2019-Apr-02

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Jerome's Journey to Unearth Innovation Around the World

By Jerome J. Sanders, Global Communications Manager, Employee Experience & Communications

(Part 1 of a two-part story)

By Jerome Sanders

You’re in Paris on vacation — lucky you! What’s on your sightseeing to-do list?

The Louvre. Strolling along the famed Avenue des Champs-Élysées toward the Arc de Triomphe. Obviously, spotting the iconic Eiffel Tower. How about Cisco’s Paris Innovation & Research Lab?

Wait, what? Cisco has a Co-Innovation Center in the City of Lights? And we can actually set foot inside it?

Yes, and I recently did. In fact, I traveled to four such centers on a trip to the U.K., France, Spain, Singapore, and Australia. It’s all part of my career as a global communications manager, reporting on innovation at Cisco.

In addition to Paris, I visited centers in London, Barcelona, Singapore, and Melbourne — that’s 56,000 miles over four months. My adventure got me thinking about innovation in a whole new light.

I hope my story inspires you to do the same and visit any of our 14 Co-Innovation Centers for yourself. After all, they’re your homes away from home.

Our Best-Kept Secret

How did I come to visit so many of our Co-Innovation Centers?

My original goal was to fulfill a lifelong dream of doing a solo trip abroad. I wanted to blend my three passions — travel, technology, and discovering new cultures. Cisco made this possible.

Cisco’s Co-Innovation Centers are one of our best-kept secrets. You’ve probably read about them, but did you ever think you could actually experience them for yourself? It’s a very enlightening experience, personally and professionally.

Innovation in Europe

Let’s take a quick tour of the European Co-Innovation Centers.

IdeaLondon’s trendy meeting space. Innovation in progress.

London, England

Name: IDEALondon
Location: In the hip Shoreditch neighborhood in central London — about 20 minutes’ walk north of the financial center and London Bridge.
The Vibe: Similar to a trendy coffee shop, it features cool wooden floors and sustainable-themed meeting spaces.
Claims to Fame: It’s the cornerstone of Cisco’s global network and birthplace of Cisco’s Country Digitization Acceleration (CDA) efforts.
Impact: Since 2012, it has helped more than 60 companies and startups raise over $50 million and created over 600 jobs.
Personal Highlight: A peek into IDEALondon’s futuristic 3D printing lab after meeting some of London’s upcoming startups that will change the world. Meeting Kate O’Keeffe in person, Founder of Cisco Hyperinnovation Living Labs (CHILL), was also exhilarating.
Jerome’s Hidden Gems: In addition to the popular tourist spots (Tower Bridge, London Eye, Buckingham Palace), I recommend:
- Brunch at Riding House Café for avocado toast with freshly squeeze orange juice
- Bar Salsa! for some late night salsa and bachata dancing

Paris Innovation & Research Lab demo in full force. Can you feel the creative energy yet?

Paris, France

Name: Paris Innovation & Research Lab (PIRL)
Location: A concrete and glass jungle along the banks of the Seine River, in the high-tech area of Issy-les-Moulineaux — where Cisco France is located — surrounded by other major tech giants.
The Vibe: Futuristic, sleek, and simple. The immersive demo lab feels like a research space that Tony Stark might use in an Iron Man movie. Imagine a room full of smart screens that use Cisco Webex tech to share videos and project images on the floor and ceiling.
Claims to Fame: A focus on smart cities and smart manufacturing.
Impact: PIRL is one of France’s les villes intellegentes (smart cities). In 2015, the French government partnered with Cisco to accelerate the digital transformation of France by investing in smart cities, education, startups, national infrastructure, and cybersecurity.
Personal Highlight: Visiting the Eiffel Tower for the first time. I marveled at the intricate architecture built by human hands. Did you know roughly 300 people worked to build it in just a little over two years? Crazy, right?
Jerome’s Hidden Gems: In addition to the usual highlights, save some room for:
- Try Le Poisson — the savory fish — over dinner at Vivre.

Celebrating Barcelona’s Co-Innovation Center grand opening. ¡Salud!

Barcelona, Spain

Name: Barcelona Co-Innovation Center
Location: Nestled in the city’s high-tech hotbed, known as the 22@ district or (in Catalan) Districte de la Innovació. The center itself is in a self-sufficient, smart, zero-emissions former factory building, called Ca l'Alier.
The Vibe: Old-world charm meets high tech. When I arrived, I only saw an old factory building with ivy-covered walls. Its spaces reflect the Catalonian culture — wine, art, murals and lots of open space.
Claims to Fame: Too new to have one. In fact, I was there for the grand opening.
Impact: A major focus of the center is the digital transformation of Spain through IoT, in the transportation, manufacturing, retail, energy, smart cities, financial services, education, and healthcare spaces. One fun project: Connecting over 2,000 cows to the internet with 5G wireless.
Personal Highlight: Attending the grand opening in Barcelona was a coming home of sorts. Back in 2012, I spent a few months studying abroad in Barcelona as part of my bachelor’s degree. Here I was again, for another career milestone.
Jerome’s Hidden Gems: In addition to the go-tos (The Barceloneta, La Sagrada Família, Park Guell), check out:
- Marea Alta Marea Baja for dinner featuring a 360-degree view of the city
- Hike up to the Bunkers del Carmel to catch the sunrise or sunset

Witnessing Innovation

Visiting these centers left me feeling very optimistic about our future at Cisco and the impact we will make on the world.

I witnessed firsthand a lot of the technologies that can help solve the real-world challenges we’re facing today. Knowing that Cisco is at the forefront of innovation further inspires me to make this world a bit better every day.

The fact is no other company can do what we’re doing with these global and diverse innovation ecosystems. And there’s a great sense of pride around that — around how we’re co-developing solutions with customers, governments, startups, academia and more. We are changing the world, together.

I’ll leave you with one request. Share one thing in the comments that you will do to either:

Engage in the conversation about innovation
Challenge yourself to try something new
Share examples of people innovating elsewhere in the world

Thanks for helping me find more of the world’s untapped talent and technologies — and stay tuned for part 2 of my story!

Meet Jerome

My name is Jerome J. Sanders, and I live in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. I’ve grown up at Cisco after joining nearly six years ago as a marketing intern in San Jose, California.

Today, I’m a Global Communications Manager in Cisco’s Employee Experience & Communications team. I inspire a sense of pride around Cisco’s new technologies for over 75,000 Cisco employees globally by managing and developing the strategy for all of the global communications for innovation.

Let’s continue the conversation on social:

Connect everything. Innovate everywhere. Benefit everyone.