Understanding Innovation

Focused on learning about innovation as a discipline – article could be an explanation of a term or concept, for example, or an overview of how to start an innovation program.

Innovation is not always nice to have. Unless you play-to-win!

Because of today’s business hype for innovation we encounter situations where there can be too much of a good thing going on and successful companies tend to be aware of this potential pitfall. As much as a complete lack of innovation will lead to failure in an organization, left unmanaged, too many innovative ideas can cloud the judgement on which ideas are truly great. Innovation management therefore is crucial in the success of any organisation.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:21:21-07:00March 2nd, 2015|Categories: Strategies|Tags: case study, Competition, idea management software, Innovation Management, innovation management platform, innovation platforms, innovation process, Play-to-Win, strategy, systems, the Delphi technique, workflow|

Outside / Inside Innovation: Combining Open Innovation with Employee Networks to Drive Success

As business leaders seek additional impact from Innovation Programs, new ways to leverage and scale existing resources are being explored. One approach is to link externally sourced ideas with networks of innovation-minded employees, to generate additional business impact.

Ideascale2022-01-24T16:48:31-08:00February 19th, 2015|Categories: Collaborative Innovation, Leadership, Open Innovation|Tags: collaborative innovation, Communication, download, employee network, employee networks, in-depth article, Innovation Strategy, innovation training, innovtaion network, Open Innovation, report, strategy, training program, whitepaper|

Starting an Innovation Program? A Strategic Approach to Create Success

Many innovation leaders tend to be tactically driven, but their corporate leadership is looking for more strategic planning and analysis. This tension often contributes to high turnover in innovation management roles, based on a misalignment around leadership’s expectations. In this article Anthony Ferrier suggests perspectives and actions that should be considered part of your innovation strategy plan.

Ideascale2022-01-24T16:48:38-08:00February 4th, 2015|Categories: Collaborative Innovation, Idea Management, Leadership, Strategies|Tags: ecosystem, Innovation Management, innovation planning, measure innovation, strategic planning, strategy|

Five Ways to Make Your Innovation Culture Smell Better

When it comes to fostering continuous innovation, most organizational cultures stink at it. Industry research provides some interesting statistics which highlight that innovation is not easily obtainable and that companies are not innovating fast enough to repel the unrelenting threat posed by new market entrants with declining barriers to entry.

Ideascale2020-04-01T12:14:13-07:00December 17th, 2014|Categories: Blog Archive|Tags: Best Practices, company culture, continuous innovation, goal setting, in-depth article, infrastructure, Innovation Culture, innovation framework, innovation research, Innovation Strategy, innovation value, measuring innovation, organization structure, strategy, value proposition, vision|

Open Innovation: Lego and Bagels

Arguably, the principle of Open Innovation was utilised for the first time by Professor James Murray in 19th Century Oxford, England. In the time that has passed since then, this concept has become infinitely easier to implement thanks to the development of Innovation Management technology, however some companies are yet to wake up to its potential.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:18:40-07:00December 16th, 2014|Categories: Idea Management, Open Innovation, Strategies|Tags: case study, collective intelligence, Communication, Crowdsourcing, Henry Chesbrough, innovation history, innovation success, Open Innovation, risk management, social media, software, voice of customer|

Creating the Optimal R&D Organization

Driven by the need to respond to global hyper-competition and the increasing clock speed of technological change, companies are relying heavily on their R&D functions to accelerate innovation while maintaining tight budgets. However, organizational structures for R&D in large international companies are often sub-optimal and act as a major barrier to performance improvement. In order to successfully optimize R&D’s contribution to business value, companies need to address the three key dimensions of structure, governance and process. From our extensive work with the R&D functions of leading global companies, we have identified eight imperatives to ensure a successful transformation across these dimensions.

Ideascale2021-12-20T16:10:31-08:00November 25th, 2014|Categories: Organization & Culture|Tags: business value, Competition, enterprise innovation, global market, innovation governance, innovation program processes, internationalization, leadership, Organization, R&D|

Open Innovation Intermediaries: Are they valuable?

The success of Open Innovation hinges on many organizational aspects as we have discussed extensively on the MOOI forum in the past months and will continue to do so until the end of this year. From the beginning of next year, we will start co-creating our e-book on the Management and Organization of Open Innovation in a joint effort with the MOOI forum members.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:18:46-07:00November 12th, 2014|Categories: Open Innovation, Organization & Culture|Tags: Henry Chesbrough, innovation management service provider, innovation management software, intermediaries, MOOI, Open Innovation|

Elements of a Successful Innovation Roadmap

Countless articles argue: To remain competitive, companies need to consistently build their innovation portfolio. Value-oriented improvement and new developments must permeate the business. This article discusses a structured approach, known as a Rapid Innovation Cycle, which brings a repeatable process to innovation, empowering individuals to contribute more and organizations to look beyond themselves—all leading to a higher success rate.

Ideascale2019-11-28T09:23:54-08:00November 10th, 2014|Categories: Life Cycle Processes, Strategies|Tags: analysis, competitive advantage, ethnography, Ideation, in-depth article, innovation, innovation life cycle processes, innovation lifecycle, innovation portfolio, innovation process, innovation roadmap, pivot, portfolio management, product line roadmapping, rapid innovation, rapid innovation cycle, strategy, workshop|

The Future of Work – The Transformation from Within

Which companies are ensuring their place in the future? Definitely not those sticking to conventional models in work organisation or in structuring and running their businesses. As evolution teaches, the ability to adapt to environmental changes, such as the ones we experience in the corporate world, determines who has a better chance of thriving. So, is your company’s DNA set to evolve?

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:18:47-07:00November 6th, 2014|Categories: Blog Archive|Tags: download, in-depth article, innovative companies, report|

Fun and Games – Changing the World of Innovation Assessments

Innovation Assessment is one of the pillars of an innovation program. Evaluation should be done as an on-going activity and revised with the most valuable feedback gathered along the entire innovation journey. In the third of a series of articles focused on Innovation Culture, we are going to propose a different approach for Innovation Assessment that by offering a different user experience could increase awareness, engagement and elicit more valuable contributions from key stakeholders.

Ideascale2019-11-28T09:23:49-08:00November 3rd, 2014|Categories: Organization & Culture|Tags: customer engagement, diagnostic, Employee Engagement, engagement, innovation assessment, innovation capabilities, Innovation Culture, innovation game, innovation metrics, innovation tool, innovation toolbox, measure innovation, measuring innovation|

Beyond Tech and Elusive Geniuses – The Everyday Innovation Heroes

Apple, Google and General Electric success stories centre on groundbreaking characters and geniuses. But 99% of companies worldwide are unlike any of these. Most organisations are made up of people like you and me: reasonably proficient in innovation management but surrounded by innovation agnostics. People who can share with us the tough, yet stirring mission of pushing boundaries to shape a bit of future.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:18:48-07:00October 30th, 2014|Categories: Idea Management, Organization & Culture|Tags: Employee Engagement, idea management software, innovation, innovation champions, Innovation Culture, innovation process, innovation psychology, innovation sigma, innovation tool, innovative people, market intelligence, results, six sigma|

Methods of Measuring Ideas for Innovation

Turning ideas into numbers and knowing the characteristics of the Ideal Idea (0.00iur) is like having a compass and knowing the safe harbor where the minimal risks of innovation converge. Mathematically identifying desired ideas by users, extracted from simplified mathematical formulas, is the Holy Grail that eliminates uncertainties and passionate discussions, which are unhelpful in choosing ideas.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:18:49-07:00October 23rd, 2014|Categories: Idea Management, Life Cycle Processes|Tags: evaluating ideas, in-depth article, mathmatical idea management, measure innovation, measuring ideas, performance measurement, research, risk management|

Five Ways to Boost Innovation Governance for Growth in 2015

Innovation governance translates corporate strategy into robust, results-driven portfolios. Who among the executive ranks would oppose that? With innovation governance, the short and the long-term innovation opportunities are balanced, resources are strategically allocated (especially people), and the organization acquires an improved ability to achieve both stretch growth goals and market differentiation.

Ideascale2021-12-06T07:35:44-08:00October 20th, 2014|Categories: Organization & Culture|Tags: accountability, business alignment, enterprise innovation, growth, innovation governance, Innovation Management, Innovation Strategy, measuring innovation, Organization, portfolio management, steering committee|

New Report: The State of Innovation in Latin America

To understand the conditions around innovation in Latin America in detail, INSITUM conducted a qualitative and quantitative study with more than 300 of the biggest Latin American organizations. The study has brought to light many of the contexts, barriers, needs and outcomes around innovation in Latin American organizations. This article explores some of the results and offers a free download of the full report.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:18:51-07:00October 15th, 2014|Categories: Organization & Culture, Report|Tags: case study, download, in-depth article, innovation, Innovation Culture, latin america, report, reserach|

Seven Signs That Your Innovation Program is at Risk of Failure

There are plenty of examples of innovation program failure at large organizations. In this article, I examine the key markers that I have observed, that indicate a program may be in trouble and at risk of failure.

Ideascale2022-01-24T16:51:04-08:00September 11th, 2014|Categories: Enabling Factors, Leadership, Organization & Culture|Tags: activity, Best Practices, challenge, efficiency, Failure, lessons learned, outcomes, outputs, pipeline, resources, rewards, risk management|