In a perfect scenario, company leaders would be in charge of sorting through the continuous flow of employee suggestions, selecting the best ones, and implementing them into their business plans. Unfortunately, for many businesses, the idea flood is more like a shower that is tightly closed. The process of managing innovation has multiple stages, starting with creating an atmosphere where new ideas are accepted.

What is innovation management?

The process of moving new ideas from conception to execution is known as innovation management. This system is the foundation of a company’s capacity to innovate, and when used effectively, it may lead to anything from a record-breaking new product to a breakthrough method of meeting client requirements. The process of managing new ideas, from conception through action and making them a reality, is known as innovation management or an innovation management system. There are four main phases in this method:

• Creating – Employee input and brainstorming to elucidate buried thoughts.
• Capturing – Creating a record of ideas that is simple for important parties to access and share.
• Evaluating: Deliberating and assessing novel concepts to see whether they meet your needs.
• Prioritizing: Choosing which creative ideas will be put into action first can help your firm make the most of its time and other resources.

Types of Innovation

The types of innovations are as follow:

1. Disruptive Innovation

• The most well-known form of innovation is frequently disruptive innovation. It offers high-impact outcomes and effective use of modern technologies. Disruptive innovation has numerous complexities and obstacles, even though it is quite showy and makes headlines.
• Startups that target underserved market groups in order to provide a solution that is more accessible, easy, or straightforward than what the established companies can give are the firms that most frequently demonstrate the characteristics of disruptive innovation.

2. Incremental Innovation

• A product or service that is continuously improved over time through incremental innovation. Although it is the least visually appealing category, it provides the most obvious benefit to an established bottom line.
• Organizations may lessen stagnation and steadily increase market share by constantly upgrading their goods, services, and business procedures.

3. Sustaining Innovation

• The greatest method to safeguard an organization’s position in a market is to sustain innovation. Small adjustments to current goods and services are the subject of incremental innovation, which seeks to boost their worth or improve consumer pleasure.
• Maintaining innovation concentrates on more significant modifications to obtain or keep a market-leading position. The goal of this category is to provide novel features or services that set a product apart from all of its rivals.

4. Radical Innovation

• An industry-changing technical discovery that opens up new markets is often used in radical innovation. This kind of innovation fundamentally alters how a company engages with the marketplace.
• The organizational health of the company is frequently correlated with the effectiveness of the underlying technology revolution that fuels this form of innovation.

Important aspects of Innovation Management

It might be challenging to understand what innovation management actually entails in reality because almost any new development in the firm can be deemed to be connected to innovation. The four components are as follows:

1. Capabilities

The term “capabilities” refer to the variety of skills and resources an organization has available for developing and managing innovation. Since innovation strongly depends on the talents of both individuals and teams as a whole, the capacities portion primarily focuses on people. It mostly relates to the knowledge, expertise, and practical skills of the individuals that work for the company. It also encompasses aspects like the organization’s information capital and tacit knowledge, as well as its other resources and financial capital that may be needed to generate innovation.

2. Structures

Structures allow for the efficient use of the aforementioned capabilities, which is how they vary from capabilities. In reality, this refers to the infrastructure, procedures, and organizational structure of the company. The correct structures can act as a force multiplier, enhancing the organization’s capacity for operation and innovation.

For instance, very few of the ideas that individuals are coming up with will really be implemented without the appropriate channels for communication, decision-making procedures, and infrastructure. This is where the use of technologies, like innovation management software, may be beneficial.

Few of the ideas that individuals are coming up with will really be put into action if the proper channels for communication, decision-making procedures, and infrastructure are not in place. One of the important factors in this is organizational structure. Many ideas will likely be stifled if every new inventive endeavor is required to follow the same chain of command and similar procedures as small adjustments to the current organization.

3. Culture

Culture is what enables the company to develop the capabilities associated with people if structures allow for the efficient use of capabilities. The company is considerably more likely to be able to attract and retain the proper talent if it has the correct sort of pro-innovation culture. A proper pro-innovation culture promotes positive conduct while discouraging negative behavior. Culture may have a significant impact on an organization’s capacity for innovation as the impacts quickly accumulate. The following are some of the most typical characteristics of an inventive culture:

• emphasizes the necessity of always considering how to improve
• values of experimentation, learning, and quickness.
• believes that failure is simply a necessary component of the creative process for anything new
• gives ample flexibility and responsibility, and instead of using a chain of command, leads largely through vision and culture.

4. Strategy

Simply said, strategy is the organization’s blueprint for long-term success. But it’s crucial to realize that, in the end, strategy is about picking one of several workable possibilities with the highest possibility of “winning,” and that this decision shouldn’t, obviously, be made independently of the implementation. Though the relationship between innovation and strategy is extremely broad, at its core, innovation is just a tool for attaining your strategic objectives.

Why is Innovation Management necessary?

• The ability to look forward into the future and develop original concepts that the competition would not have considered makes innovation management essential to establishing a sustainable business. Simply said, innovation management is very important because it enables a company to consistently stay one step ahead of rivals and enjoy higher profit margins, which helps it stay competitive over the long term.
• When a company fails to recognize the significance of innovation management, it is forced to continue delivering dated products or services or, in certain cases, goes out of business, allowing its rivals to take the lead in the market by providing consumers with new and improved value.
• Technical innovation is promoted by innovation managers, who also guarantee that businesses have a competitive edge in the marketplace. Along with creating brand-new solutions, they also enhance current procedures, goods, and services. An innovation manager makes ensuring that efforts are focused and as effective as they can be. They serve as the link between current operations, numerous corporate divisions, and upcoming advancements.
• Being a bridge between business, technology, and creativity, an innovation manager or project manager must combine a variety of interests and responsibilities. In order to map and record the movement of ideas and information within an organization, they work on several methods. As a result, it is feasible to create new concepts and launch initiatives using current knowledge.

Role of an Innovation Manager

The Innovation Manager is responsible for:

• Considering how new clients will interact with the company’s goods and services.
• Recommending and putting into practice fresh experiences for internal partners.
• Providing strategic design best practices for fresh goods and services.
• Integrating marketing and communication, coordinating the corporate goals.
• Putting up fresh ideas for items and business strategies that will improve what the organization offers.
• Collaborating collaboratively with subject matter experts across the organization to identify advancements and new possibilities.
• Defining the rules and regulations that the firm must follow in respect to innovation.
• Directing the creation of innovation and strategic focuses.
• Implementing and overseeing the strategy to establish an innovative culture in cooperation with human resources.
• Monitoring, evaluating, and sharing innovation indicators with senior management to look for ways to enhance the business’ performance in this area.
• Launching fresh goods or services for both internal and external clients.
• Examining internal innovations or procedures to make them into marketable “products”

What makes an innovation manager worth it?

Innovation managers can come from a variety of industries, but they must always have exceptional knowledge. They have the interdisciplinary thinking skills to bring together and identify the potential and interests of several disciplines. They make quick decisions and don’t mind taking chances. Furthermore, they are distinguished by the fact that despite setbacks being prevalent in research and development, they are not deterred by failed ideas or initiatives and are instead able to demonstrate remarkable perseverance.

Necessary skills for an Innovation Manager

• Knowledge of design thinking and innovation.
• Knowledge of agile programming techniques and OOP ideas.
• Managing your brand or doing market research
• Knowledge of tools for collaboration, automation, and transaction management.
• A readiness to take chances and the capacity to persevere
• Proficiency in product management/development.
• The capacity to simultaneously prioritize many initiatives.
• Strong networking and communication abilities.
• Use of Microsoft Lifecycle Management is a must.
• The capacity to think and plan creatively.
• Strong technical and business knowledge.
• Ability to set goals for the team and make judgments that are obvious.
• Strong leadership and management abilities.

Knowledge required:

• Degrees and work experience in innovation roles are widely mentioned as essential qualifications for job candidates.
• Most applicants hold a Bachelor’s degree in engineering, informatics, or economics. In general, a degree with a focus on digitalization is advised.
• If the candidate has appropriate project management experience, an alternative degree with technical and business management abilities may also be taken into consideration.
• An MBA is also highly valued by employers, thus a master’s degree will undoubtedly strengthen your application.

Job Salary:

The need for innovation managers is more than ever since the digital revolution mandates that businesses strictly execute innovative ideas in order to ensure their own future viability. The salary for an innovation manager in India ranges from 8.2 lakhs to 39.0 lakhs, with an average annual income of 19.7 lakhs.

Top Companies

The top companies hiring for Innovation Management job roles are:

• Citibank
• Maruti Suzuki
• Logitech
• Deutsche Bank
• NTT Ltd.
• Bosch Group
• Delhivery Ltd.
• Cadbury

Top Innovation Management Sample Questions

1. The four stages of the entrepreneurial life cycle are as follows:

• Start-up, development, maturity, exit
• Initiation, growth, maturity, exit
• Start-up, growth, maturity, exit
• Initiation, development, maturity, exit

Correct Answer: C

2. What do establish companies currently face as the largest innovation challenge?

• Risk of a recession changing the market conditions
• Weak innovation diffusion risk
• Risk of competition from new start-ups
• Risk of disruptive innovation

Correct Answer: D

3. When it comes to innovation diffusion, the moment that Kodak’s sales started to suffer as a result of better smartphone camera technology is known as the

• Tripping point
• Tipping point
• Chase point
• Competitive point

Correct Answer: A

4. The finest definition of innovation is

• The creation of fresh concepts through enterprise.
• Utilizing new information in practice is part of the process of transforming it into a new product.
• When creating new goods, business case analysis is a step that must be taken.
• Market study to find profitable new markets for business growth.

Correct Answer: B