ISSIP Progress Call Recap

Trial in New, More Interactive Format with Global Community
June 25, 2025 – noon pacific (1 hour zoom)
RECORDING HERE

Meeting summary for EC Bi-Weekly Call – ISSIP (06/25/2025)

Summary of ISSIP Semi-Annual Progress Call June 25, 2025 – Trial of New Format

Testing more interaction, less presentation idea — with tone of progress report to global community and the board, vs just board

The meeting began with introductions and the presentation of new ISSIP Fellows, followed by discussions about service innovation and recognition of award winners across various industries. ISSIP’s growth and achievements were highlighted, including membership numbers and upcoming events, along with updates on recent content and the ambassador program’s global reach. The conversation ended with discussions about the ISSIP AI Collab program, upcoming events, and organizational priorities, including the need for increased funding and support from members.

Next steps

• All participants to review and sign the Issip Code of Conduct if they haven’t already done so.
• All participants to consider donating to Issip to help increase the organization’s budget.
• Kevin Clark and Mike Wing to organize and lead the upcoming Issip Discovery Jam.
• Deb Satterfield to continue leading the AI Collab program.
• Vaishali to organize the next quarterly welcome session on July 9th.
• Frank Melis to lead a new Issip initiative to be announced in July.
• Michele Carroll, Deb Satterfield, Kazu Shimada, Vittal Prabhu, Christine Leitner,, Jim Spohrer, and others to participate in the AHFE HSSE Conference in Orlando in July.
• All participants to check out the new AI-driven courses created by student teams for Issip.
• Ammar (from Cisco) to increase mentoring activities for Issip members developing their careers in service innovation.
• Warner de Gooijer to help organize thoughts around ensuring Issip’s future and continued professional operation.
• Annie Hardy to contribute thought leadership on AI security, energy security, and network security to student organizations.
• Issip leadership to continue developing AI tools and digital twinning to scale Jim Spohrer’s impact and mentoring capabilities.
• All participants to submit comments and suggestions for Issip’s future activities in the chat window.

Summary

Meeting Preparation and Participant Updates

Michele and Jim prepare for the meeting by setting up hosting and screen sharing. Frank joins and mentions ongoing exciting developments that he can’t fully disclose yet. Michele notes that Frank will share more about an initiative he’s leading in July, and Frank mentions an upcoming white paper and video created with ISSIP. As the meeting start time approaches, more participants join, including Bart (CEO of Smart Bio), Neils (CFO), and Marcus. The group discusses the positive reception of a recent video and prepares to start the meeting promptly.

AI’s Impact on Service Innovation

The meeting begins with introductions and an overview of the new format, which aims for more conversation and less presentation. Deb Stokes, the ISSIP President, introduces three new 2025 ISSIP Fellows: Roland, Birgit, and Dundar. Roland, who is present, briefly discusses his work in service research and recent focus on AI in service. Jim provides background on Birgit and Dundar, who are not present. The meeting then moves to a discussion about the future of service innovation, with Roland predicting that AI will significantly change everything within a few years.

Global Education and Healthcare Innovations

Jim introduces the award winners recognized earlier this year, with Smart Bio as the overall winner. Frank from Smart Bio expresses gratitude for the award and describes their platform, which helps grow people and economies at scale. The company is expanding globally, with projects ranging from 5,000 to 65,000 students and a goal of reaching 12 million users in the next few years. Jim also mentions other winners, including Curious Learning for literacy, Cisco for virtual engineering, and Earthgrid for plasma drilling technology. Tim Chou discusses the Pediatric Moonshot project, which aims to reduce healthcare inequity and improve outcomes for children by creating real-time, privacy-preserving AI applications using data from healthcare machines in children’s hospitals worldwide.

ISSIP Growth and Future Initiatives

Michele provides an update on ISSIP’s growth and achievements. The organization has reached 2,000 registered members and over 1,000 LinkedIn followers, showing steady growth since its founding in 2012. ISSIP has been named the best sponsor by Penn State University for their AI Colab program. Upcoming events include a partnership with the Service Design Network, ISSIP’s first Spanish-language event in September, and participation in the AHFE HSSE Conference in Orlando. Michele also mentions the need for increased funding and encourages donations to support ISSIP’s future activities.

Issip Community Updates and Progress

Jim highlights recent Issip YouTube videos and SlideShare content, including an interview with Markus about his view on service that has gained over 100 views. He also mentions Lou Freund’s progress on the Mighty Me platform, which now incorporates AI to help users develop their T-shaped profiles. Michele notes a positive change in energy and increased involvement from ambassadors in organizing events. Markus briefly discusses the importance of service-dominant logic and service system thinking as core to the Issip community.

ISSIP Ambassador Program Update

Jim provides an update on the ISSIP Ambassador program, noting there are 119 ambassadors. Kevin, an ambassador from the People-Centered Internet, shares his experience recording videos of award winners and mentions an upcoming “treasure hunt” methodology inspired by IBM jams. Jim highlights a recent talk by Joachin Wertz on service robots, which will be shared on ISSIP’s YouTube channel. Deb praises Christine’s work in engaging ambassadors and emphasizes the program’s global reach. Jim adds that the Benevity platform allows IBM employees to record volunteer hours for ISSIP, potentially leading to matching contributions from IBM.

ISSIP Student Collaboration Program

Jim discusses the ISSIP colab program, which connects industry professionals with student teams. He highlights recent student projects that involved creating courses about ISSIP and service concepts in various formats, including AI-driven versions. These courses are designed to be efficient and engaging, taking about an hour to complete. Jim encourages participants to try these courses and mentions the potential for developing an AI tutor to help people understand service concepts. Michael from the University of Washington, Tacoma, expresses appreciation for the program, noting that his students enjoy working with data and predicting outcomes. Jim also mentions an upcoming project focused on generating synthetic data for service systems.

ISSIP Quarterly Updates and Priorities

Jim provides updates on upcoming events and organizational matters. The next quarterly welcome session for new ISSIP participants is scheduled for July 9th. Jim emphasizes the importance of the ISSIP Code of Conduct and encourages members to sign it. Haluk, the upcoming President, outlines priorities for the next year, including focusing on AI and service innovation. Vanita stresses the need for increased funding to enhance the organization’s effectiveness. Amar, a founding member from Cisco, is transitioning to a new role as a principal AI leader at a startup and is committed to mentoring ISSIP members in their career development.

ISSIP Updates and Event Planning

The meeting discusses upcoming events and organizational updates for ISSIP (International Society of Service Innovation Professionals). Jim mentions a Berkeley Innovation Forum event at IBM Almaden, which Jeff encourages ISSIP members to attend. Warner, speaking from Amsterdam, expresses Cisco’s continued support for ISSIP both in terms of content and funding. Annie Hardy discusses the importance of digitally scaling Jim’s impact as he approaches retirement and shares her focus on thought leadership in AI security. Terri Griffith asks for new ideas to support the community, and Deb encourages participants to share suggestions in the chat before concluding the meeting.