faster innovation

I've just read Wall Street Journal article: "The New, Faster Face of Innovation"
and there are two very interesting quotes:

"Five years ago, for instance, a leadership team might have reviewed two or three "big" innovation proposals from consulting gurus; executive teams today might compare the outcomes of 50 or 60 real-world experiments to decide which ones to act upon."

- the innovation process becomes faster.

"And there's a subtle shift in how people view innovation. People don't talk about running experiments months into the future—they're into immediacy, because they see that they can test ideas right away, and the company culture starts to actively encourage speed."

- innovation don't need months to be transfered to market, this process is also becoming more faster. What are the concequences?

1. We need even more ideas from ideation process :)

2. Innovation becomes cheaper - more innovations can be prototyped.

3. Research&development as we know it will be changed in future.

innovation process article

I've just read interesting article on Business Week:

about Whirpool's innovation process that evaluates and screen thousands of ideas.

Whirlpool's three-pronged definition of innovation:

"It must meet a consumer need in a fresh way;

it must have the breadth to become a platform for related products; and

it must lift earnings."

The final section of the article:

"What can executives learn from Whirlpool's approach to screening ideas?

• Define Innovation A brief, concrete definition of innovation will help employees evaluate new concepts at the front end, screening out those that just don't fit. As a concept progresses, keep returning to the definition to make sure that the idea still clears the bar.

• Never Kill Good Ideas A concept that might not be worth pursuing today—because of limited resources, for instance, or the lack of a partner—might be next year's innovation. Don't kill projects. Shelve them, and annually review all concepts for possible resurrection.

• Adjust Your Criteria Early in the process Whirlpool concepts are required to meet the basic definition of innovation. As projects progress, the evaluation criteria become more rigorous. Begin with easier requirements to avoid killing off concepts before they can be developed.

• Link Idea Screening with Strategy A concept might be innovative but still not smart for a company to develop because it would take the company too far afield. Make sure that the people evaluating ideas do so in the context of the company's strategic goals."

They give few months to add-on innovations and 3-5 years to new-to-the world innovations.

I can't often find this kind of story such as this article, where the innovation process is described in detail. So, this is one of the most useful articles I've read in this year.