Constructing the innovation mandate

April 24, 2023Posted inAchieving innovation engagement, Advancing innovation, amplifying the innovation signal, Building Innovation Capability, Foster Performance, gaining innovation momentum, Improve Collaboration & Communication, Integrated Innovation Thinking, Tackling innovation, Value Creation Dynamics, Value Designing1 Comment

So often innovation struggles to be recognized for what it is. Innovation is a critical source of future competitive advantage. It is our ability to consistently capture, build and develop new ideas within organizations or in open collaborations with others that have a direct effect on revenue growth and the ability to provide future sustainability. So why is it not more central within an organization’s core?

This is part one of a two-part post around the construction of an innovation mandate.

We need to understand successful innovation actually touches all aspects of a business, by contributing to improving business processes, identifying new, often imaginative, ways to reduce costs, building out existing business models into new directions and value and discovering new ways and positioning into markets. To get to a consistent performance of innovation and creativity within organizations you do need to rely on a process, structure and the consistent ability to foster a culture of innovation.

The innovation mandate is often overlooked or undervalued.

Building an Inspiring Energy Narrative

April 17, 2023Posted inBusiness Ecosystem Understanding, Ecosystems, Industrial Ecosystems, Innovation Ecosystems, Network Effects, Platforms, Value Creation Dynamics

I struggle increasingly with individual energy organizations’ pledges to move their solutions towards a carbon-neutral future. The mixture of reports, initiatives, and viewpoints all move towards the transformation of the energy system, but they all admit or fail to address TWO crucial aspects.

Firstly the limited time we have to make such a transition in their offerings of new and different imaginative ways to change the current dynamics within our energy systems. Secondly, how each organization alone cannot achieve it with limited or no alternative suggestions to overcome this “constraint”. Well, this post is about one alternative, well worth considering.

One area of potential to bridge is the collaborations at the multiple firm levels. There is a weakness that deprives the ecosystem of a greater “collective action and innovation” to achieve a more accelerated pathway to the Energy Transition.

The Energy Transition has a rich network of complimentary ecosystems, all keeping the change moving at a ‘certain’ level of momentum, but is it good enough? I don’t think so.

The sheer number of Energy companies working on solutions within the Energy Transition is vast, varied and geographically spread. Each is struggling to get out of their (self-made) islands of knowledge to grow their business value through mostly individual innovation solutions.

We then have an Ecosystem of Governments and intergovernmental organizations providing policy suggestions and directions, offering sources of analysis, central data collection and interpretation along with proving reference and exchange points and forums. Then you have general and highly specialised Consulting firms, and investing institutions that are all constantly providing insights and supporting solutions.

We need to find new ways of collaborating and that means applying ecosystem thinking and platform solutions.

Achieving engagement outcomes from cross-sector innovation ecosystem collaborations

April 15, 2023Posted inBusiness Ecosystem Understanding, Business Ecosystems, cross-sector collaborations, Ecosystems, Industrial Ecosystems, Innovation Ecosystems, Knowledge Ecosystems, Network & Collaborating Effects, Sustainability, Value Creation Dynamics, Value Designing1 Comment

This is the fourth and final post discussing cross-sector innovation ecosystem collaborations. It is primarily dealing with the benefits of collaboration and bringing up to a ‘given point’ a compelling value proposition for potential collaborators in understanding the basic building blocks to consider, for achieving the engagement outcomes required.

Within the series of four posts, I have been emphasising that cross-sector collaborations are becoming essential to our future in tackling highly complex challenging issues that need collaborative resolution, the necessary parts need connecting.

Yet to get to these cross-sector collaborations you do need to take a very considered holistic view of what is needed in any collaboration, let alone ane cutting across sectors to generate a successful outcome. All the elements of skills, processes, tools, capabilities and behaviours are important in supporting an effective collaboration across sectors that might need to be involved.

Achieving engagement outcomes from cross-sector innovation ecosystem collaborations

April 13, 2023Posted inBusiness Ecosystem Understanding, Business Ecosystems, cross-sector collaborations, Ecosystems, Industrial Ecosystems, Innovation Ecosystems, Knowledge Ecosystems, Network & Collaborating Effects, Sustainability, Value Creation Dynamics, Value Designing3 Comments

This is the fourth and final post discussing cross-sector innovation ecosystem collaborations. It is primarily dealing with the benefits of collaboration and bringing up to a ‘given point’ a compelling value proposition for potential collaborators in understanding the basic building blocks to consider, for achieving the engagement outcomes required.

Within the series of four posts, I have been emphasising that cross-sector collaborations are becoming essential to our future in tackling highly complex challenging issues that need collaborative resolution, the necessary parts need connecting.

Yet to get to these cross-sector collaborations you do need to take a very considered holistic view of what is needed in any collaboration, let alone ane cutting across sectors to generate a successful outcome. All the elements of skills, processes, tools, capabilities and behaviours are important in supporting an effective collaboration across sectors that might need to be involved.

Approaching Cross-sector innovation ecosystem collaborations

April 12, 2023Posted inBusiness Ecosystem Understanding, Business Ecosystems, cross-sector collaborations, Ecosystems, Industrial Ecosystems, Innovation Ecosystems, Network & Collaborating Effects, Sustainability, Value Creation Dynamics, Value Designing1 Comment

In a series exploring cross-sector innovation ecosystem collaborations, this is the third post discussing different aspects and the approach to this that needs to be taken as my suggested starting point.

All the elements of skills, processes, tools, capabilities and behaviours are important in supporting an effective collaboration across sectors that might need to be involved.

Clarifying the design and common points is essential

Approaching Cross-sector innovation ecosystem collaborations

April 11, 2023Posted inBusiness Ecosystem Understanding, Business Ecosystems, cross-sector collaborations, Ecosystems, Industrial Ecosystems, Innovation Ecosystems, Network & Collaborating Effects, Sustainability, Value Creation Dynamics, Value Designing1 Comment

In a series exploring cross-sector innovation ecosystem collaborations, this is the third post discussing different aspects and the approach to this that needs to be taken as my suggested starting point.

All the elements of skills, processes, tools, capabilities and behaviours are important in supporting an effective collaboration across sectors that might need to be involved.

Clarifying the design and common points is essential

Specific skills and toolkits are needed for cross-sector innovation ecosystem collaborations.

April 7, 2023Posted inBusiness Ecosystem Understanding, cross-sector collaborations, Customer Seamless Experiences, Industrial Ecosystems, Innovation Ecosystems, Knowledge Ecosystems, Network & Collaborating Effects, Value Designing1 Comment

This month I am completing a series on cross-sector innovation ecosystem collaborations. This is the second post that I am sharing here on my dedicated ecosystem thinking site and also through my paul4innovating posting site, which has different audiences to discuss this with.

For me, cross-sector collaborations are becoming essential to our future in tackling highly complex challenging issues that need collaborative resolution

Cross-sector innovation ecosystem collaborations do have real differences and I am to draw these out and my aim is to draw these out in this series.

Specific skills and toolkits are needed for cross-sector innovation ecosystem collaborations.

April 6, 2023Posted inBusiness Ecosystem Understanding, cross-sector collaborations, Customer Seamless Experiences, Industrial Ecosystems, Innovation Ecosystems, Knowledge Ecosystems, Network & Collaborating Effects, Value Designing1 Comment

This month I am completing a series on cross-sector innovation ecosystem collaborations. This is the second post that I am sharing on both my dedicated ecosystem thinking site and also through my paul4innovating posting site, which has different audiences to discuss this with.

For me, cross-sector collaborations are becoming essential to our future in tackling highly complex challenging issues that need collaborative resolution.

Cross-sector innovation ecosystem collaborations do have real differences and my aim is to draw these out in this series.

Cross-sector innovation ecosystem collaborations

April 4, 2023Posted inBusiness Ecosystem Understanding, cross-sector collaborations, Industrial Ecosystems, Innovation Ecosystems, Knowledge Ecosystems, Network & Collaborating Effects, Value Creation Dynamics2 Comments

Collaborations form the essence of discovery, relationships, innovation and new knowledge exchange.

As we move increasingly towards more open innovation hubs and increased ecosystem management the recognition is that many of the challenges and problems have not just become too complex to tackle alone, or even in a single industry but require cross-sector innovation (ecosystem designed) collaboration (CSIC) in consortia-developed approaches.

Sharing in collaborative arrangements enables the potential for improved operational productivity, and shared application development, tapping into a wider ongoing customer engagement and skill enhancements for all involved to gain from.

When you begin to evaluate cross-sector collaborations, the potential in building out initiatives that can only be achieved with a diversity of partners, different industry entities and drawing in the varied business networks get recognized.

In a series of posts, both shared on my dedicated ecosystem thinking site and also through this, my paul4innovating posting site, which has different audiences to discuss this with.

For me, cross-sector collaborations are becoming essential to our future in tackling highly complex challenging issues that need well-organized and coordinated collaborative resolution

Yet we have to be careful as cross-sector innovation collaborations do have differences and can be complicated. I hope this post series helps in your thinking about these cross-sector collaborations

We require a more dynamic view of Innovation understanding.

April 1, 2023Posted inAchieving innovation engagement, Building Innovation Capability, Improve Collaboration & Communication, Integrated Innovation Thinking, Shifting dynamics in innovation, Sustainability, Tackling innovation
The Dynamics for Innovation

So why is finding the right skills and competencies for innovation a real challenge but so essential?

How do we know the critical skills, competencies and capabilities for innovation? Also, what are the additional dependencies for sustaining innovation capabilities that are becoming vital to understand so an organization can place the appropriate resources behind them, build upon a sustainable future and leverage these innovation dynamics?

We often miss or fail to ask which skills or attributes are critical to providing a more significant impact for a successful innovation solution. What naturally occurs can be only having access to a fundamental building block, like a dedicated innovation team. This will often stay limited in outcomes as it may lack the necessary skills, understanding, or capabilities to tackle complex challenges. The result will provide a limited impact on finding the best solutions to these complex challenges and problems we often need to tackle.

We stifle and lose the real potential by not having the correct dynamics of innovation on offer. Recognizing the skills, competencies, capabilities, and capacity needed does constantly differ by the problem tackled. We must identify what is needed and the gaps to be plugged through a comprehensive fitness framework that can be applied constantly.