Leonard Murphy, GreenBook "We believe research is central to the success of a business"

Leonard Murphy, GreenBook

marktforschung.de: You call the Conference IIeX Europe: New Ideas, New Approaches, New Connections. What new Ideas and approaches can visitors expect this year?

Leonard Murphy: It is true that the only thing that stays the same at IIeX is our commitment to new ideas. Like past IIeX conferences, visitors can expect to see the latest methods and technologies being adopted by industry leaders, both on the supplier and client side. This year, we’re taking things one step further, and showing the ways these innovations are making an impact to businesses as a whole. We believe research is central to the success of a business, and attendees at IIeX will see concrete examples of this in action.

Two interesting trends came out of our most recent GRIT report. Companies are investing more dollars towards data visualizations, and are increasingly defining successful research projects based on the reporting of results. This tells us that researchers are looking for new ways to communicate with internal stakeholders, so we made a point to find content that spoke to this.

There are a number of conferences where attendees can hear about the latest trends. But IIeX is the only conference where attendees learn how those trends can make them better researchers, communicators and leaders.

marktforschung.de: The variety of topics is immense. What are the three tracks you would not want to miss this year personally?

Leonard Murphy: We are lucky to have some amazing clients giving presentations this year. So much so that we dedicated an entire track to their innovative success stories. How is Delivery Hero Germany democratizing research? How is Formula One winning the hearts of fans with biometrics? I’m definitely going to that track to find out!

From a technical standpoint, I’m excited for the track we’re calling “Dataconomy”. Blockchain and AI are being used in very interesting ways to help with issues of privacy, sample quality and more. This is a chance to hear how these technologies will shape the industry for years to come. 

Lastly, I’m always excited about our Startup Series. We have some of the most exciting new companies working in insights bringing their big ideas to the IIeX stage, which always leads to amazing presentations! 

marktforschung.de: In our interview on the IIeX 2018 your colleague Lukas Pospichal called “Artificial Intelligence“ the big buzzwords of the day. What do you think will this year’s buzzword be?

Leonard Murphy: Storytelling was the trend that most GRIT respondents listed as being a “game changer” and I would tend to agree. This ties into our overall goal at IIeX of showing the impact of insights. How well researchers use storytelling to produce strategic insights for their business could be critical measure of success this year. 

marktforschung.de: Did you make any changes in organization or content? What will be different to last year’s conference?

Leonard Murphy: One of our favorite parts of IIeX is the Innovation Insights Competition, where we award an early stage startup $25,000 to bring their innovation idea to life. While this is not new, we expanded the opportunities for attendees to learn about new startups with the “Meet the Startups” session. 

Attendees can chat with startups in an informal setting and build potential technology partnerships. They will also get to vote on which startup will get the last wildcard spot in the competition!

marktforschung.de: The location traditionally is Amsterdam. Why did you choose the Dutch Capital? Did you ever think about rotating the locations to other countries?

Leonard Murphy: We love hosting IIeX in Amsterdam. It is a beautiful city with a rich history, which we’re lucky to tap into by hosting the conference at the Beurs van Berlage, which itself is a selling point to come to IIeX. 

Amsterdam is also one of the technical and entrepreneurial hubs in Europe, and that spirit is very much a part of what IIeX is about. Amsterdam is a place where the new ideas can grow, just like IIeX. 

marktforschung.de: Thank you for your time, Leonard!

About Leonard Murphy

Leonard Murphy, Executive Editor & Producer, GreenBook, has been in the Market Research industry for over 15 years in various senior level roles. A major aspect of his work focuses on collaborating with multiple organizations to help advance innovation and strategic positioning of the market research industry, most prominently as the Editor-in-Chief of the GreenBook Blog and GreenBook Research Industry Trends Report.