By Eric van Niekerk – Research Lead, Innocentrix The innovative employee Innovation is often seen as ‘thinking outside of the box’, where a more accurate metaphor may be ‘expanding the box’. Innovations do not have to be brand-new, radical ideas that forever change the way we do business. An innovative idea may be a small [...]
Lets step away from the present and into the future to answer an important question: How do I keep innovation alive once it’s established? Quality over quantity An analysis from Accenture shows that how organisations innovate is indicative of their innovation success. According to their analysis, almost 50% of R&D investment is wasted due to [...]
By Eric van Niekerk, Research Lead, Innocentrix Successful innovation does not only require a strong leader, it requires a strong team. Often various teams are working on different lifecycles of the potential innovation. This spans from gathering additional insights and research, building business cases and experimenting, through to piloting and implementation. The innovation team is [...]
By Eric van Niekerk, Research Lead, Innocentrix A recent investigation into innovation in the South African context showed that, amongst South Africa’s top companies, “Leadership and Ambition” is one of the greatest local, innovation-aligned strengths. According to Vodacom’s Executive Head for Innovation, Jannie van Zyl, having buy-in from company leaders is key to innovation success. [...]
By Eric van Niekerk – Research Lead, Innocentrix The importance of an innovation strategy All planned innovation activities within an organisation should begin with the strategic goals of the company in mind. Without a firm, strategic backbone, innovation can be anything from difficult to impossible. The development of an innovation strategy is one of the [...]
By Eric van Niekerk – Research Lead, Innocentrix When the brief is to build a house, the vision of the outcome is quite clear: build a large structure with a few walls and a roof and probably some doors and windows. When asked to innovate though, the final outcome is almost completely undefined, since innovation [...]
By Henra Mayer & Eric van Niekerk – Innocentrix Innovation in the organisational environment will only be sustainable if it is focused on a systematic, result driven approach. A results driven approach implies an ability to measure innovation outcomes and showing impact. Many organisations kick-off an innovation programme hastily - something must be done - [...]
By Eric van Niekerk, Research Lead, Innocentrix One of the biggest trends of the 21st century has been the emergence of social media. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and a host of similar sites and apps took our social lives by storm. Our current social ecosystems are often engaged through the use of these online connection systems, [...]
Organisations the world over are thinking about new ways to remain relevant and ensure future success. For many, building an internal innovation capability forms an integral part of a strategy for future growth. Business trends further suggests that amongst other things, the organisation’s ability to collaborate with various stakeholders across its value chain will become [...]
By Eric van Niekerk, Research Lead, Innocentrix The power of disruptive innovation is being embraced all over the world in response to an increasingly competitive and dynamic market place. Harnessing sustainable innovation success however, can be a challenging process. Sustainable innovation rarely happens in isolation, barring the necessity for, amongst other things, adequate resourcing, funding [...]
