Understanding the problem: In an innovation project it is important to understand the problem first. With the search field methodology, companies can define their problems in a targeted manner and ask themselves the most important questions: Who am I innovating for? What is my time horizon for innovation? What type of innovation will it be? How high is the degree of innovation? The next step should only be started after the problem has been validated with the right methods and, if necessary, with external experts.
Generate ideas: Depending on the problem, other methods are suitable as approaches for generating ideas. Ideas can be collected internally with employees through Closed Innovation or through Open Innovation with the involvement of suppliers, LEAD users or other industry experts. At the end of this phase, a Minimal Viable Product is created.
Develop a concept: The further development of an idea into a concept has different steps depending on the company and the industry. Most projects involve technical feasibility, a market analysis, the preparation of a business plan and testing in the market. At the end of the phase you should have worked out pretotypes validated by the market.
Develop: From the pretotype it goes into the development of a functional prototype, in order to be able to then go into serious development.
