The value of collaboration in innovation is beyond question, and yet often regarded as implicit rather than something that must be continuously nurtured. It is no easy feat to create an environment that systematically fosters curiosity and sharing. It requires mechanisms for transparency, channels for connection, as well as the intellectual humility to be challenged by new ideas.
Get it right—embed a spirit of collaboration across and beyond your organization—and enhance your ability to innovate through the integration of different viewpoints and brain trusts, joint ownership and buy-in, and efficient resource management.
It is for these reasons that collaboration is a core tenet built into the ITONICS software suite.
And for the last 10 years, Innov8rs has been building a community based on the same premise that innovation and collaboration are inextricably linked.
At 4000 strong, with members spanning continents and industries, Innov8rs has the credentials to assert, “If you have innovation in your title, this is your tribe.”
The latest Innov8rs Connect series, which took place 22-26 February 2021, sought to bring together this dynamic community of innovators to discuss the best and latest in innovation with a focus on crisp content, practical insights, and meaningful engagement. It’s not just about answering the question, how to win, but how to win together.
The week saw more than 35 innovation leaders and practitioners hosting various interactive sessions on the topics of Foresight & Trends, Ecosystem Engagement, and Startup Collaboration.
ITONICS’ own Dr Tassilo Henike, Senior Innovation Consultant; Dr Christian Mühlroth, Chief Commercial Officer; and Christian Resch, Product Manager joined the Innov8rs community to share their knowledge and guide discussion amongst participants.
Below are the key takeaways from each of the ITONICS sessions
Dr Tassilo Henike, Senior Innovation Consultant at ITONICS
The landscape of the automotive industry is changing due to external tensions such as new mobility concepts and a growing sustainability imperative. With a growing number of competitors, German car companies must consider how they can maintain relevance and impact going forward. To that end, Bayern Innovativ and ITONICS set out to develop a snapshot of this future for the Bavarian automotive industry using software-based scenario analysis. After evaluating more than 100 influencing factors, 24 key drivers were identified based on their impact, probability, and reach. By performing pair-wise comparisons of these drivers, the interplay of not-so-distant realities began to take shape, revealing four future scenarios (Diversity Dilemma, Incremental Change, Software Dominance, and Comfort Zone).
It is here within these future plausible scenarios that an automotive company could look at the implications for innovation—from building digital workplaces, automation, and digitization of production to electrification and new business models.
Compared to traditional approaches, software-based scenario analysis can process greater complexity over a longer duration, making for richer, more realistic insights. At the same time, embedding scenario planning and foresight management into strategic planning can seem daunting to many organizations—which is why it’s important to start with the basics:
ITONICS Strategic Foresight guides organizations through all phases of scenario analysis using intuitive operations and integration of different topic-field experts to uncover new opportunities, improve insights, and steer strategic business decisions.
Dr Christian Mühlroth, Chief Commercial Officer at ITONICS
In times of uncertainty, it is imperative to know where to direct attention and resources. Innovation leaders turn to foresight and innovation management to retain control, discover opportunities arising from change, and develop a future course of action. Applying artificial intelligence to this process allows organizations to manage complexity, separate and connect data, and provide directional recommendations. Businesses can thereby review their innovation pipeline in four steps:
Organizations can uncover new opportunities for innovation and growth, as well as stress test their innovation pipelines and portfolios by harnessing the potential of artificial intelligence techniques.
But the first step is knowing where your organization currently stands in terms of maturity, capabilities, and direction.
Get started with a conversation amongst internal stakeholders about possible consequences of the future. This is an opportunity to share opinions and departmental insights, as well as align on the innovation terminology that will feed into your process.
Now is also the time to take the ITONICS Innovation Maturity Assessment. This free, 10-minute evaluation will provide you with a benchmark report and dedicated recommendations for optimizing your innovation program.
Christian Resch, Product Manager at ITONICS
An effective digital innovation management platform should serve as a one-stop shop for ‘everything innovation’ within your organization. It must provide a transparent view of all innovation activities thereby enabling collaboration across teams and identification of gaps and connections in your innovation portfolio. While the inputs and outputs will differ for each organization, the underlying architecture required to drive successful transformation is consistent. There are five key considerations that form the functional foundation of this architecture:
Future-proof your company's strategy for disruptive change by bringing these features together under a single structured digital toolbox. ITONICS Innovation Cloud supports the end-to-end innovation management process, from environmental scanning, and trend and technology management, to strategic foresight, innovation portfolio management, and roadmapping.
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