There's a lot of ground to cover to build up a comprehensive innovation strategy. It starts though with an acceptance that innovation doesn't just happen within the organisation itself. (I want to emphasise up front though that this does not in any way diminish the impact curious and motivated colleagues can have - indeed they are key to engage. I'll cover internal engagement for innovation in another post).
So, where to look for ideas?
Mapping, designing and implementing an innovation ecosystem strategy - engaging with large vendors through to niche innovation brokers, clients, academia, accelerators and start/scale-ups - is about solutions broking - spotting opportunity for both sides and articulating it both ways. And not every engagement arises as a result of being briefed to find a specific capability (albeit always with an appreciation of the broad business challenges and an open mind).
This mindmap expands (a lot!), but here's the basic version:
Overlaid on this will be consideration of the dynamics of your sector, regulatory imperatives, technical constraints, the culture of your organisation and its horizons for innovation impact - and indeed the reasons for innovating at all.
There's a lot of ground to cover - I'd be delighted to help you with it!
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