Innovation Management - The online learning center for Managing Innovation.

Year after year, our Global Innovation 1000 study has demonstrated that it is not how much companies spend on research and development that determines success — what really matters is how those R&D funds are invested in talent, process, and tools. In addition to our recurring analysis of R&D spending trends, our eighth annual study of the world’s 1000 largest corporate R&D spenders focuses on the “fuzzy front-end” of the innovation process — the tools, mechanisms and networks companies use to generate ideas and effectively convert them into commercialization projects.

Web 2.0 exponentially increased the transactional nature of the Web, and forever changed the way people express themselves, conduct business, learn about different subjects, shop, form communities, collaborate, and share their personal information. But the embrace of Web 2.0 has also introduced serious questions about the inherent risks associated with the use of these tools.

Is your company a great place for innovation? That probably depends on whether you ask the boss or the underlings. According to a new study by Development Dimensions International, a human resources consulting firm, the boss and the workers could hardly disagree more. Read more and download the report that does recommend some practical action steps that can be used to help bridge this disconnect between leaders and employees.

For the second year running, Switzerland, Sweden, and Singapore lead in overall innovation performance according to the Global Innovation Index 2012 (GII): Stronger Innovation Linkages for Global Growth, published by INSEAD, the leading international business school, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialized agency of the United Nations.

Difficult market conditions force SMEs to adapt or reinvent their businesses through new technologies or unique value propositions, but they often lack resources and technical capabilities and must thus collaborate with others to compete. Those that succeed in this transition often employ open innovation. A study by Dr Wim Vanhaverbeke, in collaboration with Ine Vermeersch and Stijn De Zutter found that open innovation can create new opportunities for all types of SME – from start-ups in high-tech markets to players in traditional markets – because they can change business models without having the required technologies in-house.

This year’s Innovation Union Scoreboard shows that most Member States have improved their innovation performance. This allows the European Union to maintain a clear lead over the emerging economies of China, Brazil, India, Russia, and South Africa, but not to close the existing gap with innovation leaders such as the United States, Japan and South Korea. More efforts are therefore needed so as to address the EU’s weaknesses. One area in the spotlight is related to firms’ innovation activities.

Industrial innovation processes are becoming more open. The large, vertically integrated R&D laboratory systems of the 20th century are giving way to more vertically disintegrated networks of innovation that connect numerous companies into ecosystems. Since innovation policy ultimately rests on the activities and initiatives of the private sector, it is vital that policy follows this evolution. Read more in the report from ESADE Business School in Barcelona and the Science|Business Innovation Board AISBL.

There has been a huge amount of growth in the outsourcing industry over recent years, so much so that it has become engrained in the way many large enterprises run their business. As the industry matures and the range of outsourcing services extends to higher value activities, client firms raise the bar regarding their expectations, seeking the delivery of high impact innovation from their vendors.

The World Intellectual Property Report 2011- The Changing Face of Innovation – a new WIPO publication – describes how ownership of intellectual property (IP) rights has become central to the strategies of innovating firms worldwide. With global demand for patents rising from 800,000 applications in the early 1980s to 1.8 million in 2009, the Report concludes that growing investments in innovation and the globalization of economic activities are key drivers of this trend.

Global organisations are largely failing to understand the intellectual property (IP) risks facing their organisations and the value of their intangible assets, according to a worldwide report by Marsh and Liberty International Underwriters (LIU). In the 2011 Intellectual Property Survey Report, three-quarters of respondents were unable to quantify the proportion of their firms’ value that could be attributed to intangible assets or goodwill. This is despite almost 70% of firms identifying the protection of IP as a crucial incentive to innovation in their firms.

The annual Global Innovation 1000 Study from Booz & Company shows that spending more on R&D won’t drive results. The most crucial factors are strategic alignment and a culture that supports innovation.

The European Commission’s 2011 “EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard” shows that R&D investment by top EU companies recovered strongly in 2010, with a 6.1% rise following a 2.6% decrease in 2009. However, data for the world’s top 1400 companies show EU companies as a whole lagging behind major competitors from the US and some Asian economies on R&D growth.

Universities can now access a new tool to help develop and manage their intellectual assets. The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has a new strategy guide called ‘Intellectual Asset Management for Universities’. This new guide provides advice and information to universities to help them understand how they can best use their institution’s Intellectual Property. This can be an invention, trade mark, original design or the application of a good idea.

The Expert Panel on Service Innovation in the EU handed over its final recommendations to Antonio Tajani, Vice-President of the European Commission with responsibility for Industry and Entrepreneurship, at a conference entitled ‘The Transformative Power of Service Innovation’ held in Rome, on 17 and 18 February 2011.

In this report we reveal in-depth research about what makes Silicon Valley startups successful. The report is a 50 page analysis based on data from 650+web startups. The report was coauthored by Berkeley & Stanford faculty members. Other contributors include Steve Blank, the Sandbox Network, and 10 accelerators from around the globe.