Killing Innovation Labs Isn't the Solution. Understanding the Disconnect.
I want to add some nuance to the now common bashing of Innovation Labs, claiming that 'Innovation Labs just don’t work'. Indeed, it appears some innovation labs are being closed down, but is that ratio significantly higher than the shutdown of departments or other corporate (sub-) structures? Or is it that the closure of an innovation lab tends to come with higher media coverage and exposure?
Beyond that bias, I’d like to offer potential explanations of why innovation labs are actually failing.
Corporate Innovation: A Framework for Defining Innovation Initiatives
Corporates around the world are investing in innovation hubs or labs, hackathons, silicon valley trips, agile trainings and design thinking workshops to innovate, to become more agile, customer-centred, purpose-driven, profitable, efficient or disruptive. I wanted to know how corporates make sense of the sometimes vague topic of innovation, how they manage innovation initiatives and how they allocate funding. Here’s an attempt to craft clarity through a framework for managing innovation in corporates.