Last year, the Science Museum and Imperial Business School, London played host to a gathering that felt less like a traditional conference and more like a war room for the future.
Co-organised by Explorer Labs, Wicked Labs, and the Royal College of Art (RCA), the 5th International Symposium on Corporate, Policy and Wicked Acceleration brought together a global cohort of business designers, policymakers, and innovation leaders. The goal? To crack the code on how organisations can move faster and more effectively against “wicked problems”—those messy, interconnected challenges like climate change, circular economy transitions, and deep-tech ethics that defy simple solutions.
Why “Wicked” Acceleration?
At Explorer Labs, we often work with firms that feel the “innovation ceiling.” They’ve mastered Lean Startup, Design Thinking and Agile, yet they struggle when the challenge involves shifting an entire ecosystem or navigating a complex regulatory and social landscape.
The Symposium highlighted a critical truth: Traditional innovation tools are built for complicated problems, but they fail at wicked ones. Wicked problems are characterised by incomplete or contradictory requirements. They don’t have a “stop” rule, and every solution attempted changes the problem itself. To drive change here, we don’t just need more speed; we need Wicked Acceleration.
Alex Osterwalder, Dan Toma, Steve Blank, Cristobal Garcia-Herrera
Three Key Takeaways for Business Design Leaders
- From Customer-Centric to Ecosystem-Centric
While the last decade was defined by “User-Centric Design,” the Symposium underscored that this is no longer enough. To solve systemic challenges, we must design for the entire ecosystem. This means mapping the interdependencies between policy, technology, and social behavior before moving to intervention.
- The Power of Speculative Design and Moonshots
The RCA’s involvement brought a vital lens: Speculative Design. By envisioning desirable futures through collective imagination, firms can work “future-back” to design moonshots. We discussed how corporate accelerators can move beyond “innovation theater” and start funding the strategic bets that actually move the needle on sustainability and economic renewal.
- Orchestration Over Ownership
One of the most profound shifts discussed was the move from “owning” a solution to “orchestrating” a response. Whether it’s Green Hydrogen or Circular Fashion, no single corporation can solve the puzzle alone. The role of the modern business designer is becoming one of an ecosystem architect—someone who can align the incentives of academia, government, and industry.
Alex Osterwalder, Dan Toma, Steve Blank, Cristobal Garcia-Herrera, Erkko Autio, Mike Pinder
What’s Next for Explorer Labs?
Our collaboration with Wicked Labs and the RCA continues to fuel state of the art methodology development. We are integrating the tools and frameworks discussed at the Symposium—such as Deep Tech Acceleration and System Transformation Mappings—directly into our work with clients.
Helping firms understand complex systems isn’t just about clarity; it’s about driving interventions of change. As we look back on the insights from last year, we are more committed than ever to helping our partners navigate the “wicked” path toward innovation and regenerative business design.
Were you at the Symposium? We’d love to hear which sessions resonated most with your current challenges. Let’s continue the conversation on how we can accelerate the solutions our world needs most.
Start Mapping Your Organisation’s Path to Wicked Acceleration
We want to lower the barriers to entry for leadership teams to move beyond traditional innovation and start tackling systemic complexity. So that you can stop managing symptoms and start driving the interventions that create real change. That’s why we are offering a limited number of Ecosystem Strategy Consultations based on the frameworks discussed at the 5th International Symposium. Make sure to get in touch to share the specific complexity challenges you’re facing. We’d love to help you navigate them.
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Mike Pinder is a cross-industry business innovation expert & consultant, thought leader, author, lecturer & international keynote speaker on innovation. He’s driven by using innovation to leave the world a better place than we found it. Mike is a co-founder of Wicked Acceleration Labs (an industry-academia research lab aimed at tackling wicked problems), Member of Board of Advisors at Global Innovation Institute (GInI), & Honorary Practice Fellow at Imperial College London Business School.
Mike consults and leads across innovation strategy, Design Thinking, Lean Start-up, Business Model Innovation in both B2B and B2C, guiding c-level innovation strategy, innovation accelerator design, co-creation, capability programs, academic research, executive education (Exec Ed) university program design, intrapreneurship, digital transformation, sprints & more.
