Question 1
What makes a company innovative?
Several contributors judge how innovative a company is by what it keeps doing: introducing new things, questioning the status quo, experimenting and learning from failure. Enrique Dans of IE Business School says a learning culture, with constant scouting open to everyone, separates lasting innovators from one-off successes. Steven O'Kennedy of Accenture calls new technology and fashionable methods mere trappings and names three abilities: seeing when change is needed, following through without delay and measuring the impact. Changing an established company is far harder, says Jesse Nieminen of Viima, and advice ranges from a company-wide idea programme to hiring different talent and an external team that reviews each department.
“If organizations are not failing when innovating, they may be playing it safe.”
Brian Kennedy, Head of Digital and Innovation, Expleo“Don’t fall for the ‘shiny object’ trap. Focus on what matters.”
Marily Nika, AI Product Leader, Tech Companies in the Bay Area
Answered in the book by Enrique Dans, Jesse Nieminen, Brian Kennedy, Marily Nika, Steven O'Kennedy, Andrea Kates and Sofia Fernandes.
Question 2
Do companies need a Chief Innovation Officer?
Most contributors see a Chief Innovation Officer (CINO) as useful but conditional. François Candelon of BCG says a truly innovative company needs no CINO but that, for firms not yet there, the role is a strong lever if it carries real power. Scott D. Anthony of Innosight holds that any organisation of reasonable scale needs one; the real question is how to set it up to succeed. Tom Goodwin of All We Have Is Now says not every company needs one, warns that CINOs are often handed a microphone with no real support, and sees a risk that others stop treating innovation as their job.
“The almighty, know-it-all Chief Innovation Officer is the best way to kill innovation.”
Vincent Pirenne, Partner & Founder, Board of Innovation USA“The bigger a company gets, the more difficult it is to embrace new and disruptive ideas.”
Frederic Laluyaux, President and CEO, Aera Technology
Answered in the book by Tom Goodwin, Vincent Pirenne, François Candelon, Alex Adamopoulos, Warwick Peel, Frederic Laluyaux, Patrick Van der Pijl, Daniel Burrus and Scott D. Anthony.
Question 3
What is the role of the C-suite in empowering innovation?
Contributors agree that innovation fails without visible, consistent backing from the top, and that executives cannot simply hand it to someone else. Frederic Laluyaux of Aera Technology wants leaders who roll up their sleeves, share their own failures and then put ruthless execution behind the best ideas. Lisa Seacat DeLuca of IBM warns that executives can squash innovation by saying no without explanation, and urges them to bring people into decisions. Others ask leaders to set the direction, protect innovation funding, reward teams that fail and be honest about how much innovation the company really needs.
“Leadership must do one more thing: stop asking for solutions and start asking for problems.”
Rosemarie Diegnan, Chief Strategy & Product Officer, Wazoku“If leadership isn’t behind innovation then it’s already failed, you just don’t know it yet.”
Alex Adamopoulos, Chief Executive Officer, Emergn
Answered in the book by Rosemarie Diegnan, François Candelon, Lisa Seacat DeLuca, Tom Goodwin, Mark Settle, Marica Labrou, Scott D. Anthony, Alex Adamopoulos, Frederic Laluyaux and Warwick Peel.
Question 4
What are the essential roles and skills in a truly innovative environment?
Curiosity, comfort with ambiguity and a readiness to experiment recur across the answers. Scott D. Anthony of Innosight says the issue is behaviours more than roles, since almost everyone has an innovator inside, and names five: curious, customer-obsessed, collaborative, adept in ambiguity and empowered. Eric Martin of the University of Virginia lists four skills, from seeing the world differently to getting things done, and says disruptive work usually comes from specially assembled teams. Carlos Oliveira of AdaptiveX, by contrast, wants these skills developed across the whole organisation rather than held by a dream team.
“A leader must create the conditions where employees can release their inner innovator.”
Scott D. Anthony, Senior Partner, Innosight“The two enduring traits of successful innovators are a healthy curiosity and a proactive compulsion to learn.”
Mark Settle, 7X CIO and Author
Answered in the book by Scott D. Anthony, Mark Settle, Eric Martin, Patrick Van der Pijl, Davide Falasconi and Carlos Oliveira.
Question 5
How is innovation different in the startup world?
Niko Bonatsos of General Catalyst says startups win through focus on product-market fit, speed and freedom from legacy. Views split on process: several say a young startup needs no formal one, while Maria Paula Oliveira of EY wants founders to use design thinking, business model canvases and innovation accounting to cut uncertainty fast. Enrique Dans of IE Business School goes further: startups need strong innovation processes to sustain their advantage, and many struggle to scale innovation. For established companies, the lessons offered are a startup's hunger, constant contact with customers and the aim of being ten times better, not a few per cent.
“Contrary to common beliefs, startups are not especially innovative.”
Enrique Dans, Professor of Innovation, IE Business School“Start-ups have very little inertia because of their small size and because they have not been around long enough to accumulate baggage.”
Steven O'Kennedy, Associate Director of Engineering, Global Centre for Innovation at Accenture
Answered in the book by Niko Bonatsos, Maria Paula Oliveira, Marily Nika, Steven O'Kennedy, Jesse Nieminen, Enrique Dans and Andrea Kates.
Question 6
How do you spot innovation opportunities?
Diane Hamilton of Tonerra says opportunities come from asking why things are done as they are, so leaders must model curiosity, admit what they do not know and reward input. Lisa Seacat DeLuca of IBM says ideas arise constantly from everyday work and customer pain points, and the hard part is choosing which to pursue. Misha de Sterke of Innoleaps warns that large firms overlook small opportunities and calls for an end-to-end process with set phases, metrics and timelines, and for leaders who connect R&D assets with customer needs. Each sees value in running a corporate hackathon, but not as a substitute for everyday curiosity and follow-up.
“Leaders must empower their employees to be curious.”
Diane Hamilton, CEO, Tonerra“In general, there is nothing worse for a team’s morale than running hackathons and design sprints without concrete actions and follow-up.”
Misha de Sterke, Senior Partner & Author of '10X Growth Machine', Innoleaps
Answered in the book by Diane Hamilton, Lisa Seacat DeLuca and Misha de Sterke.
Question 7
Does corporate innovation need a methodology?
Most contributors say yes, with conditions. Mathew Hughes of Loughborough University argues that without a methodology innovation is left to happenstance, and that vision, structure, and the way performance is measured and rewarded must all serve the innovation strategy. Eric Martin of the University of Virginia sets out a common process from observation to launch, and says breakthrough insights, more than ideation, decide whether the output goes beyond incremental improvement. The dissent is about rigidity: Alex Farcet of Rainmaking prefers guidelines adapted to context, diversification and iteration, while others warn that heavy, prescriptive frameworks stifle the flexibility innovation needs.
“Corporate innovation must be based on a proper architecture, and it must employ certain key methodologies.”
Anthony Mills, Founder & CEO, Executive Director, Legacy Innovation Group & GInI“The concept that your innovation program should fit into prescribed “rules” is misguided.”
Richard Turrin, Author of 'Innovation Lab Excellence' and 'Cashless'
Answered in the book by Eric Martin, Erik Schumb, Mathew Hughes, Evangelos Simoudis, Kelly Dawson, Richard Turrin, Anthony Mills, Alex Farcet and Vincent Pirenne.
Question 8
What are the essential digital tools for innovation?
Erik Schumb of Agile Sprints sets out a working stack of analytics dashboards, agile planning tools, digital collaboration spaces such as Teams or Miro, and task-specific tools, chosen for effectiveness, fit with the innovation mindset, availability through IT, likely adoption and redundancy. Gijs Van Wulfen of FORTH has taken his whole innovation method online, combining video calls with cloud whiteboards. Alf Rehn of the University of Southern Denmark says no tool is essential: an organisation can innovate with pen and paper, a tool is worth only its use, and culture must come first. Others agree that mindset and entrepreneurial spirit matter more than any software.
“One shouldn’t imagine that innovation cannot be done in an analog fashion as well.”
Alf Rehn, Professor of innovation, design, and management, University of Southern Denmark“Tools and methods are important but they cannot simply make a company innovative.”
Adi Mazor Kario, Product Innovation and Value Creation Expert, Invincible Innovation
Answered in the book by Erik Schumb, Gijs Van Wulfen, Alf Rehn, Pedro Costa and Adi Mazor Kario.
Question 9
How do you measure innovation output and impact?
François Candelon of BCG finds that about 70% of firms measure only innovation output and just 10% optimise for outcomes, and assesses health through indicators such as the share of non-consensus bets and how fast the organisation learns. Mathew Hughes of Loughborough University warns that employees follow what is measured and rewarded, so short-term financial targets push innovation towards the incremental. Alf Rehn of the University of Southern Denmark argues that the bigger failure is ignoring inputs, and calls for a return on innovation investment that looks beyond financial results. Another contributor suggests ratios built on sales and gross margin from new products, compared with rolling industry averages.
“Only about 10% of organizations manage to optimize innovation activities for their outcomes.”
François Candelon, Managing Director and Senior Partner, BCG, BCG Henderson Institute“For an employee, the strongest signals come from what is measured and rewarded.”
Mathew Hughes, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Loughborough University
Answered in the book by François Candelon, Alf Rehn, Mathew Hughes and Davide Falasconi.
Question 10
How important is culture for corporate innovation?
Five of the six contributors call culture decisive. Anthony Mills of Legacy Innovation Group says even the best-designed programme is dead on arrival in a culture hostile to experimentation and failure, and that leaders should publicly reward people who took risks, even when they failed. Cris Beswick of OUTCOME argues that strategy, leadership and culture must work as one system, starting from the organisation's current level of innovation maturity, or effort becomes innovation theatre. Tony Ulwick of Strategyn dissents: people are already inventive, and what management must provide is a shared understanding of customers' unmet needs, not a safe space for ideas.
“Without the right culture in place, innovation efforts sink in the quicksand of frantic effort without purpose.”
Cris Beswick, Strategic Advisor & Co-Founder, OUTCOME“This notion that “innovation culture” is about creating a safe environment for idea generation is wrongheaded.”
Tony Ulwick, Inventor, Founder and CEO, Strategyn
Answered in the book by Anthony Mills, Cris Beswick, Enrico Gentili, Diane Hamilton, Tony Ulwick and Michael Stephen Crickmore.
Question 11
What are the most frequent innovation blockers?
Most answers find that corporate innovation stalls on how organisations treat risk and change. Ger Perdisatt of Microsoft says companies talk up innovation but let the status quo win, because they can size the known risks of change and not the opportunity cost of standing still. Gijs Van Wulfen of FORTH calls the single biggest obstacle the word no, and Marica Labrou, a board member at DEPA and Entersoft, adds that people back innovation only when it benefits them as well as the company. Others list inertia, tight budgets, weak commitment from top management and fear of failure, and one notes that governments can lower barriers with regulatory sandboxes.
“When innovation bumps up against the realpolitik of running a corporation, there is only one winner: the status quo.”
Ger Perdisatt, Director, Technology Strategy, Western Europe, Microsoft“Real innovation is beneficial for all parameters of the business equation.”
Marica Labrou, Senior Business Advisor, DEPA / Entersoft / Focus Bari
Answered in the book by Ger Perdisatt, Gijs Van Wulfen, Marica Labrou, Davide Falasconi and Charlie Widdows.
Question 12
How would you establish an experimentation mindset?
Most contributors tie the mindset to testing assumptions cheaply before committing larger investments. Misha de Sterke of Innoleaps describes using ads and landing pages to settle a plant-based drink's concept and price before any samples were made. Narjeet Singh Soni of LeanApps urges companies to think like venture investors, testing hundreds of ideas in the knowledge that 70 to 80% will fail, and to run design sprints only after experiments, because sprints yield opinions rather than evidence that customers will pay. Tony Ulwick of Strategyn calls fail-fast prototyping inefficient and wants customers' unmet needs defined before any concept is tested.
“The best way to de-risk new ideas is through hypothesis-driven experimentation.”
Misha de Sterke, Senior Partner & Author of '10X Growth Machine', Innoleaps“Experimentation is all about feedback, speed, transparency.”
Carlo Rivis, Entrepreneur and Innovator, Innovation Discovery
Answered in the book by Tony Ulwick, Carlos Oliveira, Carlo Rivis, Misha de Sterke and Narjeet Singh Soni.
Question 13
Do companies need a community of innovators?
Most say yes, but differ on whether it should be a formal innovation team or an informal network. Vincent Pirenne of Board of Innovation argues that an informal community, grown rather than created by executives, keeps innovation alive when new leadership puts programmes under pressure, though it adds value only through real business impact. Patrick Van der Pijl of Business Models Inc. sees internal catalysts as the fastest way to spread innovative thinking, and external communities as a way to test new ideas. Jonne Kuyt of Edenspiekermann would stop setting innovation apart in separate groups, so that a common language makes the whole organisation the community.
“When innovation is in a company’s DNA, it is thanks to the informal community of innovators.”
Vincent Pirenne, Partner & Founder, Board of Innovation USA“The community must be diverse and represent the voices of all the company's stakeholders.”
Charlie Widdows, Co-Founder, Solverboard
Answered in the book by Jonne Kuyt, Adrián Heredia Iglesias, Warwick Peel, Vincent Pirenne, Patrick Van der Pijl and Charlie Widdows.
Question 14
How does innovation blend with agile development?
Contributors agree that agile methods suit innovation because both rest on short cycles of building, testing with customers and adjusting. Isaac Sacolick of StarCIO puts agile product development at the centre, with market research, design thinking, A/B tests and usage data feeding the backlog, while Johanna Rothman of Rothman Consulting Group says agile's real value is faster feedback, which makes experimenting easier. Rosemarie Diegnan of Wazoku stresses a tightly defined MVP and a willingness to stop. Others set limits: agile helps only once teams know why they are innovating and what to build, and it does not by itself grow a venture into a business.
“Short feedback loops help the entire organization to decide what to do next.”
Johanna Rothman, Consultant, speaker, writer, Rothman Consulting Group, Inc.“Agile product development is not a universal process, but rather a mindset.”
Rosemarie Diegnan, Chief Strategy & Product Officer, Wazoku
Answered in the book by Isaac Sacolick, Rosemarie Diegnan, Fabrizio Ferrandina, Adi Mazor Kario and Johanna Rothman.
Question 15
How would you define the truly agile organisation?
Several contributors say agile methods alone are not enough: agility rests on culture and leadership. Johanna Rothman of Rothman Consulting Group looks for collaboration at all levels towards an overarching goal, rewards for experimentation and teamwork, and managers who trust people, and warns that individual bonuses and rewards for predictability work against them. Tony Ulwick of Strategyn adds that agile delivery does things right, but a truly agile organisation also does the right things, settling the product concept with evidence before development begins. Others stress flatter structures, fast decisions, leaders who practise what they preach and, for David Blake of Degreed, the speed at which an organisation learns.
“Companies need to separate the innovation process from the development process.”
Tony Ulwick, Inventor, Founder and CEO, Strategyn“Instead of detailed estimates and predictions, we can reward speed of learning.”
Johanna Rothman, Consultant, speaker, writer, Rothman Consulting Group, Inc.
Answered in the book by Frederic Laluyaux, Tony Ulwick, Johanna Rothman, Adrián Heredia Iglesias, Isaac Sacolick and David Blake.
Question 16
Do public-sector companies innovate?
All three contributors say the public sector can innovate, though under constraints the private sector rarely meets. Steven O'Kennedy of Accenture cites the sheer size of the workforce, unions wary of change seen as cost-cutting, and leadership that can change wholesale after an election, yet points to the COVID-19 response as proof of innovation at speed. Enrique Dans of IE Business School blames weak market pressure and lifetime employment, and calls for a citizen-centric culture, metrics drawn from users and open data. Jesse Nieminen of Viima sees organisations ripe for change and names Estonia as the best example.
“The COVID crisis provides ample evidence of innovation from public bodies worldwide.”
Steven O'Kennedy, Associate Director of Engineering, Global Centre for Innovation at Accenture“To accelerate the innovation process in public sector organizations, it is crucial to establish a citizen-centric culture.”
Enrique Dans, Professor of Innovation, IE Business School
Answered in the book by Steven O'Kennedy, Enrique Dans and Jesse Nieminen.
Question 17
Digital transformation: what is it all about?
Most contributors agree that digital transformation is about people, processes and culture more than technology. Tom Goodwin of All We Have Is Now separates digitalisation, a surface of new technology, from transformation, which starts with a vision and may need a separate entity brave enough to cannibalise the parent. Daniel Burrus of Burrus Research says most companies are making digital change, not transformation. On measurement, Ger Perdisatt of Microsoft calls it both art and science and warns that an initiative struggles if people are still paid for old ways of working, while others favour OKRs, a KPI baseline and measures beyond headcount reduction.
“While digital transformation is powered by technology, it is not about technology.”
Tom Goodwin, Co-Founder, All We Have Is Now“Success comes when digital capabilities are turned into core capabilities.”
Jonne Kuyt, Director of design driven innovation, Edenspiekermann
Answered in the book by Daniel Burrus, Tom Goodwin, Ger Perdisatt, Erik Schumb, Jonne Kuyt, Dimitris Livas and Jonathan Rose.
Question 18
What is open innovation?
Ralf Wilden of Macquarie University defines open innovation as working with customers, suppliers and other outsiders to bring in knowledge, with value for firms in lower cost, faster innovation and more diverse solutions. He warns of cultural barriers such as the not-invented-here syndrome, and Pedro Costa of EurA AG, who sets out mechanisms from startup visits to hackathons, accelerators and acquisitions, says the main barriers are now cultural rather than practical. Sofia Fernandes of BGI says it starts with well-defined problems, gathered from employees and clients. Two contributors take the IP angle: patents exist to share ideas, and confidentiality and ownership should be agreed at the outset.
“An important part of the Open Innovation process is having well-defined problems.”
Sofia Fernandes, Director of Business Development, BGI“Cultural and leadership barriers to open innovation such as the “not-invented-here” syndrome are detrimental.”
Ralf Wilden, Associate Professor of Strategy & Innovation, Macquarie University
Answered in the book by Ralf Wilden, Lisa Seacat DeLuca, Pedro Costa, Dermot Roche and Sofia Fernandes.
Question 19
To patent or not? Do companies need an IP strategy?
All three contributors say every company needs an IP strategy, and treat whether to patent as a decision within it. Joe Doyle of Enterprise Ireland notes that most business value now lies in intangibles and recommends starting with an IP audit, then asking the patent question again as the business develops. Peter Hoeller of Barta, Jones & Foley says ownership of inventions should be settled before any innovation programme, and that trade secrets suit only inventions competitors could not discover independently. Dermot Roche of Secerna LLP calls disclosing an idea before filing probably the most frequent error among individual inventors and start-ups.
“Inventions should only be kept as trade secrets if there is virtually no way they could be discovered independently.”
Peter Hoeller, Partner, Barta, Jones & Foley, P.C.“Intellectual Property is the cornerstone of innovation and technology-led enterprises.”
Joe Doyle, Intellectual Property Manager, Enterprise Ireland
Answered in the book by Peter Hoeller, Dermot Roche and Joe Doyle.
Question 20
What are the top technologies that will drive innovation?
Lisa Seacat DeLuca of IBM expects AI to become as standard as mobile, part of every company's DNA, with 5G as the stepping stone and edge computing gaining weight as remote work spreads beyond the main tech hubs. Fabrizio Ferrandina of Zühlke Group argues that ecological as well as economic pressure will drive innovation, favouring technologies that serve both, such as virtual services, extended reality, IoT and greener blockchain. Jonathan Rose of ::Projective is the contrarian: hyped technologies become hammers looking for nails, as oversold process automation showed, so leaders should start from the business challenges ahead and let the technology follow.
“AI should just become part of your DNA as a business.”
Lisa Seacat DeLuca, Director Emerging Solutions, Distinguished Engineer, IBM“C-suite executives do not want to be sold to on the wonders of leading-edge technologies.”
Jonathan Rose, Digital Transformation & Innovation Lead, ::Projective
Answered in the book by Lisa Seacat DeLuca, Jonathan Rose and Fabrizio Ferrandina.
Question 21
How could innovation solve the most pressing global problems?
One contributor asks for a quantum leap rather than incrementalism, built on academic research; another points to the collaboration between scientists, companies and governments that produced COVID-19 vaccines. Daniel Burrus of Burrus Research argues that most problems are predictable and can be solved before they erupt, and that laws can reward behaviour that helps the climate. Anthony Mills of Legacy Innovation Group asks every organisation to rethink why it exists and deliver net positive value to all stakeholders. Michael Stephen Crickmore of FVTVRE says technology must move the mass market, not just early adopters, by linking greener behaviour to what consumers care about, such as price.
“Most of our problems are predictable and pre-solvable.”
Daniel Burrus, CEO, Burrus Research“In our capitalist world, behavior and consumption are the biggest determinants of change.”
Michael Stephen Crickmore, Chief Futurist, FVTVRE
Answered in the book by Dragana Vukasinovic, Anthony Mills, Daniel Burrus, David Blake, Michael Stephen Crickmore and Christos Dimas.
Question 22
What is the future of work?
All three contributors expect remote and office work to be combined in some form. Fabrizio Ferrandina of Zühlke Group sees hybrid work becoming the default and talent recruited worldwide, and warns that treating hybrid leadership as more control and monitoring would be the beginning of the end: purpose, self-organisation and trust should take its place. Dragana Vukasinovic of Fauna Smart Technologies agrees that managers must give up micromanagement and work harder on culture. Christos Dimas, Greece's Deputy Minister of Development and Investments, is more cautious: personal contact remains indispensable and the common workplace will stay central, at least for the next couple of years.
“We must promote purpose, self-organization, delegating responsibility.”
Fabrizio Ferrandina, CEO, Zühlke Group“Despite the undeniable opportunities that technology activates, personal contact remains indispensable.”
Christos Dimas, Deputy Minister, Government of the Hellenic Republic
Answered in the book by Fabrizio Ferrandina, Christos Dimas and Dragana Vukasinovic.
