Award Winner
Chris Gurr, Newell Brands
Opportunity Hunting

Chris Gurr is Senior Director of Industrial Design, Learning & Development at Newell Brands, a global consumer goods company behind household names like Rubbermaid, Sharpie, and Coleman. His team focuses on spotting white space and exploring new design territory before competitors do. In 2025, Chris received the Innovation Strategy award in the Opportunity Hunting category, recognizing his innovative approach to human-AI collaboration.

Special Achievement

Innovation Strategy Award Winner Chris Gurr

The Innovation Strategy Awards, part of Future Festival World Summit 2025, honored leaders who've built repeatable systems for turning ideas into results. Winners were selected from inspiring conversations with some of the world's most renowned innovators.

Chris's tactic of pairing makers with GenAI allows Newell to explore more options before narrowing to the strongest few. AI personas act as stand-ins for real consumers, sharpening concepts with each iteration before anything goes to production. Read the full interview to learn how Chris and his team put this into practice.

For more on our Innovation Strategy Awards and how your organization can enter to be nominated, visit InnovationStrategy.com.

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