Curt Carlson, Founder and CEO of The Practice of Innovation, is a pioneer in the development and use of innovation best practices and an evangelist for innovation, education, and economic development. He is known for sharing best practices with government agencies, businesses and foundations around the world. He advises U.S. governors, prime ministers, and economic and education ministers around the world on innovation, competitiveness, and educational reform.
Carlson served as SRI International’s President and CEO from 1998 to 2014. During his tenure, he led the turnaround of a failing R&D firm to become a global model for the systematic creation of high-value innovations, such as HDTV, robotic surgery systems, Siri, and several other world-changing advances. In recognition of his work with HDTVs and for helping to create a system to optimize satellite broadcast image quality, Carlson and his team were awarded two Emmy Awards for outstanding technical achievement.
Carlson has helped form more than two dozen companies, and is co-author with William Wilmot of Innovation: The Five Disciplines for Creating What Customers Want.
