THE CASE FOR SYSTEMATIC INNOVATION

Innovation should, by definition, create value in the form of free cash flow. The answer to surviving and thriving in a highly competitive environment lies in the adoption and leveraging of ‘Systematic Innovation.’ The traditional perception is that the path to innovative ideas is unstructured and the result of unrestrained brainstorming. It is believed that only a gifted few can truly bring innovation solutions to life.

 

Systematic Innovation, however, proposes the exact opposite - that you can innovate faster and better when you innovate inside of your constraints and by following a number of systematic steps. Genrich Altshuller, the Russian Inventor and the father of “The Theory of Inventive Problem Solving”, suggested that after analysing 200 000 patents, there are about 1500 existing technical contradictions that could easily be resolved by applying 40 fundamental principles. In the 1990’s after the TRIZ Theory (Teoriya Resheniya Izobreatatelshikh Zadatch) emerged from Russia, Jacob Goldenberg, an Israeli Professor, tested this theory with hundreds of products and companies. His team found that all new product innovations resulted from 5 interventions or manipulations: subtraction, division, multiplication, task unification & attribute dependency. 

 

INDeX INNOVATION’S 6-STEP SOLUTION

The Framework for Innovative Thinking (FIT) is INDeX Innovation’s 6-step Systematic Innovation process. FIT functions effectively, notwithstanding the bounds of external and internal organisational constraints such as the availability of capital, funding, time, scope and regulatory requirements. The process is a combination of tried and tested lean methodologies and tools as well as academic research combined with insights from INDeX Innovation’s industry experience over the past 30 years. At the core of the process is the Systematic Innovation method described above. FIT takes you through five phases of developing and implementing an innovation in a way that will help you to attain sustainable growth:  

1) Insight

2) Disruptive Ideation

3) New Value Innovation

4) Go-to-Market, and

5) Performance Tracking 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FRAMEWORK FOR INNOVATIVE THINKING

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The INDeX Innovation team uses a tried and tested 6-step Systematic Innovation Process to help your organisation create new value through market disruption. FIT combines extensive academic research in the field of Systematic Innovation with the latest thinking in Business Model Innovation. The FIT process can be used as a standalone tool in workshops and external projects or within the INDeX Innovation incubation process.