Seventy percent of organizations are talking more about innovation this year than they were a year ago, but they are still struggling to move beyond talk to putting ideas into action, according to a June "pulse" survey by APQC.
Marissa Brown, senior program manager, innovation and product development, says APQC has observed that organizations are using their time in the current recession to retrench, refocus, and prepare for when things turn around. "They want to be sure that they have solid processes for getting good ideas and putting them in motion," she says. "Innovation and product development professionals need to learn best practices in this area, but given travel restrictions, can't necessarily travel to hear what others are doing."
To that end, Brown reveals that APQC is planning a new, all-virtual collaborative research project to see what has changed since its 2005 study, Innovation: Putting Ideas Into Action. "While successful innovation might be hard, learning about it shouldn't be," Brown says.
