Allocate Time for Innovation
One of the most common barriers to innovation is lack of time. People are just too busy doing their day job to spend time trying new things. Here are some common-sense strategies to help your people to be creative, from Paul Sloane.
Lean Innovation Management for SMEs
The use of innovation management increases your operational margins. This was one of the key findings of a European study on Innovation Management performance within SMEs. The growth champions were reaching approximately 12% operational margins, an exceptional performance compared to the 5% operational margin of the average SME. In this article Dr. Dirk Balfanz and Dr. Bernhard Kölmel describe a lean and efficient approach to Innovation Management specifically targeted to the needs of SMEs.
Are Your Innovation Efforts Working Against Your Business?
The ability to develop breakthrough products and services has become the holy grail of innovation. However, many companies struggle to develop breakthroughs even though they may be very innovative in other ways. Could it be that a different organizational barrier exists that is specific to breakthrough innovation? Examining the purpose of innovation relative to the purpose of your business may provide the answer, suggests Ellen Di Resta, Founder of Synaptics Group, Inc.
In China, Crisis is Seen as an Opportunity
In the Chinese word for crisis ‘weiji’ (??), ‘wei’ ? means danger, and ‘ji’ ? means opportunity. Crisis does not have the same meaning in China as in Western society. Chinese people believe that danger can be turned into opportunity, if one acts wisely according to under the circumstances. This mentality can be clearly seen in the way that China has tackled the global financial crisis.
Social Innovation – a Charity or Business as Usual?
Innovation in today’s business environment is a must. Opportunities for innovation can be a problem to solve, a demand to satisfy, needs to meet. However, increasingly inspiration for innovation does not come only from underserved or emerging markets, but also from the social sector.
In praise of mesovation
All too often, simplifications just lead us astray. Is taking radical as the opposite of incremental or in small steps one such contrived simplification – and one that risks misleading us? This weeks´ column is written by Bengt-Arne Vedin, PhD and Professor emeritus in innovation management..
Fueling the recovery with new, high-octane business models
According to a recent survey of 65 senior executives of global companies, the large majority of firms are looking for innovation to drive growth. But they're not necessarily looking for the next great product or product feature. Instead, companies are putting greater focus on business models that create value for customers in new ways.
Does your company have a process for nurturing ideas?
One of the most prevalent and dangerous misconceptions in innovation is that it’s all about coming up with ideas. So when companies catch the innovation bug, their tendency is to run off and immediately launch [...]
The Cave Model of Innovation
It is time to rethink the main drivers of innovation. The key activities for successful innovation are not just company research and participating in innovation systems. One activity that is just as important is skilful information search directed towards opportunities in the world outside the organizaton or innovation system. To understand this line of thinking, we introduce the cave model of innovation.
Taking Swedish Technology Transfer to a Higher Level
Throughout Europe, the number of individuals working professionally with knowledge and technology transfer is growing. However, in Sweden tech transfer professionals are not yet recognized as a profession. This is something that the new Swedish Network for Innovation and Technology Transfer Support, SNITTS, intends to change. SNITTS, a nonprofit organization, offers a platform for technology transfer professionals to share experiences and improve competence.
What do skeletons and innovation have in common?
Does disciplined innovation really create the big new idea? Do we need to allow for more "random creativity?"
Barriers to innovation: The ‘factory’ mentality
In Roger Martin's new book, the author writes that the main reason companies find it difficult to realize innovations is that most people in corporations are trained in analytical thinking and focused on reliability and consistency. They are focused on making the "factory" and related processes better, faster, and cheaper to produce existing offerings.
If Innovation is so important, then why isn’t everyone doing it?
Few senior management teams (SMTs) actually understand what innovation means for them and their business on a day to day basis, warns Simon Derry.
Creative Lessons from one of the Most Inspiring Stories Ever Told: Acres of Diamonds
What creative lessons can you learn from one of the most compelling stories ever told? Plenty!
Innovation Management or Leadership: A difference?
The countdown has started; the last bilateral negotiations are becoming frenzied as we approach the opening date for the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. A pattern is emerging where countries are embracing this opportunity to show leadership and managing the event as a contingency. The pattern is one of A and B teams of countries, a pattern similar to that in Danish companies investing in innovation.
Creativity as a Search for Meaning
Creativity is part of, and not necessarily separate from, our intellectual efforts, explains John Armato in this thought-provoking article about using creativity to make meaning in our lives.
The importance of storytelling in creative leadership: An interview with Michael Margolis
In this interview, Michael Margolis explains the importance of storytelling as part of the paradigm of creative leadership.
Don’t stop with the first ‘right idea’
When many people brainstorm, they tend to get into the bad habit of stopping with the "first right idea." In other words, at the first sign of a promising idea, they decide that they're done brainstorming, and mentally "pack it up" and move on to another task. But this isn't very productive from a creative problem-solving standpoint. Here's why.
How Philips’ Open Campus Breeds Innovation
As Business Development Manager at Philips Research, Gerjan van de Walle was instrumental in opening up the electronics giant’s development facility in The Netherlands to competing companies, and making open innovation the ‘buzzwords of the day’. InnovationManagement.se asked him about the process, the difficulties he had to overcome and the advantages are of cramming thousands of engineers and researchers into one square kilometre.
Why executives should spend more time and less cash
Innovation management as a topic is wider than any single website can hope to cover completely. Marcus Linder, an innovation researcher at Chalmers, offers a regular column at innovationmanagement.se covering the most inspiring and actionable contents from other online sources, such as blogs and magazines. The first favorite link? Why executives should spend more time and less cash on innovative projects.
How to Create More Growth Through Disruptive Innovation
According to disruptive innovation theory, companies have the best chance of creating new growth through the introduction of disruptive innovations in the market. But what is it and how can firms be disruptive? And why do they fail to be disruptive? Learn more about disruptive innovation in this article by Gunjan Bhardwaj, head of Ernst & Young´s Global Business Performance Think-tank.
The Significance of Images for Innovation
Good images can be of particular significance for innovative projects and ventures. They can play a key role when seeking support for a new concept, during the development and implementation phases of innovations, as well as in cooperation between and within organisations. Images can be of huge benefit for several reasons.
The Basics of Open Innovation
Open innovation is one of the hottest issues in the world of innovation today, but also perhaps the least understood. Jeffrey Baumgartner shares a simple framework for thinking about open innovation, its pros and cons, and how you may be able to utilize it to help spur innovation in your organization.
21 Great Ways to Innovate
Continuous innovation is not easy and if you keep using the same method you will experience diminishing results. Try innovating how you innovate by employing some of these ideas from Paul Sloane.