CSCLeaders was greeted with a touch of Washington last month when participants were lucky enough to hear from the former Advisor to the Vice President of the United States for Recovery Implementation.

Frank DiGiammarino (now at Amazon Web Services) is a leading voice on collaboration and innovation in the modern era.

Frank DiGiammarino spoke on how modern society has shifted from being in the 'industrial era' to being in the 'collaborative era'. An era defined by an organisation's ability to deliver their strategy with speed, reach and agility. This was a principle he developed during his time assisting the Vice President in the oversight of The Recovery Act, a $787 billion stimulus injected into the US economy. The programme eventually stretched over 100 cities, 50 states and countless organisations.

Frank DiGiammarino is currently General Manager of Innovation and Global Expansion at Amazon Web Services.

His experience across all fields proved to be invaluable to the CSCLeaders participants, who were addressing the challenge - 'How do you get societal - as well as economic - benefit from technological innovation?

People want to drive change, they like to get things done, they want to make things happen and they know don't necessarily have any path for it - they don't know how. They want to talk to others, experiment and learn and find new ways to do it themselves. - Frank DiGiammarino

CSCLeaders is the perfect home for new ideas on collaboration. The programme which is a partnership between Common Purpose and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh's Commonwealth Study Conferences, plays host to senior Commonwealth leaders from five continents to tackle challenges that businesses, governments and society face today.

Watch Frank DiGiammarino's talk at CSCLeaders 2014