Almost every manager would agree on the importance of innovation to stay ahead of the competition and secure future growth. And it´s a fact, according to numerous studies, that the use of innovation management increases your operational margins.

Both the depth and scope of the knowledge in the field of innovation management is continuously developing. To reflect this deeper knowledge we have introduced a new structure on the platform with five main categories: Strategy, Performance management, Organization & People, Process framework and Technology. All articles will be tagged under these different categories. When you read an article you will also automatically get information on related content.

In March InnovationManagement.se will launch a new site that, besides a new look, will introduce new improved offers to its readers. The platform will continue sharing knowledge and inspiration within the field of innovation management through free content in the magazine. The new value proposition is to, on top of that, also offer visitors the possibility to buy subscriptions to new products that provide further in-depth knowledge and inspiration, such as IM Actionable Manuals™.

After a tumultuous year, executives are now rather hopeful about their nations’ economies and their companies’ prospects, according to a McKinsey global survey done during December 2009. The results show that just over half of executives continue to say that economic conditions are now better than they were in September 2008, and a majority expects customer demand for their companies’ products or services to rise in the near term.

We are very happy to present Mr Gunjan Bhardwaj as a new member of our team. Gunjan has a lot of knowledge and experience within the field of innovation management that will help us add value to our content. In addition to that he has extensive international experience, including Europe, US and Asia, which will also benefit our readers in different ways, says Mr Lars Percy Andersson, Founder & Managing Director of InnovationManagement.se.

It´s the time of the year when you might want to reflect on what has passed, and look forward to what´s to come in the year ahead. For InnovationManagement.se it has been a rather bumpy, but also very satisfying year. One of the things that we are very pleased with is that our readership and the numbers of our subscribers have been steadily increasing. We send warm thanks to all our readers who help us keep on developing the magazine and the site!

From an innovation management perspective, we think Denmark is a really interesting country. For example; the world’s first government sponsored user driven innovation program with an aim to strengthen the diffusion of methods for user driven innovation is to be found in Denmark. So is SPIRE, the newest research centre at the Mads Clausen Institute which is concerned with research in participatory innovation in collaboration with social scientists, human scientists, local industry and a theatre group.

How about a regular column to help you keep track of what’s going on in innovation management in the blogosphere and other online sources? We thought that was a great idea, so we asked Marcus Linder, an innovation researcher at Chalmers University, Sweden to help us do that. Starting today Marcus will cover the most inspiring and actionable contents contained in other online sources, such as blogs and magazines.

Leading companies in Europe have abandoned their old and more or less closed systems, and are building new eco systems that include collaboration with academies, suppliers and sometimes even competitors to create more value for their customers. These companies are examples of a successfully managed innovation process.

Vinnova, the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems, has decided to support further development of the Swedish site InnovationManagement.se, which aims to promote and diffuse knowledge about how to operate and lead the innovation process. Vinnova´s support will enable InnovationManagement.se, a company based in Lund, Sweden, to further develop its net magazine and accompanying services and products.

- We are very happy to be able to present a highly qualified and distinguished editorial board, which will ensure the quality of our IM Actionable Knowledge™-articles, states Mr Lars Percy Andersson, Founder & Managing Director of InnovationManagement.se.

Henry Chesbrough, the father of open innovation, was one of the key note speakers when more than 500 innovative minds met on a European innovation conference in Lund, Sweden. InnovationManagemenet.se asked him and some of the other participants a few questions.

Innovation is an investment in the future well-being. The results of efforts made today may not be visible tomorrow. But equally, any failure now will cost us dearly in the future.