As part of my continued research stream on corporate innovation at Catalyst Companies, an Innovation Council, we’ve completed 3/4 research reports on how large companies are acting more like startups. Here’s some of the findings of how companies formalized innovation programs are shaping up. In this latest research effort, which I partnered with Jaimy Szymanski, looks at how companies are measuring their innovation efforts. Success of Innovation Programs Depends on Metrics We’ve identified the most common innovation programs in previous research. However, these programs – and innovation efforts themselves – will fail if metrics are assumed to be equal across all domains. Challenge: Early innovation efforts shouldn’t be measured by revenue –especially when compared to billion dollar product lines. So how … Continue readingResearch: Measurements Critical For Corporate Innovation Success

Above: Click to see high-res version, of the 10 Corporate Innovation Programs Recently, at Crowd Companies, we published a research report on the Corporate Innovation Imperative (short version available on Slideshare), and found that companies are struggling internally with cultural pushback, but they’ve launched over ten innovation programs to help large companies become nimble. This handy graphic, is organized in the following way: It lists all ten innovation programs that companies are launching. Keep in mind, many companies are deploying several, but few are doing them all well. In our full report for customers, we have adoption and budget details. They’re organized with the center programs being internal programs, and the outside circle are programs that are partnering with the … Continue readingGraphic: Corporate Innovation Programs Come in Ten Flavors

Do you have proven success measures for your corporate innovation programs? If so, we’d like to interview you for an upcoming Crowd Companies report that I’m working on with Jaimy Szymanski The report will showcase how companies are measuring success for each of the 10 corporate innovation programs established in previous Crowd Companies research. Looking internally and externally, we’ll examine how companies are determining the right objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs) to align innovation program efforts with over-arching corporate and departmental goals. This research will also delve into the challenges faced in measuring success, software and other tactics used for data analysis, and provide recommendations for aligning current digital, customer service, and product development metrics to fit with innovation programs. … Continue readingCall for Insights: Innovation Success Measures Report

By Jeremiah Owyang and Jaimy Szymanski Corporations are struggling to keep pace with technology trends, but the real innovation challenge lies in their internal culture. In other words? The “tech issue” isn’t an issue! According to our recent survey, the top challenge companies face in corporate innovation is fostering an internal culture of experimentation and innovation (57%). Truly innovative companies focus on setting a foundation with the right people and empowering them, as well as governance, before large investments take place that lack direction, resources, or goals. These corporations are diversifying their hiring strategies in the face of rapidly disruptive technologies, consumer adoption of related trends, and the advent of new business models that emerge from the two. In order … Continue readingCorporate Innovation Talent Strategy: Intrapreneurship, Universities, and Acquisitions

In our research on corporate innovation, we found the most advanced companies allow competitors to innovate in their own buildings. Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JLABS enables outside innovation inside the company. As a result, they’re improving the entire industry, including efforts of competitors, in order to positively impact society as a whole. Above: Crowd Companies’ Carl Bohlin addresses the council on our tour to JLABs in SF. At its nine sites within North America, JLABS gives startups the tools they need to level the playing field against large, corporate R&D teams. Half of each JLABS space is a common area with state-of-the-art equipment for use, while the other half is comprised of individual labs that help companies get started. JLABS … Continue readingHow Advanced Corporations Innovate: Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JLABS

Our recent research on Corporate Innovation Programs (download the high level version) found that companies are attempting to act more nimble and agile by deploying a combination of these innovation programs. Frequency varies, and budgets are skewed around Startup Acquisition, being the bulk of the investment. Corporations are taking pages from startups, to emulate the culture of a fast-moving smaller company. This list is structured in a logical way: The items listed on the top are happening inside of the company, while the items towards the bottom happen outside of the company. This is not a list that you should automatically approach as a checklist as the order of deployment will vary. For example, some companies have corporate development teams … Continue readingCorporate Innovation Programs Come in Ten Flavors

Though there are many ways to approach innovation, the majority of companies focus on building innovation teams or “Innovation centers of excellence,” as well as fostering internal education, before moving toward external deployments. In Crowd Companies’ recent report, The Corporate Innovation Imperative (download here), we identify 10 types of innovation programs corporations pursue when looking to evolve their business models, customer experiences, operations, or products and services. More on the 10 programs can be found here. We discovered that corporations often excel in one program initially, then add programs to their innovation portfolio as they mature and are able to justify related expenditures. And, where do they begin? With their own teams. Through our survey, we found that dedicated innovation … Continue readingCorporate Innovation Programs Focus on Teams and Empowering Internal Innovation

Most large corporations have a wide range of customer types. It often spans many countries, languages, and cultures. To help create the right product solutions for your customers, savvy companies are activating their employees (not just the dedicated product team) to unleash innovation from all areas of the company, which results in a diverse set of product ideas. Yesterday, I spoke at the executive track at the Inclusion Conference in SF to about a hundred Chief Diversity Officers from some of the largest corporations in the world. I was honored to be join by my fellow speakers included Allison Wiener of Clorox, Sandy Carter, Ted Childs, and Pat Waders of Linkedin. I presented three case studies on how MasterCard, Adobe, … Continue readingIntrapreneurship Programs: Engage your Employees, Activate Diverse Ideas, Satisfy Customers