Ability to innovate

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The ability to innovate is the ability of individuals, groups, institutions or networks to continuously produce innovations. It results from the complex interplay of the dimensions of people, organization and technology. Many companies try e.g. B. to increase their innovative ability through innovation and knowledge management as well as personnel and organizational development , as this has a strong influence on international competitiveness .

Drivers of innovation

Illustration from Martin Kaschny : Innovation management in medium-sized companies: strategies, implementation; Practical examples , Wiesbaden 2015

It is widely believed that the ability to innovate cannot be prescribed or prescribed. However, different means or drivers can promote the ability to innovate and make innovations more likely to occur. Possible drivers of innovation are:

Continuous competence development
Companies must support a process of systematic and lifelong competence development for all employees. In addition, due to the departure of older employees, many years of experience must be secured at an early stage and passed on to new employees. The one-time professional qualification is therefore replaced by lifelong learning in the work process, through which knowledge and the ability to apply it can be constantly adapted and expanded.
Holistic innovation management
Good management is just as relevant to innovations as it is to all other areas of corporate governance. Only when the management team signals that they are open to ideas and creativity and want to invest in innovations can the innovation potential of the entire company be fully exploited. The success or failure of innovation projects therefore depends on the importance management actually attaches to the innovation process.
Work-life balance
Measures to establish and continuously maintain a balance between work and private life are considered to be central instruments to ensure the innovative ability of companies in the long term. Companies are faced with the challenge of developing concepts for a generation-specific and individually adapted work-life balance, with the help of which suitable working time models can be developed and practiced for the various phases of professional life.
Innovative forms of work organization
In order for companies and people to remain motivated, able to act and, above all, to remain innovative, extensive modifications of the work organization that are geared towards the use and promotion of human capital are required. Against this background, companies must introduce innovative forms of work design that open up the scope for learning (e.g. team learning) and allow opportunities to develop skills (e.g. teamwork).
Management of uncertainty
Efficient strategies for coping with uncertainty are based on subjective experience-based knowledge and other implicit knowledge. This results in a need for learning and knowledge that, due to its specificity and topicality, can only be acquired through learning in the process of work. For companies, the step towards a continuously learning organization is therefore a basic requirement in order to remain competitive and innovative in an uncertain and unpredictable future.
health Management
Corporate health management is an important competitive factor, as it includes the health, satisfaction and motivation of employees as strategic factors in the mission statement, culture, structures and processes of a company. In addition to various company offers aimed at alleviating physical complaints, offers for the treatment of psychological problems, which are the cause of many long-term health problems, must also be integrated into company health management.
Promotion of social and organizational innovations
The promotion of social and organizational innovations has an enormous influence on productivity, innovative ability and the likelihood of success of technical innovations. Social innovations are understood to be intentional, targeted reconfigurations of social practices emanating from certain actors, with the aim of solving or satisfying problems or needs better than has previously been possible through established practices. Organizational innovations, on the other hand, refer to successful structural, procedural or human-oriented innovations in modifications within organizations.
Learning-friendly corporate climate
Companies have to be tolerant of errors and rule violations to a certain extent. Because innovation arises above all when traditional approaches are abandoned and new things are tried out. It is also important that employees are involved in decision-making processes. It must be assumed that there is potential in every employee that can benefit the company.
Shortening the information channels
Knowledge can be passed on more easily and quickly if unnecessary bureaucracy processes are eliminated. Flat hierarchies also offer the opportunity to hand over responsibility to employees and encourage them to take their own initiative.
Diversity
From a business point of view, the keyword diversity or diversity management means the integration of the individual diversity of employees, as well as their emphasis in the sense of positive appreciation and the attempt to make them usable for the company's success. By exchanging different knowledge, skills and thus different perspectives of the employees, new ideas can arise. Even if contradictions arise at first, the result can be fruitful. However, diversity also means making work assignments and methods for employees diverse and varied.
Market knowledge
Information about customer needs and changes in the market should be continuously obtained in order to be able to guarantee permanent customer proximity. It is also conducive to innovation to involve customers directly in the company's work and innovation processes.
Developing successful routines and rituals
While there is a need to overcome inefficient routines, it is equally important to maintain habits that have proven effective in the past. Companies should focus on core competencies and develop a common, realistic vision and identity. This maintains healthy structures within the company and thus contributes to sustainability - a factor that plays a major role in the innovation process.

In order to promote the development of innovative ability in companies, an interaction of these and other different characteristics of innovation management is necessary.

Socio-economic importance

The ability to innovate is an important factor for growth and employment. Innovative companies are more competitive and can thus contribute to the creation or maintenance of jobs. Thus, the ability to innovate also has an impact on a society's level of prosperity. In order to involve people in innovation processes and to make optimal use of their potential, their personal skills are encouraged in innovative companies. A humane work design is also a decisive factor for the long-term sustainability of a company.

Political significance for Germany and Europe

Politics drafts framework conditions under which individuals, groups, organizations and networks are enabled to continuously produce a high number of innovations. With the “ High-Tech Strategy ” project, the Federal Government is promoting Germany's ability to innovate as a business location. From 2006 to 2009, 14.6 billion euros flowed into 17 future fields and related cross-sectional activities. Topics are for example biotechnology, energy research, but also humane work design. The high-tech strategy for Germany aims in particular at closer networking between science, business and politics. Transfer channels are to be created that enable an efficient conversion of scientific knowledge and ideas into marketable products.

The BMBF funding program “Working - Learning - Developing Skills. The ability to innovate in a modern working world ”, as part of the high-tech strategy, aims to make practical results from the networking of work, learning and competence research usable to increase innovation in Germany. At the European level, the program contributes to the fulfillment of the development of the EU into the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economic area in the world, as called for in the Lisbon Strategy .

Operationalization of innovation ability

The factors influencing the ability to innovate are extremely complex. So far there is no generally recognized empirical basis for the operationalization of innovative capacity. It is widely recognized that innovation is the key to ensuring international competitiveness and prosperity. That is why there is an international effort to assess the innovative capacity of one's own national economy.

Innovation indicator Germany

The innovation indicator is a cooperation between acatech - German Academy of Science and Engineering and the Federation of German Industries (BDI). It was initiated by the BDI together with the Deutsche Telekom Foundation before acatech became a cooperation partner in 2015.

The annual innovation indicator is a comparative study of innovative strength. It records the innovation conditions in Germany as a business location and compares them in a ranking in the areas of economy, science, education, state and society as well as in an overall indicator with the world's leading industrialized and emerging countries.

The study is being carried out by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ( ISI) in collaboration with the Center for European Economic Research (ZEW).

Central results 2015

  • In the international innovation competition, Germany is shortening the gap to the front runner Switzerland and is in fifth place.
  • Overall, the top group is moving closer together, while France and China are falling behind.
  • Germany’s strengths include high-tech exports, technology-based innovations and cooperation between science and industry.
  • The education system remains a weakness despite recognizable progress.
  • The shortage of skilled workers is becoming a risk: Interest in technical professions continues to decline.
  • Almost every second hidden champion worldwide comes from Germany. Overall, however, SMEs play a subordinate role in the local innovation system.
  • Only 16 percent of the funds for research and development from business are invested by SMEs, a below-average figure. In South Korea, for example, it is 27 percent.
  • Despite the many hidden champions in Germany, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) therefore play a subordinate role in the local innovation system.
  • Only every second SME does formal research and development in-house.
  • The authors of the study see funding programs aimed at SMEs as an effective lever: SMEs need better access to funding programs, foreign specialists and digital ecosystems based on the “Easy Access” principle.

Top 100

The TOP 100 benchmarking project under the patronage of Ranga Yogeshwar provides another example of measuring the innovative capacity of medium-sized companies . This procedure, which is carried out by compamedia GmbH under the scientific direction of Nikolaus Franke, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Vienna University of Economics and Business , identifies those companies that have excellent innovation processes in a nationwide and cross-industry framework. There are three size classes in which companies can qualify.

The survey procedure for qualification for the TOP 100 is subject to a fee and is implemented using a qualitative application mode.

The measurement procedure is carried out with the help of over 100 different input, process and output indicators.

Evaluation categories with regard to the potential analysis inherent in the survey (analysis of future innovation potentials ) are:

  • Top management promoting innovation
  • Innovation climate
  • Innovative processes and organization
  • Innovation marketing
  • Innovation success

In addition to the potential analysis, which serves as an indicator of future success, the TOP 100 process also provides a diagnosis of the current entrepreneurial innovation success through a benchmarking report that results from the previous company analysis and is created by Nikolaus Franke.

Innovation ability research

The traditional understanding of innovations is product, technology and market-oriented. It is only in the current change in the German economic system of the knowledge and service society that a holistic understanding of innovation is established that, in addition to technical aspects, increasingly focuses on the human, social and organizational characteristics of innovations.

Against this background, an interdisciplinary branch of science is developing with the innovation ability research, which could identify competent people and adaptable companies as decisive enablers of innovations and examine their influence in systemically limited innovation processes. Instead of researching new technologies, the focus here is on researching the conditions for innovative work and learning environments. For example, research on the ability to innovate looks for new forms of work organization, features of innovative corporate cultures or adequate personality skills in increasingly flexible working relationships. With the emphasis on the ability to innovate , the so-called "soft factors" in value creation processes are given increased attention and value. Economic activity then no longer aims solely at short-term monetary gains, but is oriented towards sustainability and is thus expanded to include human and social aspects. The innovation capability research is currently in the development phase. In addition to work and learning research, other areas of sociology, psychology and pedagogy as well as business and economists, personnel developers and engineers are increasingly involved in the formation of a research community. Interdisciplinarity is of fundamental importance for innovation research and helps to generate new ideas. The book project “Enabling Innovation”, which was published as part of the “ International Monitoring ” project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the European Social Fund ( ESF ) , offers precisely this forum for interdisciplinary and international experts from science, business and Politics and gives a practical insight into the subject of innovation.

literature

  • Gustav Bergmann, Jürgen Daub: Systemic innovation and competence management. Basics - Processes - Perspectives. 2nd Edition. Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden 2008.
  • Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF): Research and innovation for Germany. Balance sheet and perspective. Bonn, Berlin 2009.
  • Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF): Working - learning - developing skills. Ability to innovate in a modern world of work. Bonn, Berlin 2007.
  • Klaus Henning et al .: Knowledge - Innovation - Networks. Paths to sustainability. Springer, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-540-00668-0 .
  • Sabina Jeschke, Ingrid Isenhardt, Frank Hees, Sven Trantow: Enabling Innovation: Innovative Capability - German and International Perspectives. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2011, ISBN 3-642-24298-7
  • Sabina Jeschke: Innovation in the service of society: Contributions of the 3rd future forum of the BMBF. Campus Verlag, Frankfurt 2011, ISBN 3-593-39523-1 .
  • Jürgen Klippert: Contribution of participatory aspects of work design and the exchange of knowledge to innovation success. In: work. Journal for work research, work design and work policy . Issue 2/2009. Ed .: Bosch Gerhard et al. Stuttgart: Lucius & Lucius Verlagsgesellschaft mbH.
  • Jens-Uwe Meyer: The innovative ability of companies. 2nd edition, Verlag BusinessVillage, Göttingen.
  • Regine Rundnagel: Innovation and Employment - Shaping the Future. HBS working papers, ed. from the Hans Böckler Foundation, Düsseldorf 2004.
  • Stephan Zelewski, Adem Alparslan (ed.): Industry-proven solutions and tools for product development, engineering and competence management. IN: Proceedings for the + final workshop of the joint projects GINA, KOEFFIZIENT and KOWIEN, October 5th and 6th, 2004. Marketing Management Institute Braunschweig.
  • Martin Kaschny , Matthias Nolden , Siegfried Schreuder: Innovation management in medium-sized companies: strategies, implementation, practical examples. Gabler, Wiesbaden 2015, ISBN 978-3-658-02544-1 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sven Trantow et al .: The ability to innovate - Introduction to the anthology. In: Sabina Jeschke et al .: Enabling Innovation. Ability to innovate - German and international perspectives. Springer, Berlin 2011, cf. P. 3
  2. ^ Klaus Henning et al .: Knowledge - Innovation - Networks. Paths to sustainability. Springer, Berlin 2003, cf. Pp. 133 and 170.
  3. ↑ Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF): Working - learning - developing skills. Ability to innovate in a modern world of work. Bonn, Berlin 2007, cf. P. 2 ( PDF ).
  4. ↑ a b c d Gustav Bergmann, Jürgen Daub: Systemic innovation and competence management. Basics - Processes - Perspectives. 2nd Edition. Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden 2008.
  5. ↑ a b c A. Hansen, S. Trantow, A. Richert, S. Jeschke: Strategies and characteristics of the innovative capacity of small and medium-sized companies. In: S. Jeschke (Hrsg.): Innovation in the service of society: Contributions of the 3rd future forum for innovation of the BMBF. Campusverlag, Berlin / Frankfurt am Main 2011, pp. 263–285.
  6. ↑ a b A. Hansen, S. Trantow, F. Hees: Enabling Innovation: The ability of organizations to innovate against the background of central dilemmas in the modern world of work. In: WORK. Journal for work research, work design and work policy. Issue 01, 2010, pp. 53-67.
  7. ↑ a b S. Trantow, A. Hansen, A. Richert, S. Jeschke: Emergence of Innovation. Eleven Strategies to Increase Innovative Capability. In: KRE v. Huizingh, S. Conn, M. Torkkeli, I. Bitran (Eds.): Proceedings of the XXII ISPIM Conference. Lappeenranta University of Technology Press, 2011.
  8. ↑ Jürgen Klippert: Contribution of participatory aspects of work design & knowledge exchange to innovation success. In: work. Journal for work research, work design and work policy. Issue 2, 2009.
  9. ↑ Stephan Zelewski, Adem Alparslan (ed.): Industry-proven solutions and tools for product development, engineering and competence management. In: Proceedings for the final workshop of the joint projects GINA, KOEFFIZIENT and KOWIEN, October 5th and 6th, 2004. Marketing Management Institute Braunschweig.
  10. ↑ Regine Rundnagel: Innovation and Employment - Shaping the Future. HBS working papers, ed. from the Hans Böckler Foundation, Düsseldorf 2004.
  11. ↑ Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF): Research and Innovation for Germany. Balance sheet and perspective. ( Memento of the original from June 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file; 2.43 MB) Bonn, Berlin 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bmbf.de
  12. ↑ Working - learning - developing skills. Ability to innovate in a modern world of work .
  13. ↑ a b Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF): Working - learning - developing skills. Ability to innovate in a modern world of work. ( Memento of the original from October 31, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Bonn, Berlin 2007 (see p. 2) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bmbf.de
  14. ↑ Martin Kaschny, Matthias Nolden, Siegfried Schreuder: Innovation management in medium-sized companies: strategies, implementation, practical examples . Gabler, Wiesbaden 2015, ISBN 978-3-658-02544-1 .
  15. ^ Südkurier , published on June 29, 2015, accessed on November 13, 2015.
  16. ^ Homepage of the Vienna University of Economics and Business , accessed on November 13, 2015.
  17. ↑ Online article in the specialist magazine MM MaschinenMarkt , published on June 26, 2012, accessed on November 13, 2015.
  18. ^ Website of the business competitions collection biz-awards, accessed on November 13, 2015.
  19. ↑ Press area of the TOP 100 project , accessed on November 13, 2015.
  20. ↑ Press area of the TOP 100 project , accessed on November 13, 2015.
  21. ↑ Joseph Alois Schumpeter : Theory of economic development. Berlin 1993.
  22. ↑ Sabina Jeschke, Ingrid Isenhardt, Frank Hees, Sven Trantow: Enabling Innovation: Innovative Capability - German and International Perspectives. Springer, Berlin 2011, ISBN 3-642-24298-7 .