Why is corporate innovation important in the business landscape?
Innovation has always been a key driver of growth in any field. Horse-driven buggies were replaced by steam engine cars when someone discovered the power of steam.
The start of randomised clinical studies was the start of removing bias from clinical research and getting more accurate data. The corporate domain isn’t a stranger to corporate innovation either.
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E-commerce, digital branding and well-defined target audiences were innovative ideas that revolutionised the business landscape. In recent times, hybrid working set-ups and remote work are important innovative ideas that are the reason behind the success of several companies and start-ups.
Corporate or business innovation is fast gaining popularity among forward-thinking companies and is becoming one of their core values.
However, is corporate innovation important? How are companies incorporating the concept in their business models? Let’s find out!
What do you mean by corporate innovation?
If you think that corporate innovation is simply coming up with innovation ideas for companies, you would be right to some extent. However, there is so much more to corporate innovation.
It can allude to the intentional nurturing of an out-of-box thinking approach among research and development wings or employees in general within a company. This can bring in fresh ideas or help people see the missing picture.
What is the importance of innovation in businesses?
Most business organisations find success when their products are well-received by their target audience. However, business growth and expansion can bring their own sets of challenges.
Large organisations are often sluggish to adopt innovation strategies and can be rather stuck in their ways. They look into building on their existing offerings rather than coming up with something radically new.
While this approach might work once in a while, it doesn’t yield results in a fiercely competitive market. With start-ups bringing fresh perspectives, business ideas and operational models, older businesses need to keep up with their energy and modern outlook.
Incorporating a culture of corporate innovation can help companies adapt in line with industry trends and capitalise on opportunities. It can also bring a fresh perspective to the table and help organisations come to terms with the ever-changing expectations of their consumers.
How are companies winning their corporate innovation game?
Having a culture of corporate innovation can help companies make themselves relevant before someone else replaces them. Here are a few successful ways in which you can integrate a corporate innovation strategy into your organisation.
- Have a corporate venture capital wing
Having a venture capital investment initiative can help you scout the industry for disruptive ideas then implement these into your own organisation and have them implemented for you.
This can help you work with start-ups whose products can complement your own. By piloting their products, you can essentially outsource the research and development for new products for your organisation.
- Set up satellite offices in co-working spaces
Having a satellite office in a shared office set-up or co-working space is a great idea to scout for start-ups in your industry and score potential collaborations.
Apart from providing a lot of networking opportunities with budding start-ups, you can also develop a growth mindset which is important for nurturing innovation.
- Open internal innovation labs
A company’s struggle to innovate need not result from a complete lack of innovative ideas from within the organisation. More than often, the bottleneck happens because radical ideas don’t fit into the time frame of business goals or are deemed too risky.
Establishing internal innovation labs can help you source incredible ideas and strategies to implement them. It can also be beneficial in inculcating an innovation mindset among the company employees.
- Conduct hackathons and pitching competitions
It is often the people outside the industry who can provide the most useful insights or creative solutions for business problems. Hackathons and pitching competitions can be a great way to connect with these people and pick at their brains.
These events can be like concentrated sprints for research and development. They are a cost-effective method of bringing in new ideas and perspectives within a short time.
Why should you get acquainted with the idea of corporate innovation?
With market disruption well on its way to becoming a mainstream trend, companies need to constantly reinvent themselves and think out of the box to stand apart. Having an innovation mindset can help you spot potential areas of improvement or identify disruptive product ideas.
In a day and age where talent is respected, companies would willingly pay an arm and a leg for people proficient in corporate innovation. Additionally, gaining expertise in the subject can help you improve your professional skills such as critical thinking and analytical capacity, which can boost your career prospects.
How can you learn more about corporate innovation?
If you are interested in learning more about corporate innovation and strategies, you should look into pursuing a relevant programme on the subject.
The GISMA Business School in Potsdam offers an MSc International Business Management programme which can be a great fit for you. The degree is globally recognised and practice-oriented, which can help you establish a successful business management career in Germany or any other foreign country.
The programme curriculum covers a comprehensive range of subjects from Innovation Management and Digital Transformation. In addition, the course lets you choose between industry-oriented electives like Big Data or cybersecurity.
Click here to apply for the international business management programme at GISMA today.
– This article was written by Sweha Hazari.