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Alex Goryachev

Senior Director, Innovation Strategy & Programs

Corporate Strategic Innovation Group

Alex Goryachev is an entrepreneurial go-getter. He takes risks, thinks ahead, and loves making way for new innovations. Over the past 20 years, he’s made it his business to turn disruptive concepts into emerging business models.

For him, it’s all about a passion to create a strategy and then drive it home to “get things done.” And as Cisco’s Senior Director of Innovation Strategy and Programs, he has plenty of opportunities to put this passion to the test.

He sparks internal innovation by providing employees at all levels the chance to share their big ideas, many of which make their way into the company’s innovation engine. Alex also carries the torch for co-innovation across Cisco’s ecosystem.

He’s especially excited about Cisco's Innovation Centers, which can be found in major cities around the world. Led by Alex, these hubs bring together customers, partners, startups, accelerators, governments, research communities, and universities in a lab setting. Their goal is to discover, develop, and implement game-changing, outcome-based solutions.

He also heads up the Cisco Innovation Grand Challenges. These polished events help creative thinkers bring their technology ideas to life. And then there’s the Cisco Technology Radar, the company’s engine for identifying emerging technology transitions.

Alex began his Cisco journey in 2004 with a singular focus: Innovation. He defined and operationalized several high-profile Cisco initiatives, including the company’s Country Transformation plan for Cisco in emerging markets. He also held senior roles in Development, Marketing, Finance, and Channels, providing him a 360 view of how a great company ticks.

Prior to Cisco, Alex was a successful consultant with extended assignments at Napster, Liquid Audio, IBM Global Services, and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals.

Articles

November 9, 2016

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INNOVATION

Innovation Grand Challenge Winners Showcase Diversity of Digital Solutions for Industry and Government

Amid more than 50,000 global innovators at this week’s Web Summit in Lisbon, three emerged victorious just moments ago in our third annual Innovation Grand Challenge. The electrified atmosphere of Europe’s largest innovation marketplace heated up when our own challenge finalists took the stage and p…

November 2, 2016

2

INNOVATION

Let’s Co-Innovate the Next Big Thing Next Week at Web Summit

Next week, about 50,000 innovators will be abuzz with new ideas as they converge in Lisbon, Portugal for Europe’s most spectacular technology marketplace. It is the annual Web Summit, Nov. 7-10.  Innovation leaders from around the world at Fortune 500 companies, startups, venture capital firms, acad…

October 25, 2016

3

INNOVATION

Six Digital Disruptors Emerge as Finalists in Global Innovation Grand Challenge 2016

The final sprint is on to the finish line spotlighting the world’s most disruptive digital innovators for industry. It is my distinct honor to announce the six finalists of this year’s Innovation Grand Challenge. These six superstar startups rose to the top of a competition launched last May at the…

October 11, 2016

INNOVATION

Building Blocks to Create Your Own Successful Internal Innovation Programs

Since I started this blog series about corporate innovation and intrapreneurship, readers often ask which of my nine building blocks is most essential to mobilize an innovation disruption across an entire company. Which is the cornerstone?  Which carries the most weight? Which is most disruptive? Wh…

September 29, 2016

INNOVATION

Building Blocks for Your Own Innovation Disruption (Part 3)

Are you ready? It’s time to complete the foundation and launch your own innovation disruption—companywide. This is the last of my three-part series. I lay out the final three building blocks needed to shake up bureaucracies and turn them into startup-like cultures. To transform employees into entrep…

September 27, 2016

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INNOVATION

15 Digital Disruptors: Announcing this year’s Innovation Grand Challenge Semifinalists

The finish line is now coming into view! After launching our third annual Innovation Grand Challenge in May, today I have the utmost pleasure to unveil the 15 semifinalists. Identified below, these digital disruptors emerged as the frontrunners in a global field of more than 5,500 participants. That…

August 25, 2016

3

INNOVATION

Pokémon Go: 5 Innovation Lessons from this Augmented Reality Check

When launched July 6,  Pokémon Go proved from the start that it could be much more than a global pop culture craze for gamers. There’s more behind this game than searching Pokémon’s at your local landmarks, firing red Poke Balls, sprinkling stardust and capturing points on a smart phone. The real t…

August 18, 2016

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INNOVATION

Interview w/ Alex Goryachev, the Mastermind behind Cisco’s Grandest Innovation Challenge

NOTE: The  conversation below on how to ignite innovation first appeared on the web site of TeskaLabs, a Europe-based security startup selected to join the IDEALondon program, powered by Cisco, DJ Thomson and University College of London. A big thanks to Cindy Dam, TeskaLab’s marketing and com…

August 11, 2016

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INNOVATION

Building Blocks for an Innovation Disruption (Part 2)

Thomas Edison once said, “Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” Yet even today, when there’s never been a better time to innovate, many still believe that all you need is the next brilliant idea to disrupt markets. Wrong. In today’s digital world, innovation takes as much p…