Curtis Carlson

Dr. Curtis R. Carlson is the founder and CEO of Practice of Innovation, LLC, recognized for his pioneering work in value creation best practices and advocacy for innovation, education, and economic development. He served on President Obama’s National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship and was the President and CEO of SRI International from 1998 to 2014, where he successfully transformed the organization from a long-term decline into a global model for high-value innovation, resulting in breakthroughs such as robotic surgery, HDTV, and Siri on the Apple iPhone. His teams received two Emmy Awards for outstanding technical achievement for their work in optimizing satellite broadcast image quality and developing HDTV. Carlson has also played a significant role in founding over two dozen companies and co-authored the acclaimed book Innovation: The Five Disciplines for Creating What Customers Want with William Wilmot, which outlines the value creation practices that drove SRI's transformation.