How to Develop an Efficient Innovation Strategy

Creating a clear innovation strategy is crucial for companies seeking sustainable innovation. To successfully manage innovation and to go from one great idea to a steady stream of meaningful improvements, companies need a systematic way to evaluate, prioritize, and invest in the best research projects. In this article, two innovation strategies are presented: the Minimum Viable Innovation System (MVIS) for quick wins in one-off innovation projects, and a 7-step scalable strategy for larger long-term innovation projects. MVIS offers a four-phase plan that relies on the lean start-up methodology to move quickly, build something, and test to see whether a viable idea is on hand. The seven steps for larger, long-term innovation projects are finding a need or problem, assessing the market, identifying current capabilities, generating ideas, selecting the best idea, prototyping, and launching the solution.