Defining innovation goals

Based on this proverb, we create the LEAD innovation family tree, individually, for each of our customers, in order to create an overview of past innovations. Because only those who know their past can draw successful conclusions from it. On the LEAD innovation family tree only those products, which brought market success in the past, are shown. In combination with the trends of the future we derive with you, your innovation goals for breakthrough innovations - Signature Innovations.

Are you at the beginning of innovation management? Would you like to get to know your future trends and define your innovation goals, and ask yourself the question: What does innovation actually mean to us?

We help you to take the first step in innovation management. In 1 to 2 weeks, we will lay the foundation stones together with you, and thus secure the right path into your innovative future.

What is innovation management?

"Innovation" comes from the Latin word "innovare" and stands for renewal. From an economic point of view, innovation is something new that brings benefits for an organization or society.

"Management" is a term that is constantly used in companies. It stands for the management of a task and the coordination of activities in order to achieve a defined purpose and goals.

Consequently, innovation management is the systematic promotion of innovation in organizations and includes the tasks of planning, organization, leadership and control.

Innovation management deals with all measures to promote innovation in organizations and to generate benefits.

What is an innovation family tree?

Innovation goals as superordinate components of an innovation process mark the starting point of the innovation process and define the strategies and process steps derived from them.

An effective way to define and formulate innovation goals is to analyze the innovation past of a company. In discussions with experienced employees of your company you can easily find out which products, processes, technologies or services in the company are evaluated as innovative. The LEAD innovation family tree then serves as a graphical representation of the innovations of the past. It creates an overview of the innovations and shows which innovations you have been successful with in the past - because important conclusions for the future can be drawn from the past.

Definition Innovation

First, you need to create a common definition of innovation and define what you mean by innovation. This is essential if you want to manage your own innovation activity.

Trends of the future

Knowledge of future trends and their effects on your company is indispensable for successful Roadmapping.

Search fields

From the knowledge of both the past and the future, we derive your future search fields for product, process, service, market and business model innovations.

read more about search fields

When it comes to innovation, management often tends to make statements that are difficult to follow through on. Statements such as, "within two years we want to generate half of our sales with products that are no older than three years," can often be read in annual reports. After all, the topic of innovation is well received by stakeholders and which company does not want to be regarded as future-oriented? Whether such ambitious plans can actually be implemented can be assessed very precisely from past innovations. An innovation family tree of your company can protect you from false expectations, signal the need for action, point out niches for innovations and warn against far-reaching upheavals in your industry. You simply have to have such valuable information.

In order to complete the picture of the innovation past, the innovation history chart can be supplemented by a flop chart. Innovations that either failed at a very early stage of development or failed in the market are depicted here. The findings are just as instructive for future innovation goals as an innovation family tree.

The next step is to distinguish between an invention and an innovation. According to Schumpeter, a real innovation is when an invention, i.e. an idea, has also been successful in the market. By comparing products, processes, technologies or services with a defined success characteristic, it is easy to find out what was actually an innovation. Thus, those products that appear on the innovation family tree are not only considered innovative, but also have had success in the market.

Try talking to a colleague about innovation once a week, create a dialogue on topics such as "What does innovation mean for our company". You will gain great insights into the company's spirit of innovation.