Whitepaper: Stimulating and Measuring Open and Cross Innovation 

As two intermediaries from Hamburg that foster open and cross innovation processes, Science Scout (an initiative of Hamburg Innovation) and Cross Innovation Hub (Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft) joined forces to start a discussion around the stimulation and measurement of open and cross innovation processes.

Let’s Settle the Debate – Innovation Both Is & Is Not Everyone’s Job

Is ‘innovation’ everyone’s job – as so many claim it is? Or is it not everyone’s job – as the counterargument goes? The reality is not quite so simple. Dive in as we examine the three cases of significance here – two in which innovation is everyone’s job, and one in which it isn’t.

Breaking the Innovation Stereotypes: The Case of Curry Express

We often hear about the concept of innovation and its importance in enhancing the competitiveness of an organization---however, the excessive use of this term has distorted its true meaning and content.

How to Select Your Best Value Innovation Project – The Secret is in a Well-Managed Product Project Portfolio!

Innovation is on everyone's lips as a solution to post-COVID economic recovery. The world of innovation has a very broad definition: It’s often referred to as an information technology innovation... but our worldwide economy is still very reliant on manufacturing. How you select your best innovation project is undoubtedly a starting point!

Four Ways to Innovate Right Now

While the pandemic has been difficult for all us economically, as business owners, we never run out of opportunities. No matter the business climate, there is always a chance to do something new and something better—you just have to find it.

Innovation Simplified

Organizations rely on innovations to sustain competitiveness. Managers often talk about innovations. Some use it as an ornament. Perhaps innovation is the mostly abused word by organizations and practicing managers. There are dozens of definitions for the word innovation.

Rebuild Personas According to Your Next Product Innovation

Using personas in your design thinking framework is important, but are the results satisfying and clear? In this article, Product Innovation Manager Alex Igor Sanghikian discusses the Adjacent Possibilities framework for product management. By exclusively focusing on your persona’s one main need and trying hard to fulfill that need with your product, you can build the next feature with a more focused vision.

Product Innovation of a Trolley: A 3-step Journey

Consider the world’s most ingeniously designed products. Whether it’s your smartphone, your favorite racing bike or a nifty robotic lawn mower – they all have a one thing in common: rather than being conceived overnight, they were shaped by a series of consecutive, systematic innovations. But how does such a structured product innovation approach look? This CREAX project illustrates the ins and outs.

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.

It’s Midnight. Do You Know Where Your Projects Are?

Product innovation shouldn’t be scary. But if you don’t know where projects are throughout the development process, those projects could be as good as gone. This article considers how the level of visibility organizations have into a product as it progresses through the full commercialization process directly relates to its success. What steps can organizations take to expand their field of vision into product lifecycles and how can having a single source of truth be the light in the darkness?

‘Borrow’ Business Models to Reinvent Your Industry

Most “new” business models are not really “new”. Very frequently they are based on replications or re-combinations of existing business model patterns. Consequently, learning from business models from other companies and industries is a very important source of inspiration for business model innovation.

Creating Innovation Value: Four Key Drivers to Success

The ability to increase business value through innovation is a critical success driver for most organizations. The markets that we operate in provide both opportunity and risk from an innovation perspective as they are rapidly changing. This article takes a look at a useful framework; The Innovation Diamond™, that examines the complexity and addresses some of the challenges in product innovation.

How to Improve the Innovation Pipeline and Process

Can an organization dramatically improve the quality, speed, and profitability of their new product projects while driving down the risk of failure? Absolutely! Organizations that rely on new products, technologies, and platforms to create customer value, grow market share, enter new markets, increase their profitability, and even alter market and competitive landscapes. In this article Chester Baker, Head of Global Innovation for Abbott Nutrition shares the winning formula for driving innovation in his company.

How Companies Tap the Potential of Innovative Users – Four Examples from Germany

Open innovation has found its way into companies’ innovation processes and is a widely used approach to spur collaborative innovation with consumers. A multitude of methods and tools have come into being, creating confusion about how to make the most out of users’ knowledge and creativity. This article provides innovation managers with insights into four popular open innovation practices at four German blue chips and contrasts the various approaches.