Conducting an Innovation Contest

First and foremost, an Innovation Contest creates a positive innovation culture in a very efficient and structured way. There are many positive aspects associated with this:

Communication: Dialogue is intensively promoted. Employees once again communicate more with each other and consider, together, which products can be developed. The passive wait-and-see attitude, on the part of the headquarters or regional office, is broken through and replaced by active communication.

Competitive spirit: A stage is needed in which employees can develop their potential and show their creativity. The Innovation Contest awakens ambition and motivates employees, in a positive way, to extraordinary achievements.

Idea generation: In the course of the Innovation Contest, numerous other ideas are generated, in addition to the ideas presented, which flow into the idea pipeline. The R&D department can draw on the full potential and develop promising ideas into innovations and introduce them to the market.

Empowerment: With the Innovation Contest, the company has an instrument, at its disposal, to generate new ideas on an independent basis. The company knows how to create its own ideas.

What is an Innovation Contest?

An Innovation Contest is an internally announced ideas competition that not only provides a multitude of new ideas, but also improves motivation and communications throughout the company. If some of the collected ideas actually become a market success, then this strengthens the self-confidence of the entire organization and all those who work for it. Ideas are collected in several stages, developed further in workshops, then mentoring programs are organized for the applicants and the winning innovation concept is selected in a final event.

500 ideas in 4 months thanks to your employees

There is much hidden potential in companies with regard to ideas. Often the biggest difficulty is to awaken these "sleeping giants" or to break them out of the daily business. The LEAD Innovation Contest offers you the opportunity to motivate your employees to think and act innovatively. The aim is to think and develop ideas regionally or globally, from fitters to managers, everyone is invited to make your company even more innovative.

The Innovation Contest offers the opportunity to anchor itself in the company calendar as a fixed annual event. It needs a stage on which employees can develop their potential and show their creativity. The Innovation Contest awakens the ambitions and competitiveness of employees to make extraordinary achievements in a positive way. You also create empowerment in your teams. Together with our network contact, we also support you in making the results public through the media.

Promoting a culture of innovation

Innovation needs a multitude of ideas. Employees, as well as customers, are one of the most important sources for new ideas. In order to use this creative potential, a positive innovation culture is required. An Innovation Contest creates this culture. It promotes communication and interaction, playfully spurs employees on to creative competition and thus leads to a considerably increased innovation performance within the company.

500 ideas in 4 months

In addition to 500 ideas, numerous concepts and lots of motivation, the Innovation Contest generates valuable insights. Improvement of communications between regional organizations and the headquarters can be achieved, as well as increasing the motivation and self-confidence of employees.

Image effect on the outside world

With the help of an Innovation Contest, which you use for co-creation with customers, you not only get many, and above all, diverse ideas and concepts, but you will also succeed in getting the public to associate your brand with innovation. You also give your brand sympathy. This is because it signals that you take the needs and suggestions of your customers seriously, while many other companies, and their brands, do not yet convey this feeling.

Globally operating companies, whose innovation activities have almost come to a standstill, are often faced with a stalemate; the sales offices, scattered all over the world, are looking expectantly towards headquarters and are demanding new products that they can offer to their customers. From a branch perspective, it is the responsibility of the head office and its R&D department to develop innovative products.

One effective way to meet this challenge is to participate in an internal Innovation Contest, which encourages employees, around the world, to come up with ideas for products they want.

Idea workshops in the regions

The different regions of the company are initially grouped into any number of regions, for example 5. In each of these regions, a two-day workshop will be held with 10 to 15 participants at each, selected by the management of the region. These workshops can generate a total of 500 ideas for new products.

Presentation of the best idea at the management meetings

The best idea for each region will be selected at the end of the workshop and presented, by the most capable presenter, at the company's annual management meeting.

Voting on smartphones

The five regions compete against each other in front of managers from all over the world. The vote on the best idea and most creative presentation takes place via smartphone.

Innovation Contest as a challenge cup

The region that wins the Innovation Contest receives a challenge cup that stays in the region for one year.

In the second year, for example, you can decide to involve the headquarters as well. As in the regions, a workshop is held to see what ideas and ideas exist within the head office with regard to new products. At the management meeting, six presenters will be on stage this time, pitching against each other. Up to 800 further ideas can thus emerge in this second year.

Start Phase

In the first step, topics, trends and the time schedule are defined together. The focus is on the selection of the target group. Who is involved? Which trend influences the industry the most? What should ideas be generated for? Business models, processes, products, services or markets?

Idea Workshops

With the finalization of the Start Phase, idea workshops will be held - in the previously defined regions, either nationally or internationally - with 10 to 15 participants at each. Within the framework of these workshops, various creativity techniques are used to break out of old patterns, and to generate 500 ideas for new business models, processes, products, services or markets. In addition, the ideas and presenters will be selected for Stage 4.

Mentoring

In this phase we accompany you during the concept refinement, the preparations of the presenters and the presentations for the highlight of the process, which is held in phase four, the pitch at the Innovation Contest ceremony. With mentoring, we ensure that your individual Innovation Award becomes a high-quality event.

Innovation Contest

At this event, the top ideas are presented, and the employees are in a competition with each other. The winner is the one whose presented idea receives the most votes. The region that emerges victorious in the Innovation Contest will, of course, be the focus of special attention for the management with its innovative idea put into practice.

Your company generates too few ideas? Your research and development department does not have a good connection to your sales organizations? Your departments communicate far too little with each other? You can counter all these problems using a very simple method. Why don't you organize an Innovation Contest?

We have summarized, for you, the 4 phases of how you can successfully arrange an Innovation Contest.

We will be happy to provide you with a free download.

Your company generates too few ideas? Your research and development department does not have a good connection to your sales organizations? Your departments communicate far too little with each other? You can fight all these problems with a very simple method. Why don't you organize an Innovation Contest?

We have summarized for you the 4 phases how you can successfully arrange an Innovation Contest.

We will be happy to provide you with a free download.