Innovation management is the process of capturing and managing organizational innovation.
Innovation management describes the decisions, activities, and practices that move an idea to realization for the purpose of generating business value. It is managing the investment in creating new opportunities for generating customer value that are needed to sustain and grow the business or company.
Generally, innovation investment focuses on the development of new products, services, or technologies. However, the types of innovation that can enhance business results go well beyond these, including changes to a company's business model. Identifying and making these investments successfully and repeatedly constitutes the key objective of innovation management.
Today many companies have organization-wide innovation management programmes. This is due to increased recognition that innovation is essential for driving business growth and maintaining competitive advantage. Successful programmes capture the creativity of employees at every level of the organization so ideas for new products, business models or process improvements, can be quickly discovered and implemented for maximum value.
Effective innovation management requires three things: a defined process model, a focus on innovation, and the right tools to manage it. It’s important however, to make sure that you’re optimizing the process, not controlling it. A strict, hierarchical chain of command can stifle innovation. Instead, employees need to feel individually empowered to drive change and recognized for their innovation.