Organisations are once again starting to focus on innovation, especially now that the financial crisis is winding down. In doing so, they need to learn from the pitfalls of the past. So far, not enough is being done, which is why projects fail. Here are a few tips for successful innovation.

When new technology moves out to the factory floor, there’s no clear show of support after a few months. Employees fail to see the benefits of the new technology, so they don’t use it. The problem is that there’s innovation in the processes and techniques, but not social innovation, which is just as important. A carpenter who helps develop a new hammer himself uses it readily. But when management forces him to use a new hammer, his first response is resistance.

Results

Social innovation is innovation at work. Through smarter working practices and smarter planning and management, employees become more committed and enthusiastic.

But social innovation is not just valuable when it comes to ‘soft factors’. It’s also been proven to affect operating income. According to Erasmus University’s Competition and Innovation Monitor, innovation levels are 37% higher, with productivity 22% higher, for organisations who engage in social innovation than for traditional top-down organisations.

Research conducted by Panteia and the Rotterdam School of Management also shows that 77 per cent of innovation success in the top sectors is determined by social innovation and only 23 per cent by technological innovation.

1. Generating commitment and enthusiasm

Social innovation is all about getting employees involved in the process of brainstorming and making decisions, which happens in many organisations that are still top-down. But the best ideas are often hidden in employees’ heads. Organisations achieve the best results by allowing them to collaborate and innovate to maximum effect.

Modern collaboration platforms provide the right foundation for this process. Using advanced virtual reality applications and simulation models, employees can focus their creativity more effectively on real solutions for everyday life.

2. Co-creation

In an interconnected world with increasingly shorter product and service life cycles, we also have to collaborate with people outside our own organisations to stay relevant. Author Gary Hamel summed this up in no uncertain terms in ‘Leading the Revolution’: “If you want to see the future coming, 90% of you need to realise that you’ll be learning from outside your industry.” Strategic collaborations are not just enormously refreshing and inspiring; they’re needed now more frequently than ever to achieve ground-breaking, game-changing innovation.

This collaboration increasingly leads to what is referred to as co-creation. Companies work together with other organisations, such as suppliers, but also with the target group itself, for example. The various parties make their contributions through a step-by-step process, from generating ideas to evaluating and refining designs and concepts. In this sense, an advanced collaboration platform serves as a technological enabler and bridge builder.

One good example of successful co-creation is the Living Heart Project. Here, doctors, medical researchers, supervisors and manufacturers of medical equipment all have access to advanced technology that creates 3D models of the human heart. Before they actually operate on a patient’s heart, they test the surgery by simulation in a virtual world. They can then combine their knowledge in the battle against heart disease – still the most common cause of death.

3. Establishing frameworks

Social innovation – within our own organisations as well as through co-creation – requires clear frameworks. Devising objectives, conditions and a time frame to eliminate ambiguity for employees is vital to success.

Without a framework, social innovation can descend into well-intentioned anarchy. Managers are undoubtedly relying on co-creation as they face the challenge of handling this effectively. Collaboration platforms can also be helpful in this respect.

To my mind, the word ‘innovation’ is still all too often used as a synonym for growth or renewal. Real innovation does, in fact, have a much deeper meaning: it entails renewal that is potentially disruptive. Innovation is the sheer strength that companies can use to climb up to the next level. Many companies are still forgetting that innovation in any technological field is no longer enough. Technological innovation should always go hand in hand with social innovation; that is how organisations really move ahead.