Five Innovation Practices for Building & Managing an Innovation Program

There is no “one size fits all” formula for innovation management success. Demystifying innovation takes experiments and practices. In this article, we'll explore five tactics to use in order to develop and manage a successful innovation program.

Ready to Drive Global Innovation?

Everyone is mesmerized by the mystery and magic of innovation and new technologies through AI, Blockchain, IoT, AR/VR, Digital Ecosystems and more. Conversations center around the latest products and services as well as the future impact of a digital life. Yet there is one question that is surprisingly overlooked in many circles - how will leaders and teams innovate and collaborate in a changing business world?

Silence the Voice of the Customer

Innovation is successful when it targets customers’ needs, but how sure can we be that this is something we can predict effectively? In this article Tony Ulwick argues that the traditional voice of the customer methodology is the wrong tool to determine customer needs. Tony presents an alternative methodology that makes it possible to determine all the needs of a given customer group.

Five Dimensions to Conceptualize Your Idea to Make it a Successful Innovation

When conceptualizing a new idea, it is essential to direct the thinking to specific dimensions and search answers to certain questions to help evolve the idea from the initial thought through the various stages of innovation. This article suggests a framework for conceptualizing an idea and helps develop an understanding of the dimensions and questions that you need to consider.

How to Create Compelling Brand Experiences

Crafting design strategies that result in truly compelling brand experiences, products and services demands a change from traditional methods. It requires a more creative and iterative design approach, which is optimized towards identifying real human needs and addressing them with meaningful experiences. Paul Noble-Campbell delves deeper into five critical keys to uncovering those true success drivers.

The Man who Innovated the Postal Service

Looking back through history, innovation has often occured when one big thinker envisioned a new way to solve a customer's problem in an elegant way. A case in point: mail delivery.

From Blind Spots to Strategic Intelligence

Nothing breeds success like success, at least according to the old proverb. However, this is not always the case when it comes to business growth. Many organizations, from Polaroid to Sony, have become victims of their own success: they achieved enormous growth by introducing new products – the Polaroid camera, the Sony Walkman – but as the marketplace matured this growth slowed and they were left looking for alternative paths.

Keeping a Constant Flow of Innovations at BASF

InnovationManagement recently spoke to Dr Thomas Weber, Managing Director of BASF’s Future Business, about what it takes for a large company to maintain a constant flow of innovation ideas and a spirit of enthusiasm to feed the pipeline.

After Eureka: 7 Questions to Test Innovation for Profit Potential

Analytical strategic frameworks are not the key to creating transformative innovation. But a robust strategic framework is essential for shaping and developing an idea. In the battle for hearts and minds, analysis is also the only way to win over the brains of corporate sponsors, venture capitalists, bank managers and spouses. After the "Eureka" moment, it's essential to have a disciplined framework that puts a spotlight on the things that will determine the commercial potential of your idea.

How to Increase Your ROI by Measuring and Managing Your Innovation

Studies have shown that companies’ return on innovation (ROI) or hit rate is somewhere between 2-10%. That is another way of saying that around 90% of all innovation efforts are never commercialised or used in general. Jørn Bang Andersen, senior advisor to the Nordic Innovation Centre (NICe), presents a NICe case study on possible ways to dramatically change that.

Innovation and Customer Insight at Ericsson

A desire to act as a bridge builder between technology and people has taken him from Sweden to New Delhi where he now heads Ericsson ConsumerLab Asia Pacific, a unit within the Ericsson Group that gathers in, processes and analyses data on end consumer needs. Their surveys are based on a cross section of the world’s population in all parts of the world.

Why Business Model Innovation Matters

Managers frequently rely on innovation to drive profitable growth. In many industries new products and services are fundamental. However, although product and service innovations are and have been important to firms for decades, competitive pressures and the search for increased profit have pushed business model innovation higher on the priority list.