The Innovation Maturity Index

How Innovative Is
Your Company?

INACTIVEMinimal or no innovation activity AWARELimited activity. No systematic approaches. ENGAGEDAd-hoc activities. No outcomes. ACTIVEOrchestrated function. Some outcomes. POWEREDStrong capabilities, culture, outcomes. LEDInnovation at scale. NATIVEThe Innovation Mode L1L2L3L4L5L6L7

Hover or tap each level to explore · © 2020–2026 George Krasadakis · Innovation Mode 2.0 (Springer Nature)

A modern organization's most vital capability is a scalable opportunity discovery, validation, and realization function.

— Innovation Mode 2.0 (Springer Nature, 2026)
The 7 Levels

From Inactive to Innovation-Native

Each level is a named stage with distinct characteristics, risks, and interventions. Most organizations overestimate where they are by at least two levels. Where does yours actually stand?

1
Inactive

Minimal or no innovation activity.

No innovation agenda, no capabilities, no culture of experimentation. No market reflexes. No mechanism for surfacing or testing new ideas.

Risk: Competitors with innovation systems will outpace you.
2
Aware

Innovation exists in rhetoric, not in systems.

Limited innovation activity with no systematic approaches or innovation capabilities. Leadership talks about innovation. No dedicated roles. No measurement. Occasional workshops produce outputs, not outcomes.

Most common level. Most organizations are here — or think they're higher.
3
Engaged

Ad-hoc innovation activities and outputs — but no outcomes.

Ideas surface. Hackathons happen. People are enthusiastic. But nothing reaches production. Energy without architecture — activity without a pipeline connecting ideas to business results.

The "innovation theater" trap. Energy without architecture.
4
Active

An orchestrated innovation function with some outcomes.

Innovation has leadership roles — not yet in the C-suite. A team, a budget, and some structured processes. Real outcomes emerge. But the strategic layer is still missing: no framework, no portfolio approach, no strong market connection.

Innovation is real. Scaling it is the challenge.
5
Powered

Strong capabilities, culture, and outcomes.

The innovation function is measured. Culture is strong. Products improve. Opportunity discovery accelerates. But innovation is still led from the center — not yet native to the edges of the organization.

Where most strong companies plateau.
6
Led

Innovation drives strategy, investments, and decisions.

Innovation at scale. Faster cycles. Stronger market connection. Resourced and connected to business strategy. Led from the center — the Innovation Mode is next.

Innovation has impact. The final step is embedding it everywhere.
7
Native — The Innovation Mode

Innovation happens naturally, organically, always-on.

Fully embedded in every business process. AI-powered opportunity discovery and validation. Innovation talent distributed across every team. No separate "innovation initiatives" — it's seamless. The C-level orchestrates; the entire organization innovates. Autonomous AI systems provide market intelligence and opportunity scoring continuously. This is the mode that market leaders operate in.

Beyond Measurement

Assessment Is the Basis. The Roadmap Is the Product.

Overclaimed. Undermeasured. Most organizations know they need to innovate — very few can objectively assess where they stand. The Innovation Maturity Index provides the diagnosis. But the real value is what follows: a detailed, sequenced transformation roadmap — 70+ interventions mapped to your actual maturity level, calibrated by the 6 Innovation Deficits diagnostic, and designed to move your organization to the next level.

Inactive Aware Engaged Active Powered Led Native: Innovation Mode INNOVATION STATE Your Journey to the Innovation Mode → Power-Up Spark Connect Empower Scale Up Embed

Not Your Typical Consulting Service.

A unique measurement product powered by published frameworks and 25 years of hands-on innovation experience across industries and geographies — by the author of The Innovation Mode.

1
Reflect Your current state
2
Understand Deficits & blind spots
3
Quantify Gaps & priorities
4
Strategize Your transformation roadmap
5
Act Iterate & improve

A timeboxed, intensive engagement that captures your organization's actual innovation state — using the same diagnostic frameworks published by Springer Nature, powered by the same AI platform that automates Level 7 opportunity discovery. The output is a concrete, sequenced roadmap: where you are, what's missing, and exactly what to do next. 8 weeks. Led by a hands-on innovator with 20+ patents — not a consultant or a theorist.

Is Your Organization Ready for the AI Era?

Apply our unique framework and insights directly to your organization. Powered by AI. Led by the author of The Innovation Mode.