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How do the world’s most innovative companies consistently surface high-impact ideas from within their own ranks?
It’s not luck—and it’s not just brainstorming sessions or sticky notes on a wall. What sets them apart is the use of structured ideabox systems: platforms and processes that empower employees to submit ideas, enable leaders to evaluate them transparently, and ensure the best ones don’t just sit idle—they’re acted on.
Research from McKinsey & Company highlights that some of the most transformative business changes often originate from frontline workers—people closest to the problems and processes that need solving. When companies create mechanisms for employees to share and implement their ideas, even small improvements can scale into system-wide gains. But without structure, those ideas rarely surface or make it to the decision table.
That’s where modern ideabox systems come in. These platforms integrate with workflows, track innovation KPIs, and support everything from intrapreneurship programs to enterprise-wide challenges. Done well, they don't just gather ideas—they unlock business value.
Take France’s La Poste, for example. Facing the challenge of aligning innovation across multiple subsidiaries and functions, La Poste deployed an innovation management platform that supports both structured intrapreneurship and gamified challenges. Within one year, over 4,000 employees participated—many from departments that had never contributed to innovation before.
In this blog, we’ll explore three case studies of companies using ideabox systems effectively, highlighting how they structure participation, prioritize ideas, and deliver measurable impact.
How leading organizations bring ideabox systems to life
Across industries, forward-thinking companies are embedding ideabox systems into their innovation strategies—not just to collect ideas, but to turn them into scalable solutions with measurable impact. While the specific formats vary, the core principles remain the same: invite broad participation, evaluate ideas systematically, and create clear pathways for implementation.
Siemens Energy’s ideabox system for expert-driven innovation
At Siemens Energy, innovation is a company-wide capability, not confined to a single team. To support this, the company launched the Orbit Ecosystem, a centralized platform built with ITONICS that connects trend monitoring, idea management, and strategic collaboration in one space.
Innovation Orbit is a prime example of a next-generation ideabox that enables employees across functions to submit, develop, and track ideas with transparency and strategic alignment. It supports everything from early-stage idea capture to project evaluation and enrichment.
The platform also facilitates cross-functional collaboration, bringing together engineers, domain experts, and digital leaders to shape the innovation pipeline. By linking ideas to trends, risks, and portfolio data, the Innovation Orbit becomes a single source of truth for ideation, ensuring insights move forward, not just sit idle.
The result is faster iteration, clearer visibility, and stronger alignment with business goals in a fast-changing energy market.
As Axel Bitsch, Senior Digitalization Program Management Expert at Siemens Energy, explains:
We can leverage our internal expert communities to their full potential and foster transparency, company-wide collaboration, and co-creation.
Siemens Energy’s Innovation Orbit reflects a modern ideabox system—designed not just to collect ideas, but to turn them into real-world impact.
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La Poste’s ideabox framework for scaling internal ideas
La Poste, France’s national postal service, has successfully scaled innovation across its vast organization through structured, participatory ideation programs. Central to this approach is a digital platform that functions like an enterprise-grade ideabox system—empowering employees to submit, develop, and advance ideas within a clearly defined process.
One pillar of this system is La Poste’s intrapreneurship program, which gives employees a time-bound framework to propose and execute new initiatives. Ideas are submitted, evaluated, and supported through dedicated coaching and cross-functional collaboration, turning internal creativity into measurable outcomes.
Complementing this is a series of organization-wide innovation challenges. For example, Docaposte’s “InnoGame” engaged more than 4,000 employees in under a year. These challenges tap into collective intelligence, spark new partnerships, and generate visibility for grassroots innovation, transforming ideation into a routine part of work culture.
By embedding idea capture, evaluation, and follow-through into formalized systems, La Poste ensures ideas don’t get lost in silos. Their model reflects a mature ideabox approach—structured, scalable, and designed to turn everyday insights into actionable innovation across the organization.
KPMG’s ideabox platform for global GenAI co-creation
KPMG’s approach to innovation demonstrates how a global organization can activate thousands of contributors through a well-structured ideabox system. With the launch of KPMG Illuminate, an enterprise-wide innovation platform powered by ITONICS, the firm created a central space to capture, enrich, and evaluate ideas across member firms, clients, and alliance partners.
A standout example is the Global Generative AI Innovation Challenge, which invited over 10,000 participants from more than 100 countries to submit ideas on how GenAI can transform innovation management. The challenge followed a clear ideabox structure—idea submission, collaborative enrichment, evaluation, and business case development—resulting in over 100 ideas and three winning concepts selected for further development.
By combining internal expertise with external perspectives, KPMG used the platform to unlock new business opportunities while deepening global engagement. The platform’s transparency, collaborative evaluation process, and structured workflows helped decision-makers identify and invest in high-potential ideas faster.
KPMG’s model shows how ideabox systems can move beyond suggestion capture to support true co-innovation—at scale, across geographies, and with measurable impact.
Turning ideas into impact with ITONICS
As these examples from Siemens Energy, La Poste, and KPMG show, structured ideabox systems are no longer “nice to have”—they’re essential infrastructure for organizations looking to scale innovation, unlock internal expertise, and stay competitive in fast-changing markets.
Whether you’re launching a global ideation campaign, running intrapreneurship programs, or capturing ideas from the front lines, a successful ideabox system requires more than just a submission form. It needs:
- A centralized platform for cross-functional collaboration
- Clear evaluation criteria and feedback loops
- Integration with trends, technologies, and portfolios
- Transparency and traceability to build trust and momentum
- Leadership support and visible pathways from idea to implementation
That’s where ITONICS comes in. The all-in-one Innovation OS gives you the tools to design, launch, and scale ideabox systems that actually deliver results. From custom workflows and scoring models to real-time dashboards and global collaboration features, ITONICS helps you move from scattered suggestions to strategic outcomes—faster.
