Finding the Novel Ideas Your Organization Needs for Real Innovation

Real innovation—the kind that changes not only your business but your entire industry—goes beyond “basic, exploratory R&D.” Incremental research and development alone is not enough for success. Rather, innovation (and therefore success) comes from a commitment to a variety of concepts. McKinsey & Company defines a total of eight “essentials of innovation” necessary for true innovation:

1. Aspire to innovation-focused goals.
2. Choose to invest in innovation.
3. Discover valuable insights and ideas.
4. Evolve your business.
5. Accelerate innovation and bring products to market.
6. Scale to serve the market.
7. Extend with strategic partnerships.
8. Mobilize your team and other stakeholders.

In order to fully embrace this model of innovation and realize the success that comes with it, your company must have a constant flow of new ideas and a system for prioritizing the most novel ones. 

Where do novel ideas come from?

Saying you need novel ideas for success is one thing; coming up with those ideas is another thing entirely. Ideas come from solving a problem or taking advantage of an opportunity. One way to approach problems and opportunities in new ways is to invite additional problem-solvers into the room. Fostering a company-wide culture of innovation allows employees from all teams and seniority levels to contribute. Finding ways to innovate virtually also increases the number of people and perspectives your company uses to find novel solutions. 

Your business cannot fall into a habit of incremental improvements in its innovative processes. “[Organizations] should strive to anticipate which capabilities will be most important in the future, not what has mattered most to the business historically.” Novel ideas come from novel brainstorming and collaboration; today, that means inviting AI into the room in addition to cross-team collaboration and virtual innovation. IP.com introduced IQ Ideas Plus™ to break R&D teams out of the same patterns of thinking and arrive at novel solutions. The AI-backed platform also rates resulting ideas’ uniqueness, helping prioritize truly novel ideas and accelerate the innovation lifecycle.