Few companies would admit that they are not innovative. While some companies place little emphasis on innovation and prefer to remain as ‘followers’ in order to reduce risk, others take the opposite view and desire to be effective at innovation, believing quite rightly, that this is the road to the future; profits, growth, etc.

A recent paper, ‘Normalizing innovation’, by one of our partners, Joaquim Vila, provides insights into one aspect of improving innovation management; where to begin and how to move forward when trying to improve innovation management. Joaquim’s paper sets out eight stages to progress through to become an ‘innovative company’. The first stage is ‘awareness raising’.

CIO’s on-line survey can make a contribution to the first stage and also to what Joaquim refers to as the ‘consolidation phase’ where selecting the appropriate management practices becomes important. The results of the on-line survey can also assist in positioning your company at one of the eight stages. All of this can help in identifying your starting point!