Growth through innovation is much discussed these days as most other paths for growth have been exhausted. The innovations that get easy acceptance are those that create significant value for the Customer. This value should be the basis of product differentiation.
Most of the innovation initiatives in the industry are targeted for growth by extending into the technology or market adjacencies. The real opportunity for growth is through transformational innovation – new technologies for new markets. New technologies, many of them disruptive, are entering the market (Additive manufacturing, Autonomous vehicles, Delivery by Drones etc). The market needs are also continuously changing – there are times when the market is ahead of technology and there are times when the technology is ahead of the market. The synchronization of technology and the market is one of the success factors for growth through innovation.
When we develop new technologies for new markets, there are two types of risks – technology risk (we may or may not succeed in developing the technology, the technology may or may not give the expected performance) and market acceptance risk (this is about the diffusion of technology among the users). One way to mitigate these two risks is to visualize multiple scenarios of the future and systematically track the evolution of each scenario objectively. The innovations are directed by the technology paths that lead to these future scenarios.
Growth through innovation is best achieved through a systematic and well-structured approach. iEnabler’s growth framework removes the process complexity through its structured approach and systematically mitigates the risks associated with transformational innovation.
