innovation process

How to Get Your Innovative Idea off the Ground in the Current Economic Climate

Incredibly, business confidence in the UK is continuing to rise, despite the spectre of Brexit and its potential implications on citizens. Many experts have attribute this to the growth of the manufacturing sector, which recorded a Credit Manager's Index (CMI) score of 62.7 during the first quarter of 2017 and a 1.5% increase from the previous quarter. This hints at significant growth potential for product-oriented firms, which are currently able to increase exports due to a more competitively priced (and fundamentally weaker) pound.

Ideascale2021-12-14T08:06:33-08:00June 1st, 2017|Categories: Trend Alert|Tags: brexit, Collaboration, collaborative innovation, Communication, economy, financial strategy, front end of innovation, fundraising, innovation process, Innovation Strategy, innovation success, partnership, Product Development, product pricing|

Where to Start with Innovation? Begin by removing the Barriers

Surveys show that the large majority of senior executives see innovation as critical for their businesses but what if you want to make your organization more agile and innovative where should you start? You could launch a big initiative with grand statements, training classes and an ideas scheme but you tried all those last year and they fizzled out. It is better to begin with a brutally honest assessment of what is preventing innovation from happening today.

Ideascale2021-12-14T08:03:42-08:00May 24th, 2017|Categories: Enabling Factors, Strategies|Tags: Agile, brainstorming, budget, company culture, corporate strategy, Failure, goal setting, Ideation, innovation, innovation blockers, Innovation Culture, innovation process, Innovation Strategy, innovation training, learning program, processes, risk aversion, risk management, siloing, strategy, time management, vision|

Three Hurdles to Sustainable Innovation

Most people agree on the importance of sustainability in innovation, so why is it difficult to deliver? In this article, we’ll explore three hurdles to sustainable innovation: it’s often not considered by innovators themselves as they plan their projects; sustainability is not framed as an exciting and imaginative opportunity; and that sustainable innovation may not fit into a company’s ongoing processes.

Ideascale2021-12-14T07:39:28-08:00March 15th, 2017|Categories: Column & Opinion, Enabling Factors|Tags: business process, customer integration, incremental innovation, innovation blockers, innovation challenge, innovation process, innovation program processes, sustainability, sustainable innovation|

Great Innovators as Great Mentors: Is This a Skill You’re Nurturing?

Companies that are looking to gain a competitive edge are also looking for the innovators among them. But what do innovators look like?

Rob Hoehn2021-12-14T07:38:20-08:00March 13th, 2017|Categories: Organization & Culture|Tags: Crowdsourcing, innovation process, innovation skills, innovation team, innovative people, innovators, jump, mentoring, mentors, oak ridge national laboratory, ORNL|

Making Innovation More of a Science And Less of an Art

One of the greatest challenges facing innovation professionals is to find the right approach to a given innovation problem. Whether that’s instilling the innovation mojo in a large corporation or simply helping teams become more innovative, the ways to do this seem to be more of an art than a science. However, during the last ten years there has been a strong push to turn this art form into more of a science.

Ideascale2021-12-14T06:38:42-08:00February 21st, 2017|Categories: Column & Opinion, Idea Management, Strategies|Tags: best practice, Creativity, design thinking, enterprise innovation, event, Failure, innovation process, innovation standardization, Innovation Strategy, lean, measuring innovation, model, Problem Solving, research, science, startup|

4 Things to Think About When Creating Your Innovation Roadmap

This time of year is full of meetings with leadership and teams in order to help them prepare for the year ahead. People discuss financial goals, sustainability goals, profitability targets, customer success metrics, and more, but there are also numerous research & development teams out there who are coordinating their annual innovation strategy who struggle in their process to create a cohesive innovation strategy.

Rob Hoehn2021-12-07T16:16:53-08:00January 9th, 2017|Categories: Life Cycle Processes|Tags: challenge, Change Management, evaluate, goal setting, goals, innovation planning, innovation process, innovation program processes, innovation roadmap, Innovation Strategy, innovation success, roadblocks, roadmap, workflow|

Launch a Four-Week Innovation Program

In-house innovation programs are an emerging phenomenon. Many businesses and government organizations are formalizing processes around the innovation practice in order to keep pace with competition and the rapidly changing expectations of the public.

Rob Hoehn2019-10-15T15:23:30-07:00September 8th, 2016|Categories: Strategies|Tags: idea management, Ideation, implementation, in-house innovation program, innovation academy, innovation process, innovation program, innovation program processes, innovation team, intrapreneur, launch strategy, problem statement, team building, understanding innovation|

How to Innovate Efficiently: Six Ways to ‘Unfuzzy’ the Front-end

Kittens are ‘fuzzy’ because they’re soft and fluffy. But if someone uses the same word to describe the early stages – or ‘front-end’ – of an innovation process, the meaning is less cute. In that case, ‘fuzzy’ means ‘blurry’, ‘unclear’ or even ‘incoherent’. In many cases, innovation projects start off as chaotic and seemingly aimless ventures. In fact, this happens so often, that organizations tend to accept the ‘fuzzy front-end of innovation’ as a necessary evil. At CREAX, we believe front-end fuzziness can and should be drastically reduced in order to innovate efficiently.

Ideascale2021-12-07T16:00:59-08:00September 6th, 2016|Categories: Front End of Innovation, Strategies|Tags: business development, challenge, efficiency, expertise, front end of innovation, fuzzy front end of innovation, Ideation, Innovation Management, innovation process, Innovation Strategy, innovation team, knowledge, talent management|

Integrating Agile with Stage-Gate® – How New Agile-Scrum Methods Lead to Faster and Better Innovation

Recent experiences show that Agile project-management methods can be used in the innovation process and has a great potential to reduce development time and increase the success rate of new products. The article briefly outlines how an Agile method, such as Scrum, can be used within a structured innovation process with milestones and decision points, such as Stage-Gate®, and what benefits it provides to both manufacturers and service-providers.

Ideascale2021-12-20T16:53:54-08:00August 9th, 2016|Categories: Strategies|Tags: Agile, agile innovation, Agile-Stage-Gate Hybrid Model, case study, fuzzy front end of innovation, in-depth article, innovation method, innovation process, innovation tool, innovation toolbox, lean, methodology, Product Development, product innovation, project management, project planning, scrum, speed of innovation, stage gate, Success|

Launching an Innovation Program: What You Don’t Know

Although innovation programs are becoming more and more embedded within the enterprise, it is still very common to find organizations that are just starting to experiment with formal, continuous innovation programs. Many IdeaScale clients that come to us are quietly launching pilot programs as proof-of-concept initiatives that will confirm innovation value for senior leadership.

Rob Hoehn2021-12-07T15:58:15-08:00August 3rd, 2016|Categories: Life Cycle Processes, Strategies|Tags: contest, continuous innovation, goal setting, goals, IdeaScale, innovation process, innovation program, innovation program processes, intrepreneur, KPI, launch strategy, process improvement, roadmap, strengths and weaknesses, value|

Toward a Coherent and Self-Sustaining Innovation Framework

Innovation leaders today don’t have an easy job. Tasked with bringing Innovation to their organization, they often face a variety of interpretations of innovation throughout the organization, a lack of comprehensive understanding of what innovation really entails, and what it requires to truly embed innovation in a way that it sustains itself.

Ideascale2020-09-14T08:53:40-07:00December 7th, 2015|Categories: Leadership, Organization & Culture|Tags: Communication, continuous innovation, ecosystem, framework, Ideation, in-depth article, Innovation Culture, innovation framework, innovation leader, innovation metrics, innovation process, Innovation Strategy, innovation value, measuring innovation, project management, self-sustaining innovation, strategy, sustainable growth, vision|

10 Ways to Reduce the Innovation Failure Rate

You are not able to stand still in this fast paced business environment, but most of the time innovation fails. Innovation process-expert Robert Cooper shows that of every seven new product/service projects, about four enter development, 1.5 are launched, and only one succeeds. Innovation is so difficult to master, indeed. I love to share with you five reasons why innovation goes wrong and give you ten ways to reduce your failure rate of innovation.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:22:25-07:00December 4th, 2015|Categories: Enabling Factors, Idea Management, Leadership, Strategies|Tags: back end of innovation, Best Practices, Business Model Innovation, customer engagement, Failure, fuzzy front end of innovation, goal setting, habits, Ideation, innovation, innovation process, Innovation Strategy, innovation success, invention, lessons learned, mindset, motivation|

Collaborative Innovation in Advanced Manufacturing: Just Getting Started

Advanced manufacturers—people who make “things”—face the same challenges in the Digital Age as their counterparts that traffic wholly in bits and bytes. Relentless immediacy. Increased transparency. In this article, the innovation architect Doug Collins reflects on the results from a survey that the analyst firm Frost & Sullivan conducted as part of the Manufacturing Leadership Council. What are the more advanced of the advanced manufacturing thinking these days about the practice of collaborative innovation? Are they on track?

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:22:27-07:00November 24th, 2015|Categories: Collaborative Innovation, Enabling Factors|Tags: co-creation, collaborative innovation, Crowdsourcing, customer engagement, Innovation Management, innovation process, manufacturing, nordic manufacturing, Problem Solving, Product Development|

Going Once, Going Twice, Going Three Times: Selling Your Idea

People cannot appreciate the value your idea offers if you fail to convey its relative advantage. In this article, the innovation architect Doug Collins shares a simple, good example of telling the right story at the right time to the right audience. Save this one for your clip file.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:22:28-07:00November 12th, 2015|Categories: Collaborative Innovation, Idea Management, Life Cycle Processes|Tags: collaborative innovation, Communication, idea presentation, Ideation, innovation process, pitch|

Innovation Decimation: Refined Sugar and the iPhone

I see no value in waiting until New Year’s Day to resolve to improve myself. “Now is as good as time as any,” makes more sense to me. Last month I resolved to make two changes which, if I succeed in maintaining the alterations, promise to benefit me. In this article, I share my view on these changes, the immediate effect they have had on me, and their relation to the practice of collaborative innovation.

Ideascale2019-10-15T15:22:30-07:00October 27th, 2015|Categories: Collaborative Innovation, Organization & Culture|Tags: collaborative innovation, incremental improvements, Innovation Culture, Innovation Management, innovation process, mindfulness, personal development, sugar|