What is the Process for an Employee Innovation Challenge?
A growing trend over the past several years has been to host internal innovation challenges. Companies do this because they find it’s an excellent way to find solutions to long-standing problems, positively create culture (particularly in a remote workplace), and also to nurture the budding intrapreneurs who want to find career growth and new opportunities.
What to Tell Your Boss When You Make the Case for Innovation Management
The term “innovation management" has been around for a long time (at least since the 1980s – if not before), but for many business leaders establishing a sustainable innovation management program is still a new concept. Executives aren’t sure what skills they need, who should be on their team, what activities are essential to success, and who they need to partner with.
Whitepaper: Stimulating and Measuring Open and Cross Innovation
As two intermediaries from Hamburg that foster open and cross innovation processes, Science Scout (an initiative of Hamburg Innovation) and Cross Innovation Hub (Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft) joined forces to start a discussion around the stimulation and measurement of open and cross innovation processes.
5 Top Careers for Innovative Problem-Solvers
For some, problem-solving comes naturally, and others most develop the skill. In any case, there are some careers that are especially suited for people who enjoy managing people, events and things to create positive outcomes. These professionals are highly skilled at using information and knowledge to resolve issues and engineer solutions. Certain fields require just this kind of heightened skill in problem resolution, and they reward professionals who are up for the task handsomely.
Do Healthcare Institutions Need a Chief Innovation Officer?
Everyone wants to think that their innovation program is going to change the world and that feeling persists, because successful innovation programs can have enormous real-world returns. Businesses can save millions of dollars, new business models can disrupt markets, but some of the most impactful innovation efforts are genuinely in the healthcare space. Not only does healthcare innovation overall save the system money (for every dollar spent on innovative medicines, total healthcare spending is reduced by $7.20) but it also has the power to truly save lives as evidenced by research that states “between 1980 and 2010, medical advancements helped add 5 years to U.S. life expectancy.”
Strengthening Your Intra- and Inter-Department Partnership – The Welcome Side Effect of Design Thinking
Imagine a world where customer service, procurement, marketing, finance, operations, human resources, and sales can truly help each other and work together, instead of stepping on each others’ toes and pointing fingers. A world where all parts of the organizations work together with a shared sense of purpose, no matter how different their cultures, processes, and systems, have been in the past.
Want to Drive Innovation? Talk to Your Customers
The customer is always right. The timeless aphorism holds truer now than it ever did before, as the customer truly drives the ever-changing trends and shapes the industry, with companies battling each other to stay relevant in the hearts and minds of their devoted audience.
The Key Challenges of Government Innovation
Last month, leaders in public sector innovation gathered to discuss ways of crowdsourcing new solutions to longstanding problems at IdeaScale’s Open Nation DC. Speakers from a range of agencies as diverse as the FDA and the US Coast Guard presented best practices on creating actionable change in government.
Blockchain: The Innovation Healthcare Needs Most
In a world constantly changed by the digital transformation, one industry consistently lags behind all the rest: healthcare. For those within the field, it is open knowledge that while other industries are quick to adopt and implement novel technologies, in healthcare the change comes slowly.
The Future of Database Technology
Disruptive database technologies have mandated retailers to innovate to keep up with market trends and competition. While this may seem costly, it's the only way businesses can stay relevant. Project managers are expecting a higher return and lower costs on technology projects.
Do Educational Institutions Need a Chief Innovation Officer?
IdeaScale’s second largest customer segment is in the field of education (our largest segment is our work in government innovation) and it’s been growing steadily over the past four years. One of the reasons that we think there’s a renewed focus on innovation in education, is because numerous emerging trends impact education at every level: from remote learning to the maker movement and the gig economy.
The Value of Innovation at a Time of Crisis
We often talk about the role of innovation in an age of constant, radical disruption, as defined by the 4th industrial revolution. Within this new environment, innovation leaders should play an essential role in helping the organization thrive and drive growth.
The Innovation That Fuels The Craft Brew Revolution
Beer is one of the oldest alcoholic beverages. It was brewed around the ancient world at various times, in Mesopotamia (known today as Iraq), ancient Iran, ancient China, Egypt, and Armenia, ranging from 3,500 to 10,000 years ago. Beer was one of the first fermentation processes undertaken by humans.
Why Innovation is the Key to Improving Our Healthcare System
In the United States, American citizens receive treatments for diagnoses that at one time meant certain death, and they enjoy the longest lifespans in recorded history. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says that its National Prevention Strategy centers on preventative medicine, an outcome that is greatly promoted by current legislation and technological advancement.
Little Ways for Companies to Save Money
Are you looking to save your business money? Cashflow is one of the major focuses for all types of businesses. You want to make as much money as possible, while also saving as much money as you can.
Cyber Security: Best Practices You Should Implement
Dealing with cyber security issues had become increasingly important as more businesses, even ones that don't think of themselves as inherently tech-centric, become more dependent on internet applications, databases and analytics.
5 Effective Strategies for Motivating Employees (That You May Not Have Considered)
There are literally thousands of articles on the internet giving advice on how to motivate employees — it’s not exactly the rarest of topics. However, this one is going to be a little different. I’m going to give you a list of five ways to motivate your employees that not only work, they’re also a little off the beaten path.
Want Innovative Employees? Use These 6 Innovative Hiring Methods
How many times have you read a candidate’s cover letter and found yourself actually dozing off? How many times have you (figuratively) rolled your eyes when candidates answer the question “what’s your greatest weakness” with “perfectionism”? How many times have you bored yourself asking that question?
Musings of an Apprentice: Business Thinking Meets Design Thinking to Create a Design-led company
Abstract: A perspective of a redesigned, reformed and transformed business design professional. The author shares her journey, experience, progress, and point of view on today's often discussed "design thinking or building a design-led innovation culture."
3 Ways Technology Will Change The Way We Live In The Future
What we know as a home today is nothing remotely like what homes looked like just 100 years ago. We have central air, natural gas heating, and many other modern amenities that our ancestors could never imagine. Therefore, there is no reason to believe that in another century, houses won't look foreign to us, as well.
Six Key Innovations Changing the World’s Future
Innovation has taken the world today by storm, leading to the development of new solutions to problems that humans have inherently faced. Since virtually every sector of life on Earth meets with some form of challenge, these innovations have touched on every aspect, including medicine, science, engineering and social life.
The Constant Tension Between Managing Innovation vs. Managing Risk
Managing innovation is a big role that puts a lot of weight on the shoulders of management teams. Depending on how much a company cultivates an innovative culture and environment, innovative ideas either go through chains of command, or are workshopped in specific departments.
Why Outsiders ‘Think Different’ & How to Spot Them
Conformity may be overrated. Most innovators really do "think different." Learn to spot them, and what they can teach us!
Cities and Innovation: A Zen Perspective
This article applies a perspective derived from Zen philosophy to issues of life and innovation within cities. Two major, holistic realms of urban existence are identified—the socio-economic and the ecological. These two spheres do not always coexist in a state of mutually sustainable balance and urban well-being.
Are You Looking Everywhere for Your Ideas?
Lots of industries care about intellectual property and proprietary information, but perhaps none more so than the automotive industry where product development is seen as the competitive edge.
How Can Personalization Improve Your Business Impact?
If there’s one mistake that marketers keep repeating, it is treating their customer base as a demographic instead of as a group of individuals. With this in mind, it comes as no surprise that personalizing your message increases your engagement rate while personalizing your brand as a whole tends to give your customer loyalty a boost.
Why Your Innovation Needs Professional Indemnity Insurance
As the leader of an innovative company, you spend your time generating new ideas, searching for forward-thinking visionaries, and focussing on growing your venture. However, running any kind of business also requires a certain amount of administrative and logistical tasks, including making sure your company is properly insured and protected.
The Five Types of People You Need to Facilitate Innovation
Having the right people on your start-up’s team – especially in its early days – can mean the difference between unparalleled success and embarrassing failure.