How Big Companies should scout for Innovation
Most companies spend more time and money scouting trends and emerging technologies than they do sharing the results of that work.
Is that your company's reality?
Executives understand that they need a radar, a way to capture early signals on emerging trends and business opportunities.
But what happens next?
You go to conferences, incubators, and accelerators, exchange business cards, and then what?
Is it only theater? Unless you make these discussions relevant to your business, it is!
You need focus, management support, funding, and above all aim at piloting solutions to validate your initial hypothesis.
There are threats in not acting fast enough, but equally high are the risks of a hasty and high-priced startup acquisition! Validation is key.
And you should not only rely on external parties.
People in your organization can be valuable change agents, sensors that provide important signals to your decision-making process.
That means the scouting process itself needs to become more inclusive, Information needs to be shared more broadly than it is today.
The scouting process itself has to be become action driven.
Focused on solutions, tackling portfolio gaps and opportunities.
This post was inspired by a recent article Harvard Business Review