Key Takeaways from GS1 Connect 2019 – Dynamic Innovation & Outstanding Leadership

Last month, over 1,200 guests traveled to Denver, Colorado for GS1 Connect 2019, the annual 3‑day conference bringing IT and supply chain partners together to learn best practices for leveraging GS1 Standards that drive innovation and better understand new opportunities for their business.  The event lived up to our expectations, boasting representation from 540+ companies from across the globe.  GS1’s annual celebration of business, innovation and technology offered a wide range of announcements, proclamations and shifting strategies.

The days were filled with incredible presentations and workshops from business luminaries, leaders, customers and partners. Evenings were spent networking, closing with the announcement of the 2019 GS1 US Innovation Excellence Awards honoring dynamic innovation and outstanding leadership.

The overall message was clear.  Technology is evolving at a rapid pace and can become increasingly difficult to compete if your business relies on outdated technology and approaches.  Doing so limits your ability to respond to the needs of your organization.  So, within that context, we’d like to highlight a few favorite sessions.

Highlight

Hosted by Robert Tercek, award-winning author (Vaporized: Solid Strategies for Success in a De-materialized World) and expert in launching new digital services, the presentation discussed the ‘Five Technologies that will Reshape your Industry.’  Those technologies included Artificial Intelligence (AI), hybrid cloud, distributed ledgers, cryptocurrencies and open-source software – all working together to provide the foundational elements of the next era of internet innovation.

HTG Summit

We had the honor of attending the Healthcare Transformation Group (HTG) Summit as a solution provider and discussed the group’s mission to advance the adoption of standards in healthcare.  We extended a warm welcome and congratulations to the newest member of this Healthcare Provider group “Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System (FMOLHS)” – the recipients of the 2019 GS1 US Operational Excellence Award!

Memorable Sessions

Susan Kinder, Dennis Black, Scott Todd and Marlin Done spearheaded the session ‘Data 2.0 -Interoperability of Supply Chain Data – Driving Standards and UDI Value,’ which was of great interest to the Innovit team.   We also enjoyed Scott Brown, John Lorenc and John Terwilliger’s overview ‘UDI and GDSN Data Sharing – Where to Begin?’ emphasizing the need for an established process to collect, syndicate and maintain product data while awaiting EU MDR/IVDR EUDAMED requirements.  And finally, we wanted to highlight Dan Schmitz, Sr. Director Supply Chain Management of the Mayo Clinic.  His take on the ‘Healthcare Provider’s Digital Supply Chain Strategy’ was informative and thoroughly entertaining.  Thank you, Dan!

Be sure to check back with us next week for a deeper dive into the “Pros & Cons of Using GDSN for UDI regulatory submissions” and why not everyone believes it’s the only route.