Apala Chavan, Human Factors International
Apala is a world-renowned expert on Contextual Innovation.the discipline of creating breakthrough product concepts and adapting existing products, services, and technologies to new markets. HP Labs, adidas, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, NCR, and Intel are just a few of the companies that have benefited from Apala.s innovative, pioneering techniques in this exciting and growing field. Apala and her CI team have helped designers, marketers, product managers and ethnographers apply her innovative techniques to develop exciting new concepts and products. She systematically guides the ideation process to uncover subtle patterns in ethnographic and market data to reveal the exciting breakthrough ideas that can drive your business and generate more revenue and profit. Apala has developed a vast array of data-gathering techniques, including the Bollywood Method, Bizarre Bazaar, and the Funky Facilitator, which help understand the user experience in a variety of cultural and economic environments. She and her team pioneered the .Ecosystem Chart. which organizes vast amounts of ethnographic data into a coherent model. She is a creative and dynamic speaker who has received acclaim in USA, Canada, Europe, India, and China for her keynote talks on contextual innovation, internationalization, and designing for emerging markets.
