Ipsum innovation model questions

Companies wanting to sustain exceptional innovation at scale need to learn from the best. The IPSUM innovation model provides a comprehensive approach about what leading innovators do different from their less successful peers. Not all areas of the model will be equally relevant, but the following questions provide an excellent place to start.

Investment Thesis

·      Does the company have an explicit innovation strategy setting out where innovation fits into the overall strategy with quantified and funded targets?

·      Has it mapped the relevant exponential technologies across the value chain?

·      Has it discovered the business models to commercialise these technologies and their potential impact on the market?

·      Has it developed a thesis about where the company will focus its investment and the ‘secret sauce’ or unique insights it could expect to bring to give it a higher probability of success?

·      What are the gaps between its current strategy and the above questions?

Innovation portfolio:

·      Does the company have an innovation portfolio?

·      How well is it managed and has it grown in value?

·      What is its composition (sustaining, adjacent, transformational) and potential (value and business benefit)?

·      Is there a gap between the aspirations, investment thesis and portfolio, and what are the appropriate actions to close it?

Scaling processes – hackathons:

·      Does the company use hackathons systematically and for a clear purpose?

·      How extensive is the effort to ensure suitable participants in the program?

·      Is there a defined process to support solutions developed through the hackathon?

·      Have the winning ideas been celebrated, carried forward and the outcomes measured?

·      Do key executives participate?

·      What has been the outcomes? Have they met their stated objectives?

·      How could they be improved?

Accelerators:

·      Is the company involved in internal and/or external accelerators and if not why?

·      How does it engage with participants and how do its staff and participants benefit?

·      What has been the outcome in terms of working with and or investing in start-ups?

·      What is in place to ensure rapid development of solutions beyond the accelerator?

·      How could it be improved?

Corporate venturing:

·      How effectively does the company fund the growth of its portfolio of innovations?

·      How does it tap into external markets trends and early disruptors?

·      Does the company have a clear idea of how it could successfully launch and sustain a corporate venturing initiative?

·      How could it improve?

Underpinnings enablers – winning ideas:

·      Does the company have an approach to recognising and evaluating winning innovation ideas?

·      What are the lessons in terms of how successful this has been?

·      How deeply ingrained are these lessons in the company’s culture?

·      How aligned are the winning idea with the over-arching company strategy and investment thesis?

Implementation planning:

·      What tools are being used and how effective are they in practice?

·      If there are gaps, where are they and how can they best be filled?

·      What additional measures could be taken to improve implementation planning?

People and culture:

·      How much time does senior management spend on innovation?

·      How is innovation structured across the business, and who does it report to?

·      Is innovation included in the corporate training program?

·      Is innovation governance and funding optimising outcomes?

·      Are rewards, recognition and incentives aligned to innovation?

Government research:

·      Is the company’s innovation strategy aligned to a sector-wide or national strategy?

·      Is it aware of the government resources available to support research and development?

·      How well does it collaborate with relevant government agencies on research?

·      How well does it collaborate in general?

·      Where and how could it do better?

Moonshot:

·      What are the goals?

·      What are the actions supporting these goals?

·      What are the timelines?

·      What is the resourcing (people, process and financial)?