- Startup Fund. A startup fund is a corporate fund that invests in external opportunities. It aims to generate growth through external capabilities in line with the strategic objectives of an organization.
- Emerging Business Areas. Emerging (or New) Business Areas are sandbox environments where new business initiatives can grow before they prove their profitability and potentially enter an actual business unit, or become a new business unit.
- Center of Excellence. A center of excellence is a formal group in the organization that coordinates innovation initiatives to ensure that innovation is structurally embedded in the organization.
- External Incubator. An external startup incubator is a corporate initiative to support, grow and evaluate external startups for a specific period of time.
- Internal Accelerator. An innovation accelerator is an internal innovation program to free up time for intrapreneurs to develop, test and grow new business ideas outside of organizational processes and deliverables.
- Community of Practice. A community of practice is a cross-functional group of people within an organization with common interests and goals who share expertise within the organization.
- Innovation Challenge. An innovation challenge is an open initiative to get external expertise to solve organizational or societal challenges.
- Design Sprint. A Design Sprint is a (five-day) process for answering critical business questions through design, prototyping, and testing ideas with customers. It is an ad-hoc initiative that forces employees to interact closely with the outside world.
- Innovation Workshop. An innovation workshop is a (1+ days) session through which employees are invited to create new ideas or business concepts outside of the normal work process.
Vital parameters to navigate through innovation initiatives
To help you navigate through these 9 innovation formats, we organized them according to two key parameters.
- Intensity
We define innovation programs any activity that influences and innovates a company strategy. This could range from a 4-hour workshop to a 2-year strategic innovation plan. So, the first variable in selecting the right innovation program is: do you need a one-off event (e.g. a design sprint, a workshop, etc.) or a structured plan (e.g. a center of excellence)? - Capabilities
The second question you must ask yourself is: do you want to rely on internal or external capabilities for innovation to happen? You may either promote the acquisition of a startup, or encourage intrapreneurial thinking with existing capabilities.
The Innovation Decision Tree.
We have created the Innovation Decision Tree to make it easier for you to select the initiative that is right for you.
Step 1: What is your main focus with innovation?
Are you mostly looking to quickly get business results out of innovation, or are you on the mission to make your company more agile for the future by cultivating a culture of innovation internally for sustainable innovation?
Most companies want something in between and there are solutions for that too.
Step 2: How should innovation be embedded in your organization?
Do you want to start small by focusing on specific projects? Or level it up by committing resources and time but need to deliver results before going big?