(upbeat music) >> Hey welcome back everybody. Jeff Frick here with theCube. We're at Xerox PARC in Palo Alto, one of the most historic pieces of ground really in the history of computer science. We're excited to be here for a special event. It's the Innovators Master Class put on by the Conference Board. Relatively small event, great content. We've been here all morning and we're excited to have our next guest, she's Maureen Rinkunas. She's the Innovations System Designer, Specialty Products Division for DowDuPont. Maureen, great to see you. >> It's great to be here. >> So you're, you're giving a panel in a little bit about really how do big companies work with little companies to basically be more innnovative, so what are some of the things that you're looking forward to, what are some of the lessons that you've learned, 'cause you've had a very varied experience, you've been in academia, you've been in industry, you've been kind of big company and little company. >> Yes, and I think, you know, you learn a lot from being able to look outside of your sphere. And so that's what I'm really excited about on this panel, we're going to be talking with startups and VCs and it's not surprising, people are really keeping an eye on what's happening in Silicon Valley but I think for large corporations, we have to go beyond that. We have to say, let's not just be observers, let's be active participants in the ecosystem. And so I think that by engaging with some of the startups and businesses on this panel, we're really going to get some pragmatic advice on how to do that in the best way possible. >> Yeah, you had some great statements, I've been doing some research on you, about some tricks to innovation and one of the great ones was, new hires as change agents. I wonder if you could dig into that a little bit because I think, you know, unfortunately new hires, especially at a big company, they don't have status, they don't have title, you know, they don't necessary have formal authority but there's a real opportunity for companies to take advantage of this fresh new outlook to help look at things in a slightly different way. >> Yeah, it's actually been great to be here at the conference for an event because I've talked with a lot of organizations that are bringing in this fresh view and especially in innovation centers where the proportion of people coming from outside the organization is sometimes as high as 80 percent of the team at that facility and so it's really great to have people who aren't carrying the baggage of how we always have done things. >> Right right. >> And they can push the limits a little bit which is sometimes what we need to, to really break out of our routines and I think as well, you know, bringing people in who have experience in startups, people who, perhaps, are coming from the venture world also offers that opportunity for people who have experienced working in that really fast-paced environment, they are very impatient, which is a good thing and I think really push teams to move faster. So it's great to be able to bring that, an element, into your team. >> Right. There was a great presentation earlier today about DevOps and, you know, agile software development and it's easy in software, you know, you can have a two week spread and get something out new. In the chemical world, right, there's lots of different axes of innovation but you guys, kind of by rule, have to move slower. These are much bigger investments in factory and plant, you know, there's ecological implications to all these things. So when you look at the innovation challenges and opportunities at a big company like DowDuPont, what are some of the easier paths to go down that you can, you can help to drive some of that innovative thought process and products? >> Well I think, you know, certainly we don't want to take any shortcuts with safety, and so you're absolutely right, that in some ways we can't move as quick as launching a new app to market, but we really do need to challenge ourselves to think about how we move as quickly as possible. One way to do that is to look at outside innnovations and so, I've just recently was working with a team and they had mapped out their development pipeline, they thought, oh this is 3 to 5 years in the making, and then we were able to connect them with a startup who cut about 4 years out of that and so, they are actually really excited, they're going to be partnering with that startup and moving forward with a customer in a very short timeframe. So, I think there are ways to make that window a much shorter timeline. >> Right. And then what about just the culture clash? I mean, just this example specifically, you've got people that had probably a very comfortable, maybe they thought it was aggressive, timeline that went out for 4 or 5 years, then you bring up this crazy aggressive startup who are doing things much quicker. Was it simply process? Was it a new technology innovation? Was it just a different kind of spin of the lens that they were able to reframe their problem differently? And then how do you get those two groups of people to work together effectively? >> Well you know, I think in the corporate space, there's a lot of this, well we don't care because it wasn't invented here, syndrome. We're very fortunate that at a leadership level at DuPont, there has been very much this perspective that we need to get beyond that, we need to collaborate with our customers, we need to move externally, and so, you know, that helps, having someone who champions looking outside for alternatives, but I think, too, it's helpful to have those change agents within, people who are really brave, people who aren't afraid to push back, often these are the people who are coming outside with the legacy, they're not worried about getting fired and they're pushing for what they know is right and that's moving fast and hopefully making some positive change. >> Right, and not breaking too many things, right? >> (laughs) >> We've kind of got away from the move fast and break things. So final question, you know, we're here at this Innovation Master Class, what are you looking to get out of this type of event? Have you been here before and you know, what types of things do you take away of kind of this small, intimate little affair? >> Yeah so this is my second time here and you know, after seeing what we've learned this morning and reflecting on what I learned last year, I think you always take things away that are really actionable, you know, the folks that come to these events are in the field, they are getting things done, and so you really have an opportunity to learn from people who have tested things, they've learned from those experiments, sometimes they've failed and we can learn from those failures too and so that's what I really appreciate about having this opportunity to be here. >> Well Maureen, thanks for taking a few minutes. Good luck on your panel this afternoon. I can't wait to, can't wait to watch. >> Great, thanks. >> Alright, she's Maureen, I'm Jeff, you're watching theCube. We are at the Innovation Master Class put on by the Conference Board at Xerox PARC. Thanks for watching. (upbeat music)