Managing innovation - creating value from ideas

Send us a textWe spend a lot of time worrying about the ‘front end’ of innovation - how to create new business models around products and services. But what happens when the project succeeds, and the new product or service is launched? If a new idea is to have impact (commercially or socially) then it needs to move to scale. People have to adopt it in large numbers, the ideas need to spread, the c...

Send us a textBicycles are big business. It’s hard to get an exact figure but estimates suggest there are around 2 billion bikes in the world today – and after Covid-19 there might be a few more. People in lockdown have been turning to bikes as a form of exercise and as an alternative to public transport and they’re doing so in such numbers that waiting lists for new bikes run to three months or m...

Send us a textWhen you’re in the middle of the swamp and the alligators are snapping at your legs you can be forgiven for not giving too much precious headspace to thinking about plans for draining the swamp. But assuming you get out of that scrape in one piece it might be worth it. The same is true for our current experience of a crisis-shaken world thanks to Covid-19. Even though there are very...

Send us a textPeople often use this phrase when talking about an innovation and the impact they hope it will have. But what’s the story behind sliced bread – and does it have any useful lessons for innovation managers today?(For a transcript and blog version click here)If you'd like to explore more innovation stories, or access a wide range of resources to help work with innovation, then please vi...

Send us a textInnovation often makes us think about dramatic shiny new products emergng from high tech sectors. But we shouldn't forget that even the most mundane context can provide the trigger for change - and that change can have sigificant impact in our lives. As this tale of the humble vacuum cleaner explains....(for a transcript of the blog and more information see my website here).If you'd...

Send us a textIf we’re serious about wanting a culture of innovation its probably useful to start by exploring what that might involve…. This episode ( the second of two parts) looks at how we might begin to develop the core values and behaviours we'd want to see in our innovation culture. If you'd like to explore more innovation stories, or access a wide range of resources to help work with innov...

Send us a textIf we’re serious about wanting a culture of innovation its probably useful to start by exploring what that might involve…. This episode ( the first of two parts) looks at what mike make up an innovation culture - the core values and behaviours we'd want to see. And in the next episode we'll look at how we might begin to develop these......If you'd like to explore more innovation stor...

Send us a textWhether you call them innovation hubs, maker-spaces, fab-labs, accelerators or hotspots you can hardly turn a street corner or a magazine page before you bump into another example. The names may vary but the underlying idea is the same – a place where people can meet to get inspired and supported by each other, to articulate and co-create. All of these ventures are built on the belie...

Send us a textThis podcast looks at one of the challenges in staying ahead of competitors through innovation - how to stage memorable experiences which provide meaning for consumers? And how to build a community within which such a process can be maintained through co-creation and storytelling.(I wrote this before the Covid-19 pandemic wrought havoc with the travel sector. But perhaps some of the...

Send us a textI first wrote this as a blog piece back in the middle of last year when the only crisis we had to wrry about was Brexit here in the UK. But the undelrying message - that crisis can provide powerful opportunities for innovation - remains important even as we confront a massivley more serious challenge to all of our lives. If you'd like to explore more innovation stories, or access a w...

Send us a textIf you'd like to explore more innovation stories, or access a wide range of resources to help work with innovation, then please visit my website here. You can find a rich variety of cases, tools, videos, activities and other resources - as well as my innovation blog. Or subscribe to my YouTube channel here

Send us a textIf you'd like to explore more innovation stories, or access a wide range of resources to help work with innovation, then please visit my website here. You can find a rich variety of cases, tools, videos, activities and other resources - as well as my innovation blog. Or subscribe to my YouTube channel here

Send us a textThis episode looks at how maintaining focus may not always be the right strategy for innovationYou can read the blog version at www.johnbessant.orgIf you'd like to explore more innovation stories, or access a wide range of resources to help work with innovation, then please visit my website here. You can find a rich variety of cases, tools, videos, activities and other resources - as...

Send us a textThis episode looks at the importance of mental models about how innovation works - and the need to keep reviewing and updating those modelsIt forms part of a series of resources to help learn about the ways in which we might master the skills and build capabilities in innovation and entrepreneurship. For more details please the this link:https://johnbessant.org/the-craft-of-innovatio...

Send us a textThis episode looks at the role of innovation as a way to enable survival and growth in organizations. It forms part of a series of resources to help learn about the ways in which we might master the skills and build capabilities in innovation and entrepreneurship. For more details please the this link:https://johnbessant.org/the-craft-of-innovation-2/If you'd like to explore more inn...

Send us a textThis episode looks at the many reasons why innovation makes a difference - to individuals, to organizations, to sectors and to the whole of society. It forms part of a series of resources to help learn about the ways in which we might master the skills and build capabilities in innovation and entrepreneurship. For more details please the this link:https://johnbessant.org/the-craft-of...

Send us a textAs any budding entrepreneur filling in their business model canvas will tell you, we need to think about the market and work on what our target segment will value. And that may take a lot of testing and pivoting around our original value proposition to shape and configure it to the point where it's going to diffuse to scale. So far, so obvious. But this word ‘value’ is worth explorin...

Send us a textLooks at the role accidents and unexpcted events can play in innovationIf you'd like to explore more innovation stories, or access a wide range of resources to help work with innovation, then please visit my website here. You can find a rich variety of cases, tools, videos, activities and other resources - as well as my innovation blog. Or subscribe to my YouTube channel here

Send us a textBrief introduction to the idea of innovation and the role entrepreneurs play in making it happen.(part of online course 'The craft of innovation'. For more details see https://johnbessant.org)If you'd like to explore more innovation stories, or access a wide range of resources to help work with innovation, then please visit my website here. You can find a rich variety of cases, tools...