March 02, 2006

Applied Innovation: Creating an Environment for Best Innovation Practices

Description: Applied Innovation ensures that a company puts innovation into practice and makes it part of its working strategy of success.

Innovation practices determine an organization’s success on the world economic stage. Linked inextricably to creativity, innovation points to the development of innovative goods and services that meet or anticipate demands in the marketplace.

Innovation doesn’t just happen randomly in an organization. It is the product of careful nurturing, detailed implementation strategies and measurement processes designed to enhance and foster those factors, both intrinsic and external, that govern the process of innovation. These practices come under the aegis of applied innovation.

Applied innovation requires several factors to ensure its viability within an organization. First a culture of innovation must be cultivated where the climate not only actively supports innovation but also is positively conducive to that innovation. This necessitates leaders who are committed to implementing and applying innovation techniques throughout all levels of the organization. By their actions, vision and values, these leaders demonstrate the importance of making innovation part of the workplace ethos.

As part of the leadership vision, implementation platforms are put in place that facilitate innovation in those areas where it is desirable to do so. These platforms provide the process necessary to achieve the creation of new ideas in a focused framework based on clear communication strategies and supportive leadership.

Applied innovation requires an internal environment where there is a free exchange of ideas as part of an informal and formal process, quality supervision, trained management, dedicated teamwork and a built-in system of tangible rewards.

Externally, applied innovation takes a global perspective, seeking opportunities for networking in order to ascertain trends and anticipate needs, staying abreast of the latest discoveries and inventions in order to capitalize on all of these factors when developing new ideas. By maintaining outside connections, an innovative company is able to take advantage of fresh insights in order to create and apply new ideas in a cutting edge scenario.

Not only that, applied innovation can press the refresh button by looking at ways to bring about desirable modifications and improvements to existing products and services, thereby milking the most out of an idea and creating new consumer demand.

As part of applied innovation, a methodology to measure the success of the process is necessary to determine if change is necessary and if those changes are subsequently being implemented for a healthy innovation program. By looking at the functioning model, it is possible to ascertain if there is the necessary skill sets and support in place to ensure that innovation remains strong and viable within the organization.

Through proactive measurement, a business can ensure that best innovation practices are being applied in a synergetic process from the top down.

Posted by spierce at 09:40 AM