Frank Mattes

FRANK MATTES

Frank Mattes founded innovation.support and runs its business in the German-speaking countries. Frank Mattes has more than 15 years of experience in managing innovation, change management and projects. He has worked for several specialized medium-sized consulting companies and for The Boston Consulting Group. He also worked at C-level for an IT and a professional services firm. Frank also founded and runs innovation-3 which focuses on integrating cutting-edge innovation approaches into existing innovation management systems. Frank is the author of several books and a contributing editor to InnovationManagement.se, the number one platform for innovation management practitioners.

Foresight and Extreme Creativity: Strategy for the 21st Century

Judging by experience, most top managers and innovators feel that they are in a maelstrom of change. For some, the rate of change and the magnitude of the consequences induced are so high that they feel a kind of ‘Present Shock’ – a term coined by Douglas Rushkoff, building upon Alvin Toffler’s concept of Future Shock, to describe the psychological impact that occurs when too much is happening simultaneously.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:23:23-07:00October 25th, 2016|Categories: Book Review|Tags: Book Review|

Six Levers For Solving The Corporate Innovation Problem – Part 3

This is the third part of a three-part article series. We are investigating why – despite all the investments made into the early phase of innovation – innovation results remain disappointing. We call this the “corporate innovation problem”. In the first part we illustrated that companies are investing heavily into the early phase of innovation. In the second part, we provided some metrics on the corporate innovation problem and found that the corporate innovation problem actually consists of a “complexity” problem” and a “system problem”. In this article, we show six levers to change the “system problem” and think this is the way to solve the corporate innovation problem – and ultimately to increase innovation performance.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:22:07-07:00May 2nd, 2016|Categories: Leadership, Life Cycle Processes|Tags: back end of innovation, benchmarking, Change Management, customer engagement, data, evaluating ideas, front end of innovation, fuzzy front end of innovation, goal setting, in-depth article, innovation challenge, innovation investment, Innovation Management, Innovation Strategy, innovation success, management, Open Innovation, Problem Solving, system problem, vision|

Six Levers for Solving The Corporate Innovation Problem – Part 2

This is the second part of a three-part article series. In the first part we illustrated that firms are investing heavily into the early phase of innovation. In this second part we show that despite of all these investments, innovation results remain disappointing. We call this the “corporate innovation problem”. We provide some metrics and find that there are two root causes. In the upcoming third part we will suggest that six levers can be used to address one of the root causes. We believe that moving these levers can provide a solution to the corporate innovation problem – and ultimately lead to increased innovation performance.

Ideascale2021-12-07T15:50:09-08:00April 25th, 2016|Categories: Leadership, Life Cycle Processes|Tags: analytics, back end of innovation, benchmarking, Change Management, customer engagement, data, evaluating ideas, front end of innovation, fuzzy front end of innovation, goal setting, in-depth article, innovation challenge, innovation investment, Innovation Management, innovation metrics, Innovation Strategy, innovation success, management, metrics, Open Innovation, Problem Solving, system problem, vision|

Six Levers for Solving the Corporate Innovation Problem – Part 1

Innovation is at the top of the Management Agenda for many companies. For excellence in innovation, companies have to master the chain of activities from discovering valuable insight into unmet customer needs to successful market adoption. However, despite large and growing investments into innovation, results remain disappointing. We call this the “corporate innovation problem”. In this 3-part article series we dig deeper into this problem and find that there are actually two root causes for it. We focus on one of the root causes – the “system problem” – and work out six levers of improvement. Acting on these levers offers a solution to the corporate innovation problem and ultimately increases innovation performance.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:22:10-07:00April 18th, 2016|Categories: Leadership, Life Cycle Processes|Tags: back end of innovation, benchmarking, Change Management, customer engagement, data, evaluating ideas, front end of innovation, fuzzy front end of innovation, goal setting, in-depth article, innovation challenge, innovation investment, Innovation Management, Innovation Strategy, innovation success, investment, management, Open Innovation, Problem Solving, system problem, vision|

Results of a study on excellence in the Fuzzy Front-End (PART 2): Where leading firms are setting their priorities

This is the second part of a 2-part series on a study that innovation.support conducted. In the study we wanted to find out where leading firms from various industry sectors set their priorities in developing the early phase of their innovation funnels (“Fuzzy Front-End”). In this article we want to provide you with the key findings of our study.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:22:28-07:00November 9th, 2015|Categories: Life Cycle Processes|Tags: budget, case study, front end of innovation, fuzzy front end of innovation, Ideation, Innovation Management, innovation software, innovation success, innovation support, R&D, service innovation, software, speed of innovation, time-to-market|

How to Achieve Excellence in the Fuzzy Front-End – Part 1

The term “Fuzzy Front-End” (FFE) has been established for the early stage of innovation which determines the innovation effectiveness and hence ultimately innovation success. We wanted to better understand where leading firms are setting their priorities in the FFE currently and where they see things going in the future. To answer this, we conducted a study. Our train of thought and the main findings are in a two-part article series published here.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:22:29-07:00November 2nd, 2015|Categories: Life Cycle Processes|Tags: budget, case study, front end of innovation, fuzzy front end of innovation, Ideation, Innovation Management, innovation software, innovation success, innovation support, R&D, service innovation, software, time-to-market|

The 7 Principles of Highly Effective Innovation Culture Change Programs (Part 2)

Nothing is more constant than change. Furthermore, the speed of change is accelerating. So for instance, the global knowledge is growing exponentially, disruptive megatrends (e.g. Internet Of Things, urbanization, demographic shifts) are shaping the innovation agendas and new approaches for capturing value by innovation (e.g. Business Model Innovation, Design Thinking) are becoming mainstream. Thus, new realities for innovation management are emerging and firms are forced to change their innovation management ever faster.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:19:08-07:00August 5th, 2014|Categories: Organization & Culture|Tags: Business Model Innovation, Change Management, design thinking, Innovation Culture, innovation value|

The 7 Principles of Highly Effective Innovation Culture Change Programs (Part 1)

Nothing is more constant than change. Furthermore, the speed of change is accelerating. So for instance, the global knowledge is growing exponentially, disruptive megatrends (e.g. Internet Of Things, urbanization, demographic shifts) are shaping the innovation agendas and new approaches for capturing value by innovation (e.g. Business Model Innovation, Design Thinking) are becoming mainstream. Thus, new realities for innovation management are emerging and firms are forced to change their innovation management ever faster.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:17:11-07:00July 24th, 2014|Categories: Organization & Culture|Tags: Business Model Innovation, Change Management, culture, design thinking, Innovation Culture, innovation value|

Balancing Innovation via Organizational Ambidexterity – Part 3

The optimal balancing of radical and incremental innovation is becoming a Key Success Factor in many industries. Organizational ambidexterity is the approach to achieve this. With a best-in-class ambidextrous set-up, firms can become innovation leader.

Ideascale2020-07-10T14:36:00-07:00March 12th, 2014|Categories: Organization & Culture|Tags: adaptability, ambidexterity, Best Practices, business development, business model, case study, in-depth article, incremental innovation, innovation, Innovation Management, Organization, organizational ambidexterity, radical innovation, strategy|

Balancing Innovation via Organizational Ambidexterity – Part 2

In the first part of a 3-part article series innovation-3’s Frank Mattes and Integrative Innovation’s Ralph-Christian Ohr worked out why successful firms need to balance radical and incremental innovation. They introduced the concept of organizational ambidexterity as an appropriate way for simultaneously conducting exploration and exploitation, the two paradigms behind radical and incremental innovation.This second part shows some best practice examples of how the most innovative firms are setting up organizational ambidexterity.

Ideascale2019-11-28T07:59:45-08:00August 12th, 2013|Categories: Organization & Culture|Tags: ambidexterity, best practice, Best Practices, business development, business model, case study, in-depth article, incremental innovation, innovation, Innovation Management, Organization, organizational ambidexterity, radical innovation, strategy, X Adaptability|

Collaborative Innovation Inside & Beyond the Firm – Two Worlds Become One

This year, a very interesting trend in collaborative innovation can be observed in Central Europe: The once distinct concepts of “Enterprise 2.0” and “Open Innovation” are merging. Firms are taking a holistic view on collaborative innovation and put the question about whether collaborative innovation should happen primarily within the firm’s walls or with externals out of the focus.

Ideascale2021-12-05T17:06:04-08:00June 26th, 2013|Categories: Collaborative Innovation, Enabling Factors, Open Innovation|Tags: Best Practices, Change Management, collaborative innovation, enterprise 2.0, expertise, holistic view, innovation networks, innovation portfolio, innovation team, knowledge sharing, leadership, Open Innovation|

Balancing Innovation Via Organizational Ambidexterity – Part 1

Organizational ambidexterity is becoming a Key Factor for Success in many industries. With a proper ambidextrous set-up, firms can optimally balance radical and incremental innovation.This is part 1 of a 3-part article co-written by innovation-3’s Frank Mattes and Ralph-Christian Ohr from Integrative Innovation. In this article we are showing the need for organizational ambidexterity, introduce the concept, show how it can be implemented and provide two case studies from leading German firms

Ideascale2020-03-30T12:07:52-07:00May 29th, 2013|Categories: Organization & Culture|Tags: adaptability, ambidexterity, Best Practices, breakthrough innovation, business development, business model, case study, in-depth article, incremental innovation, innovation, Innovation Management, innovation portfolio, Organization, organizational ambidexterity, Product Development, radical innovation, strategy|

Customer Integration in B2B Open Innovation

Today, almost any B2B firm claims to be “customer-oriented”. However, only few firms have a rigorous and stringent system that integrates the “best” (B2B) customers into its innovation process – where “best” in this context is measured not by volume of sales but by contribution to the firm’s innovation. A lot of insight has been generated on how to engage consumers in the innovation process. There is also a growing body of knowledge about how to innovate openly on the R&D side of the innovation process. But little has been written up so far about how to systematically integrate B2B customers in the firm’s Open Innovation system. innovation-3’s Frank Mattes closes this gap by sharing some insights.

Ideascale2019-11-28T09:23:30-08:00November 12th, 2012|Categories: Collaborative Innovation, Open Innovation, Strategies|Tags: B2B, Best Practices, concept validator, crowdfunding, Crowdsourcing, customer engagement, customer integration, customer involvement, data, in-depth article, Innovation Management, Innovation Strategy, knowledge transfer, lead user, Open Innovation, Product Development, R&D|

Moving from “Open Innovation” to True Open Innovation

In the 10 years since Henry Chesbrough published his groundbreaking book on Open Innovation, a lot has happened. Almost any firm claims to do Open Innovation. However, if you look closely, most of the firms do not do true Open Innovation – they are merely running a multitude of open approaches to innovation. This article explains the fundamental differences between “Open Innovation” and true Open Innovation, provides data where firms are standing on their journey to true Open Innovation and gives some hints on what your firm should do in order to take the next step.

Ideascale2021-12-05T08:27:17-08:00October 8th, 2012|Categories: Open Innovation, Strategies|Tags: globalization, innovation networks, trend|

Core Competence Management in the Era of Open Innovation

“Core competences” are a major concept in managing innovations and technologies. In the era of Open Innovation, the established concept of core competence management needs to be updated. innovation-3’s Frank Mattes recently met with a group of 20 innovation / technology managers from leading firms to work out how this could be done – with the practitioner’s perspective in mind. In this article you will find the key results of the discussion.

Ideascale2021-12-03T14:41:44-08:00July 30th, 2012|Categories: Open Innovation, Strategies|Tags: Best Practices, core competencies, Innovation Management, innovation processes, knowledge transfer, Open Innovation, portfolio management, Technology, trends|