Article Driving Patient Care Innovation at UC San Diego Health
January 16, 2025 | By Steven Melendez
"To embed daily innovation as part of our culture," says Ashley Gambhir, "we created a mission statement: We want to have 14,000 problem solvers that relentlessly improve care while loving their jobs. We started a management system to encourage daily input by asking, 'What ideas do you have?'" Read more...
Article Scaling Up Challenge-Based Ideation at TD Bank
January 8, 2025 | By Steven Melendez
In recent years, TD Bank has harnessed its iD8 internal innovation program to crowdsource tens of thousands of ideas—from simplifying customer transactions to improving back-end processes. We speak with Vlora Muslimi, Senior Manager and head of iD8, about how challenge-based ideation has become a game changer for the bank.
Article Inside Look: The Hartford’s IoT Innovation Lab
December 17, 2024 | By Steven Melendez
The Hartford has been writing insurance policies for US businesses and consumers for more than 200 years. In 2018, the company launched an Internet of Things (IoT) Innovation Lab, focused on using technology like water and humidity sensors to collect data and detect and prevent costly losses from incidents like...
Article CarMax CTO: Advice on Setting Product Teams Up for Success
November 15, 2024 | By Steven Melendez
Shamim Mohammad is Executive Vice President and Chief Information and Technology Officer at CarMax. We spoke with Mohammad about leveraging AI to deliver reliable results, successfully structuring technical teams for innovation, and more.
Article Slack Report: AI Investment Continues as Worker Enthusiasm Wanes
November 14, 2024 | By Steven Melendez
A new report from Slack finds that while AI investment and urgency continues, worker enthusiasm and adoption is slowing. Why?
Article BCG Report: AI Leader Companies are Already Reaping Tangible Results
October 30, 2024 | By Steven Melendez
A new report from BCG finds that companies moving forward quickly with AI are seeing 50 percent greater revenue growth and 60 percent higher total shareholder returns.
Article Inside Look: Consumer Reports’ AI-Powered Chatbot
October 11, 2024 | By Steven Melendez
Consumer Reports recently launched AskCR, an AI-powered chatbot that can answer subscribers' questions based on the nonprofit organization's research into a wide array of consumer products. Here's how it was developed — and the challenges the team had to overcome.
Article Bain Tech Report: Where AI is Already Delivering Results
September 27, 2024 | By Steven Melendez
A new Technology Report from Bain says that the top AI use cases for productivity gains include software and product development, customer support, sales and marketing, and back office operations. More highlights inside...
Article How Embraer-X is Shaping the Future of Urban Air Mobility
August 2, 2024 | By Steven Melendez
We talk to Daniel Moczydlower, Embraer-X's President and CEO and Embraer's Head of Global Innovation Ecosystems, about how his team explores and implements pioneering projects in urban air mobility while maintaining alignment with Embraer’s core business strategy.