I’m following the AIIM Enterprise 2.0 Practitioner course at the moment, and in Module 4, there is a slide that contains the following definition of Innovation Management:

“Innovation management is the economic implementation and exploitation of new ideas and discoveries, and the implementation of an innovation culture in an organization, to promote and make possible the development of new ideas and business opportunities. Innovation management consists of innovation strategy, culture, idea management and implementation of innovation processes.“

– John P Riederer, University of Wisconsin.

While reading this, I couldn’t help thinking about 3M. If you recall, in my post Innovation policy from an unexpected mine – 3M, I described how William L McKnight, the head of the company, did just what was described in the definition above. He gave Dick Drew an environment where Dick could develop his new idea, one that was totally different from the core product of the company. And it was this environment, this innovation culture, that allowed 3M to grow to what it is today.

Related articles

• The Future of Innovation Management: 5 Key Steps for Future Success (bjconquest.com)
• What Every Innovation Manager Needs To Know about Value Creation? Let’s Start with Something Simple. (futurelab.net)
• Blog Post: What is the function of KM? (gurteen.com)
• Managing Innovation (advancementsynergy.com)