Press Release - Deloitte Study Analyzes 'Innovation Paradox' Launching New Products Is No. 1 Driver of Revenue Growth; Innovation Remains Dangerously Low Priority - I'm starting to wonder why so much research is being distributed in the middle of press releases nowadays - but stuck in the middle of this one for Deloitte and Touche are a few nice stats that - although not surprising - are always nice to have up to date numbers for. D&T did a study of 650 manufacturing companies worldwide and found that:

1) Manufacturers cite launching new products and services as the No. 1 driver of revenue growth

2) They also view supporting product innovation as one of the least important priorities. (Nice little contradiction there, eh? Although to be fair - I've seen several of reports citing Innovation process as no1 amongst CEO priorities - could this be just a Manufacturing industry issue - or a reflection of whom in the companies D&T were talking to?...)

3) 50 to 70 percent of all new product introductions fail. (I've had figures as high as 80% quoted to me in the past)

4) New product revenue will jump to 35 percent in 2006, up from just 21 percent in 1998. (Although if none of them are supporting their innovation process, it'll be interesting to find out where they think all the new products required to generate that will show up)

5) By 2010, products representing more than 70 percent of today's sales will be obsolete due to changing customer demands and competitive offerings.

NSF - OLPA - PR 04-10: Beyond Feng Shui: Designing for Innovation Umot Toker of the National Science Foundation posted this article which talks (albeit briefly) on the topic of building design on innovative capacity. In short (er), you should try to layout your offices in such a way as to increase the opportunity for chance encounters with people - the general premise being that it is these encounters that give you the innovative spark.

This idea is not particularly new however - the very same concept was being talked about in the Knowledge Management circles some 7-8 years ago for example. Professor Clive Holtham of the Cass School of Business used to talk on the subject of the environmental impact on knowledge flows within an organisation - and several buildings in the UK were even designed with this in mind - The British Airways headquarters, just outside of London was designed with glass covered atriums, cafes, and several communal spots to encourage people to accidentally meet and thus enhance the flow of knowledge from one individual to another. Nevertheless it's interesting seeing some old ideas from one subject re-emerging in another.

Intelligent Enterprise Magazine: Practical Tools for New Ideas - The second part of a series by Stewart McKie on Innovation Management, this article gives a great overview of the different types of technologies that are being used to automate parts of the innovation process

Topics covered include:

Environmental scanning - "the acquisition of information about events, trends, and relationships in an organization's environment, the knowledge of which will be of assistance to top executives in identifying and understanding strategic threats and opportunities,"

Road Mapping - a technique that helps create a combined strategic, product, and marketing perspective for the stakeholders involved in delivering innovation. Road-mapping software is important to innovation because it helps to define, update, and visualize the route toward realizing an innovative product, service, or organizational change.

Creative Thinking - technologies that either help you with the process of brainstorming or help to increase the quality of your brainstorming sessions

and finally Idea Management - which unlike the other "upstream" technologies instead looks at the "downstream" end of the innovation cycle by helping companies develop ideas so they can eventually be monetized.