Executive Director, Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation
Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation

About

Solomon Darwin has broad leadership experience in corporate management and academia. He is an international speaker recognized by peers, executives, and students with numerous awards for his innovative leadership and passion for teaching. He inspires students from both business and engineering disciplines in his courses for open innovation, business models, smart cities, scalable smart villages, and business models for emerging economies. He is also known as the father of the Smart Village Movement.

As an expert in “open innovation” and “open business models,” he is an adviser to senior executives of multinationals and government leaders in the emerging world. The list includes large global brands and government entities in Europe, China, Russia, India, and Latin America. He directs and moderates international innovation conferences and forums, and chairs quarterly Chief Innovation Officer round tables in Silicon Valley.

Before joining Berkeley Haas in 2005, he was an Associate Professor for nine years at the University of Southern California. His progressive corporate leadership experience covers a span of 14 years as a Senior Executive Officer at Bank of America, First Interstate Bank, and Glendale Federal Bank, and Motorola.

During summers, Darwin regularly teaches in executive programs at prominent international universities and institutions. He has conducted workshops and programs in over 18 countries. He also serves as an honorary professor at several universities in Europe, China, South Korea, and India. His current projects, “Building Scalable Smart Villages” and “The Rebuilding India Initiative” were commissioned by the government of India.

Expertise and Research Interests

  • Open Innovation
  • Smart Villages / Smart Cities
  • Business Models Innovation
  • Strategies for Emerging Economies
  • Business Ecosystems
  • Sustainability of the Planet
  • Forensic Accounting