Innovation

R&D leaders we talk to tell us the biggest challenge they face today is generating sustainable growth from their innovation investments. A challenge that is even more urgent, given the waning prospects for continued Asian growth, and increasing competitive intensity to hold on to existing sources of revenue.

A common blind spot in improving return on innovation investment is focusing too narrowly on only selected elements of a strong innovation ecosystem.

It’s understandable, as materials companies commonly hand the mandate for innovation to product R&D instead of seeing innovation as a business-wide imperative. Often, we see improvement emphasis placed narrowly on the stage-gate process or ideation events.

However, establishing a sustainable return from innovation requires a holistic view, which focuses on improvement of individual skills, team processes, customer orientation, together with  leadership direction. Innovation is as much culture, as it is skill or process discipline and that’s the lens we use at Growth Arc.