Day 2 at the Innovation Summit: Brian Steinhobel, owner of the design firm bearing his surname Steinhobel Design shared his 3 decades of design successes, failures, hopes and failures for South Africa. My take aways were that the shortage of design and tooling infrastructure on the ground which are necessary for the innovation ecosystem to thrive are in short supply.

Day 1 of the Innovation Summit in Johannesburg got off to good start with Eskom discussing their open innovation pilot project showcasing South African corporate innovation. Results from the pilot are not yet public but Eskom managers after initial scepticism are pushing for the next round.

 This years’ Innovation Summit in Johannesburg features what I consider to be the engine behind the event, “the Innovation Lab”.

Johannesburg is hosting the 4^th SA Innovation Summit at the end of this month and it’s raising the question, will innovation creep, crawl or leap out of the cradle of mankind?

On the 31st March the LSE played host to the 32nd annual meeting of the Management Accounting Research Group, founded by CIMA Past President, Professor Michael Bromwich and sponsored by CIMA’s General Charitable Trust.

TomTom, the Dutch company famous for satellite navigation or satnav systems released their latest set of financial results last week. They reported a drop of 29% in quarterly profits with net profits for the final quarter of 2010 of €52 million compared with €72 million for the corresponding period in the previous year.

For CIMA students that are studying the Enterprise pillar papers this is a timely real life reminder of some key strategic issues.

Here's a good opportunity to make a name for yourself and win a trip to Vienna.  The Peter Drucker Society of Europe has launched the first 'Global Peter Drucker Challenge', an international essay competition for students, young managers and entrepreneurs.  As you'll have guessed, the prize is named after the legendary management guru who is regarded as the grandfather of management!

I remember how much people liked to come over to my house for a dinner when I was a little girl. My Mum is an exceptional cook and her cuisine was famous along our friends. Especially there was a bullion soup which becomes a legendary and a... bullion soup is not something to be treated easily in tradition of my country. This soup is one of the pillars of our national art of cooking.

Despite CIMA being the most global management accounting body, there are certain geographies where awareness is still up and coming. One such location is North America. There are close to 2,000 members spread across parts of the US, but in terms of critical mass Canada - and specifically Toronto – is out in front.

Blogs are strange beasts, with the informality of a conversation, but the durability (and searchability) of any information published on the web. Since my blog last week - in which I quoted the statistic that 95% of product costs are fixed at design stage - I've been consumed with guilt that I didn't provide more information about that statistic.

Yay, my first blog. Sorry. Bit excited. Milestone moment.

I must have been the only accountant in London not glued to TV/radio/internet on Wednesday. Instead I attended an Innovation Summit. Far more enjoyable than listening to the Chancellor’s budget speech.