Are Corporate Innovation Centers The Last Hope for Companies Too Big To Fail?

Innovation centers are becoming increasingly important as companies seek new horizons for insight and direction. The rise of startups has made it clear that competition is rife across every industry and geography, and that to compete for the future, businesses must now think and act like startups. One of the most promising trends in the modernization of business is the rise of corporate innovation centers around the world. These centers represent enterprise investments in understanding new market dynamics, acquiring new expertise and resources, and aligning with entrepreneurs, startups, investors, academic institutions, and related ecosystems driving new trends. Defining features of corporate innovation centers include their dedicated sites within relevant global tech hubs and specialist teams of intrapreneurs working outside of the traditional operational landscape. They focus on accelerating digital innovation, improving operational efficiency and testing new business models. Innovation centers also shift their focus over time to align with technology trends, which helps companies to identify new growth opportunities, leverage existing brands, and transform customer experiences, operations, and business models. According to a recent report, Asia is planting roots in artificial intelligence (AI) and could overtake the US as the biggest hub of innovation centers if it continues to grow at the same rate. Innovation centers are a node in an organization’s innovation strategy, but they cannot be the sum of it, and companies must shift their mindsets and modernize to evolved market conditions, expectations and behaviors.