Intellectual Capital > Innovation Capital

Innovation Capital

Innovation Capital comprises the knowledge that resides and is generated in our innovation processes throughout the enterprise. This includes patents, copyrights and other legal protection afforded to the enterprise. There will be a concentration of this knowledge in our Research & Development and our Engineering functions, but it can show up in other related areas.

Innovation Knowledge Drivers

Creativity needs a champion and also the infrastructure and leadership to be managed successfully. New ideas are fragile things, and need a lot of nursing and protection away from the deadly grasp of operations and financial constraints.

A Fast Prototyping culture needs to be created in a knowledge enterprise, with usually far higher levels of activity than has been seen so far. Fortunately this is easily measurable by cycle time techniques.

Risk Taking is non-too popular as an indoor sport, yet absolutely vital to the growth of innovation knowledge. Again, a cultural barrier may exist that must be quickly broken down in the knowledge enterprise.

Empowerment is a situation that exists within the enterprise when the staff:

- Fully understand their roles and responsibilities.
- Fully understand their objectives and their boundaries.
- Have understood that they have formal authority to complete their tasks.
- Are free to complete their tasks without fear of scolding or criticism.
- Accept the right, risk and responsibility to fail a little, but often in order to gain new knowledge.

Please see the Innovation Assessment.