Anatomy of an Effective Front-End of Innovation Cycle

The Front End of Innovation is that fuzzy bit where someone, or a group, conceives a new business concept. We say “fuzzy” because it’s the part of the innovation process that is the most purely creative. It’s a step into the unknown to create something new and calls for different tools and techniques. Because it’s fuzzy, we think it’s useful to break it down and look at it step-by-step.

Never Start Innovation with an Idea

Are you trying to come up with the next big idea to jump-start innovation in your company? Try another approach. Gijs van Wulfen gives us three reasons why you should not start an innovation initiative with new ideas, rather formulate a clear and concrete innovation assignment. Here's how!

Put down the iPad: How to Set Rewards for Collaborative Innovation

Engaging in collaborative innovation by participating in activities such as ideation challenges can put community members at odds with the carrot-n-stick incentive and power structures that exist in every organization, including those that ostensibly support a culture of innovation. As the sponsor of your organization’s program for collaborative innovation, you can structure rewards in ways that give your community members the space and resources they need to pursue ideas to fruition. In this article, community architect Doug Collins helps you think through the process of defining a rewards structure for a basic ideation challenge that respects the innovators and collaborators who contribute.

Sustainable Innovation: Balancing Inspiration with Execution

Inspiration. Creativity. Meaning. Purpose. Human-centeredness. These terms are at the forefront of the very lively discussion around what design can bring to business and innovation -- and they are extremely powerful. Nicole Chen asks if design thinkers have thought enough about their new role.

Time to Front up On Green: How Innovation Managers Can Kick-Start Sustainable Innovation

Innovation management is a formative discipline and innovation managers have had their hands full with ideas management, design thinking, service innovation and many more new ideas. But sustainable innovation should be a key tool in any innovation manager's skill-set, argues Chris Sherwin, sustainability expert at Forum for the Future.

The Best Time to Innovate is all the Time

This week InnovationManagement spoke with Idris Mootee - worldwide strategic innovation advisor and CEO of the global strategic innovation and design firm, Idea Couture Inc. Read more about his views on innovation management and why he’s passionate about transforming large, complex, even successful organizations into innovative organizations.

Whether more R&D Investments brings more Innovation Output

Common sense says that if one wants to improve the innovation output, one needs to either (a) increase the size of the opportunity set that goes in the so called 'Innovation Funnel' ; (b) Speed up the throughput of the 'Innovation Funnel' and/or (c) improve the variety of the opportunity set passing through the 'Innovation Funnel'.