Holistic innovation management.

How do you get a House of Innovation?

Often, companies do not yet have a holistic presentation of innovation management or do not even know what already exists in individual areas and where there are still gaps.

Therefore, there is a multi-level model for creating a House of Innovation: In a first step, previous innovation activities are analyzed in order to generate a first understanding of innovation in the company.

The analysis comprises all 4 building blocks of the House of Innovation - strategy, process & methods, structure and innovation culture.

This is followed by an evaluation of the results using an Innovation Scorecard, which shows in a traffic light system in all building blocks of the House of Innovation where there is a great need for action and in which areas the company is already well positioned.

How do you identify gaps?

Improvement of the innovation management and planned to close the identified gaps. These are prioritized and assigned responsibilities, and then implemented in the next step.

The strategy, according to which the innovation activities are to be aligned, starts with a corporate vision and corporate strategy. Ideally, an innovation strategy is derived from this: What goals does your company pursue and how does innovation management contribute to these goals? Companies should also define innovation for themselves in order to create a common understanding among all employees.

It is also important to determine which types of innovation (product, service, process, market and/or business model) one can deal with. In addition, the roof contains one or more innovation roadmaps derived from the innovation strategy. These serve as a roadmap for the operative steps in innovation management.

Process & Methods: Working in house

The operative part of the company deals with the innovation process and the associated methods. The starting point of the process is an innovation trigger. This trigger can come from strategic search fields of the roadmap as well as from market observation, observation of competitors or technology monitoring. In a defined area, one then goes into idea generation, which can take place through Closed Innovation and Open Innovation. Examples of closed innovation are internal R&D projects, idea competitions for employees or internal workshops. Suitable tools for Open Innovation are methods such as the LEAD User Method, Service Design or Innovation Contest, as well as the involvement of industry experts, customers, suppliers and research institutions.

Once the ideas have been generated, it is up to the company to decide which concrete steps are necessary to move from the idea to market maturity and ultimately to innovation (because innovation = invention + market success). Here, too, there are supporting methods in innovation management that help in the individual steps.

The structure as the foundation of the house is divided into two parts: On the one hand, the structure and responsibilities in the innovation process have to be defined, and on the other hand, an organizational structure is required to promote innovation management. The process structure determines which people are involved in the process and when, who makes decisions and is responsible for individual steps in the process.

The organizational structure with regard to innovation management should have determined where innovation management is organizationally hung up or whether there is a separate innovation management department.

Culture: the breeding ground on which the house stands

The culture of innovation as a breeding ground is seen as a corporate culture that promotes innovation. This can be reflected in a self-reinforcing cycle of may, ability and will: These three dimensions must be taken into account in the innovation culture and are interrelated.

As a company, being allowed to create structures, freedom and resources for employees means that they can be innovative. To be able means that employees are empowered and build competences to do and accompany innovation activities. Wanting is the intrinsic motivation that can be created by specific stimuli in employees to drive innovative action within the company.

The innovation process within a company is often chaotic and uncoordinated under the pretext of creativity. A professionally designed innovation process is central to successful innovations. We show you 5 success factors that make your innovation process fit for the future.