innovation matrix

curated by Vincent Pirenne

THE INNOVATION MATRIX.FIND THE INNOVATION STRATEGY THAT FITS YOUR COMPANY

THE INNOVATION MATRIX. FIND THE INNOVATION STRATEGY THAT BEST FITS YOUR COMPANY


THE INNOVATION MATRIX.Part 1/2. Patterns in the innovation matrix


“What is the best

innovation initiative

for our organisation?

”

How much time do

we need to give

them?

”How can we embed

innovation in our

organisation?

”

How can we discover &

free up intrapreneurial

talent.

The path of Innovation is not linear.

Photo by Jakub Gorajek on Unsplash

There’s a galaxy of innovation formats out there.

*innovation workshops

*design sprints

*innovation

centers

*accelerators

*incubators

*startup funds

*innovation challenges

*hackathons *

emerging business

areas

Photo by Jakub Gorajek on Unsplash

How to choose the format that will EHQHĆW�your organization the most?

Let’s design a way to make decisions easier.

2 vital parameters to navigate through innovation initiatives

COMMITMENT

We define innovation programs as any

activity that influences and innovates a

company strategy. This could range from a 4-

hour workshop to a 2-year strategic

innovation plan. So, the first variable

in selecting the right innovation program

is: do you need a one-off event (e.g. a

design sprint, a workshop, etc.) or a

structured plan (e.g. a center of

excellence)?

CAPABILITIES

The first question you should ask yourself

is: do you want to build on internal or

external capabilities for innovation to

happen?

You may either promote the acquisition of a

startup, or encourage intrapreneurial thinking

with existing capabilities.

Startup Fund

Emerging Business

Areas

Center of Excellence

External Incubator

Internal Accelerator

Community of Practice

Innovation Challenge

Design Sprint

Innovation Workshop

BOARDOFINNOVATION.C O M

The Innovation Matrix

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The innovation Matrix in the words of users

I've used the innovation matrix to position Orange Valley innovation efforts toward the matrix, and it was really helpful. It allowed us to map out our current initiatives, and make a plan for the next steps, moving from intrapreneurship to emerging business model square.

Nicolas Bry – Chief Innovation Officer Orange Valley International Innovation Executive

”

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Let’s dive into 6 different patterns, to identify your ideal strategy.

Let’s find your way in the Innovation Matrix

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Do you want to grow internal capabilities?

Organisations are under heavy pressure to

transform the skills of employees. This is

often driven by digitalisation, acceleration,

new competition,..

The following programs are designed to

change peoples capabilities.

Note: In order to change behaviour time is

needed. Make sure to manage expectations.

Perfect Helpful Wrong way

Startup Fund

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Do you want to promote intrapreneurship?

Internal capabilities are not the only

way out. Design sprints or

accelerators where external

knowledge / feedback is used to grow

business ideas, might be a good way to

mix capabilities.

Note: Make sure to give the

intrapreneurs enough freedom to

disconnect from the organisation.

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The Internal Accelerator in the words of Unilin

Innovation thrives on entrepreneurship. With Board of Innovation, we created an internal accelerator, called the Unilin Arena. The Arena brought significant positive energy and made our most entrepreneurial employees step forward,

coming up with refreshing new business ideas to be part of it. Focused boot camps and Board of Innovation’s lean start-up coaching of Arena finalists led to validated business cases in less than half a year. An accelerator has business (innovation) and people (entrepreneurship) benefits.

Jorrit Gillijns – Innovation Manager at Unilin

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Do you value external growth above internal transformation?

Your organization is looking for fast

business growth. The use of external

resources can boost your business

inorganically.

Note: Corporate venturing isn’t the

easiest activity, so be sure to spread

your risk and grow your maturity step-

by-step.

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Do you have one single issue to tackle?

One-off programs are short and sweet. In a

matter of a few hours or days you are able to

offer your employees a flavor of what

innovation is. Note: Be aware that these

programs tackle one single problem, deliver

one single message, and train employees over

a specific array of skills. It’s etter to be

specific in the problem statement with this

kind of programs, or you’ll get lost in

irrelevance.

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Do you want to take the next step to embed innovation?

When you’ve explored the non-structural

intitiatives, it is time to take the next step.

These initiatives help you to truly give the space

to new initiatives to grow.

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Do you want to establish a long-term innovation pipeline?

Looks like innovation is at the very center of

your company: great to hear that. There’s now

opportunity for high-level strategic

discussion. By choosing long-term, highly-

integrated initiatives, you’ll make sure that

your innovation plan has the necessary time

frame to impact your operations and internal

organization.

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The innovation Matrix in the words of our clients

At Engie we are constantly improving our innovation efforts, to boost the impact of our innovation strategy. The innovation matrix is a great tool to map out our innovation efforts and plan future initiatives. Hereby we can always anticipate our next step.

Geert Fostier – Head of Innovation B2C, Head of Business Development at ENGIE BeNeLux

”

The Innovation Matrix: Watch the webinar

Watch it here

https://www.boardofinnovation.com/innovation-matrix-webinar/

https://www.boardofinnovation.com/innovation-matrix-webinar/


THE INNOVATION MATRIX.Part 2/2. Different innovation initiatives


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Let’s look at these 9 initiatives, in a bit more detail.

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Innovation Workshop

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Innovation Workshop

An innovation workshop is a (1+ days) session through which employees are invited to create new ideas or business concepts outside of the normal work process.

BENEFITS

+ Good use of internal knowledge and assets + Good way to spark an

internal innovation culture

CHALLENGES - Difficult to grow radical

ideas - Selecting the right ideas - What happens next?

1 Innovation workshop

The innovation Matrix in the words of our clients

Innovation workshops or bootcamps are a good first discovery of new innovation formats. In a short period of time you can create tons of ideas. A watch-out is to make sure that the mass of ideas generated is usable and

business oriented, therefore clear directions are needed. Afterwards, a good filtering is necessary to select those ideas that can bring the expected growth.

Laurens Dejager – Innovation Manager BeNeLux at Anheuser-Busch InBev

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Innovation Workshop

A community of practice is a cross- functional group of people within an organization with common interests and goals who share expertise within the organization.

BENEFITS + Higher chance of

organizational acceptance

+ Good use of internal resources + Growth of internal capabilities

CHALLENGES

- Slower speed - Difficult to grow radical ideas

2 Community of Practice

The Community of Practice in the words of Philips

At Philips HealthWorks, it is our mission to strengthen and accelerate our pipeline with breakthrough innovation and to act as a transformation catalyst

in HealthTech. We use a lot of the approaches from this quadrant depending on the specific need or problem to be solved. As an example, recently we started a Community of Practice to develop our Business Model Innovation capabilities to the next level. We need this as many of our internal and external venturing activities are testing new business models to solve some wicked problems in

the Healthcare domain. A CoP approach helped us to explore how such a capability would look like and to unlock existing experiences and capabilities from internal an external sources.

Perry Nouwens – Innovation Lead at Philips Healthworks

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Innovation Workshop

A center of excellence is a formal group in the organization that coordinates innovation initiatives to ensure that innovation is structurally embedded in the organization.

BENEFITS

+ Clear go-to point for innovation + Focused innovation efforts + Long-term innovation planning

CHALLENGES - If not given enough

resources and freedom, the

impact of an innovation

council might be limited

3 Center of Excellence

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Design Sprint

A Design Sprint is a (five-day) process for answering critical business questions through design, prototyping, and testing ideas with customers. It is an ad-hoc initiative that forces employees to interact closely with the outside world.

BENEFITS

+ Rapid idea development + Rapid external validation + Focus on specific projects

CHALLENGES - Focus on desirability and

viability, but not on idea

feasibility

4 Design Sprint

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Design Sprint


An innovation accelerator is an internal innovation program to free up time for intrapreneurs to develop, test and grow new business ideas in a few months outside of organizational processes and deliverables.

BENEFITS + Build on internal knowledge

while exploring new

opportunities

+ Give support to internal talent

CHALLENGES - Difficult to select & free up the

right intrapreneurial people

5 Internal Accelerator

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Design Sprint


Emerging Business

Areas

Emerging (or New) Business Areas are sandbox environments where new business initiatives can grow before they prove their profitability and potentially enter an existing business unit, or become a new business unit.

BENEFITS

+ Further project freedom + Both transformational and

business growth potential

CHALLENGES -EBAs carry significant

uncertainty. Continuing

belief and support at the

executive level is essential.

6 Emerging Business Areas

Startup Fund

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An innovation challenge is an open initiative to get external expertise to solve organizational or societal challenges.

BENEFITS + Brings in external

knowledge to solve internal

challenges

+ First step to apply open

innovation in an

organization

CHALLENGES

- Quality of ideas uncertain/unknown

- High PR effort needed

7 Innovation Challenge

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External Incubator

An external startup incubator is a corporate initiative to support, grow and evaluate external startups for a specific period of time.

BENEFITS + Good way to experiment with

radical innovations

+ Good way to explore startup

collaborations before investment

CHALLENGES - Difficult to connect /

integrate activities with

core business

8 External Incubator

Startup Fund

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External Incubator

Startup Fund

A startup fund is a corporate fund that invests in external opportunities. It aims to generate growth through external capabilities in line with the strategic objectives of an organization.

BENEFITS + Ideal space to generate

growth through external

capabilities

+ Bring external assets in house

CHALLENGES + Startup scouting is a

time-consuming and

difficult activity

+ M&A is, by default, a risky activity

9 Startup fund

The Innovation Matrix: print out this summary.

Download the poster here

http://info.boardofinnovation.com/innovation-matrix

http://info.boardofinnovation.com/innovation-matrix

Looking for your personalized way into Innovation?

Your Innovation Consultant is only one email away.

Photo by Jean-Frederic Fortier on Unsplash

Feel free to tweak, fix, remix any part of this work, as long as it is for non- commercial purposes and you credit Board of Innovation.

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Did we miss anything? Reach out!

Board of Innovation makes corporates innovate like startups, mixing proven methods from Design Thinking and Lean Startup. www.boardofinnovation.com

Vincent Pirenne Innovation Strategist

[email protected]

http://www.boardofinnovation.com/

mailto:[email protected]

