Innovation Flow and Metrics Essentials 2011-36-0147

The innovation term has been so widely misused that the confusion observed among the companies trying to get themselves into the innovation realm is a common and natural consequence. The lack of understanding of the innovation dynamics, flow and metrics generally culminate in a non-well-thought implementation of innovation processes and policies that are usually tragic in the short term. The most common consequences are the loss of credibility of the innovation process in general among leaders and employees, and the loss of credibility of the company as an innovative company among suppliers, partners and customers, causing these companies to abandon this powerful tool and, as consequence, to limit their capabilities to compete in the future.

In order to prevent this from happening, companies that were not built upon innovation will need to grow capability and change cultural priorities to match the demands of the innovation process. Although this task is rather more complex than the previous sentence implies, it is imperative to start by understanding how the process works and the steps required to enable and to transform ideas into profitable products thru intelligent selection of the projects in a competing budget.

This paper attempts to ease this path by structuring the innovation flow and ramifications while presenting the organization structure and potential metrics to control the successful implementation of the innovation process throughout the company. These flow, structure and metrics are built around the enablers for a reliable implementation of each step of the process and should then serve as a reference for adjusting companies' organization capabilities and culture to become a true innovative company.