The Center for Innovation and Change Leadership at Suffolk University’s Sawyer Business School will honor Xerox Corp. November 15 for its exemplary ability to create high-impact products and services through innovation and customer collaboration.

In keynote remarks, Dr. Sophie Vandebroek, Xerox chief technology officer and president of the Xerox Innovation Group, will share how Xerox researchers dream with their customers to create the next generation of products and services. Vandebroek, who leads Xerox’s worldwide research centers and is responsible for maximizing return on the company's multimillion-dollar investment in research and technology, will accept the Global Leadership in Innovation and Collaboration Award on behalf of Xerox.

Brian Schmidt, Google Inc.’s director of online sales, will moderate the conversation with Vandebroek. Schmidt oversees Google’s sales presence in Boston.

“Xerox Corp. today is a worldwide leader in collaborative innovation,” said Robert DeFillippi, co-director of the Center for Innovation and Change Leadership at Suffolk University. “This venerable company, whose name became a verb on the strength of its copying technology more than half a century ago, continues to delight its customers with astounding innovations and a culture of collaboration.”

Employees at consumer products giant Procter & Gamble, for example, are using Xerox technology to print e-mails, presentations and other business documents directly from their smart phones – part of a collaboration between the two companies focused on innovation that is benefiting P&G’s business. Xerox’s partnership with P&G will be the subject of a future Sawyer Business School case study.

Xerox continues to pioneer new technologies that help businesses run more efficiently and effectively, from printing and copying technology to document management and data processing, analysis, and storage. A recent Barron’s magazine cover story noted that Xerox is operating the city of Cleveland’s traffic-violations system, right down to installing and monitoring cameras at intersections, one of many examples of new growth areas for the Norwalk, Conn.-based company.

“The Global Leadership in Innovation & Collaboration Award confirms our core belief that innovation thrives on collaboration,” said Vandebroek. “Xerox’s scientists and engineers collaborate with customers, universities, governments and other companies around the globe to co-create innovative products and services.”

The Center for Innovation and Change Leadership developed the Global Leadership in Innovation and Collaboration Award to recognize companies that are exemplars of innovation and collaboration within their enterprise or industry. Last year’s honoree was Dr. Curt Carlson, chief executive of SRI International and co-author of the book Innovation: The Five Disciplines for Creating What Customers Want. Carlson was recently appointed by President Obama to the newly created National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

The Center for Innovation & Change Leadership at Suffolk University fosters creative collaborations with businesses, government, non-profit organizations, and academia. It stimulates innovative solutions to business and social problems through ongoing dialogue, basic research and practical application of that research.