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John Kao

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Author of Jamming & Innovation Nation and Innovation Nation: How America Is Losing Its Innovation Edge, Why It Matters, and What We Can Do to Get It Back

In short

John Kao was born in 1950 to Chinese immigrant parents. An accomplished jazz pianist, he spent the summer of 1969 playing keyboards for Frank Zappa. During the 1970s he earned his bachelor’s degree from Yale in philosophy, followed by an M.D. and a three-year residency in psychiatry. In 1982 he received a business degree from Harvard and, at age 31, became an assistant...

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... professor. He taught creativity courses at Harvard Business School for 13 years.

In 1987 he started Bio Surface Technology (now Genzyme Tissue Repair), a company that grows new skin for burn victims. In 1989 he financed and helped produce the indie film "Sex, Lies & Videotape," which went on to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes. In 1992 he founded K.O. Technology (now Variagenics), which is developing a means of attacking cancer cells without harming healthy ones. In 1996 he wrote Jamming, a bestselling book on creativity. In 1997, Kao founded The Idea Factory in San Francisco (which has expanded to Europe and Asia). The Idea Factory’s clients include Nissan, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and United Parcel Service. In 1999 Kao bought London’s Ealing Studios with plans to turn it into a new digital studio. Kao’s evolving vision is to build an innovation keiretsu. He also advises clients such as the Emirate of Dubai ,the Government of Singapore, the Government of Ireland and others.

Full biog

John Kao is an authority on the intersecting subjects of corporate innovation and transformation, design and the future of business. Dubbed a "serial innovator" and "Mr. Creativity" by The Economist, he has made a career out of helping organizations go from "getting the importance of innovation" to "getting innovation done." John Kao has worked with a wide range of Fortune 500 companies, startups and government agencies around practical issues of strategic innovation and organizational transformation.

In addition to his other accomplishments, John Kao is an entrepreneur, best-selling author, sought-after keynote speaker, Tony-nominated producer, and business pioneer. For 14 years, he taught at Harvard Business School, where he developed courses, lectures and executive seminars that addressed the topics of entrepreneurship, venture management, innovation, leadership, and organizational change. He has also been a visiting professor at the MIT Media Lab and is at present the Distinguished Visiting Professor of Innovation at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey.

John Kao is well known as a thought leader in the innovation field. He is author of Jamming: The Art and Discipline of Business Creativity, a BusinessWeek best-seller that has been published in 12 languages. He was recently named one of the 200 most creative Americans and one ofthe 200 top management authorities worldwide.

John Kao has previously founded companies in life sciences, innovation and e-services, and feature film production. He has advised governments and companies worldwide. He also serves as Vice President of Arts & Business in the UK and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Art. John has produced both film and theatre; his credits include: production executive on Sex, Lies, and Videotape, executive producer of Mr. Baseball and producer of Golden Child.

John's experience in the design field is multifaceted. He chaired the Aspen Design Conference in 1995, which took up the question of reinventing the relationship between design and business, and edited a monograph based on the conference called "Designing Business." John Kao has collaborated with a variety of world renowned designers, including David Rockwell, Nigel Holmes, and David Carson. His approach to innovation is strongly informed by the disciplines of design.

John Kao has broad experience in public speaking and executive education. He has given keynote addresses for such organizations as IBM, Intel, Accenture, The U.S. Navy, Nokia, Milia, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, The U.S. Department of Commerce, The American Marketing Association, Fortune magazine, Forbes magazine, BusinessWeek, Citibank, The World Economic Forum, Global Business Network, the TED Conferences, Columbia Pictures. He also advises clients such as the Emirate of Dubai ,the Government of Singapore, the Government of Ireland and others.

John Kao was recently named an Honorary Vice-president of Arts and Business in the UK as well as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is on the Board of Governors of The Chinese Heritage Centre in Singapore, and a director of the ZeroOne Foundation in San Francisco.

John's keynote speeches on innovation are distinguished for their vivid call to arms as well as their practical and original frameworks for action. John Kao has been known to illustrate the fundamentals of innovation (of "jamming," in his words) by playing jazz piano in a way that provides musical examples of the innovation process at work. He has "performed" such illustrations before audiences at Madison Square Garden and the Grand Old Opry.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, John Kao was trained in philosophy (B.A., Yale College), psychiatry (M.D., Yale Medical School; residency, Harvard Medical School) and business (M.B.A., Harvard Business School).