Innovation is set to shape the future of business. Without it, companies perish. Innovation is something that is new, useful, and utilized. Innovation impacts both the top and bottom lines. But what does innovation mean in practice for your specific business?
Innovation Norway has a crucial societal mandate – to ensure good ideas are brought to life (and that the bad ones are forgotten). This approach fosters the growth of both existing and new companies. However, in Norway, most businesses are small, with little time or resources to develop the necessary understanding of what innovation is or how it can make their operations more resilient and competitive.
At the same time, Innovation Norway doesn’t have the capacity to reach everyone in need of their support. They possess expertise and resources, but require a form of self-help solution for building business competency.
A central objective for Innovation Norway is to broaden the understanding of what innovation entails. While many readily understand it involves developing new products, innovation encompasses much more, such as novel business models, delivery systems, or collaboration models with competitors.
Innovation Norway aimed to create a comprehensive training program to aid businesses on their innovation journey.
Specifique has extensive experience in designing educational solutions that reach many swiftly without the need for an extensive support structure. Particularly relevant for Innovation Norway is the use of dialogue mats as a “framework narrative”. Even though various conclusions may be drawn depending on who participates in a dialogue mat session, all will share a common reference point as the dialogue mat organizes and directs the topic of discussion.
Different businesses have different needs, and often there are diverse needs even within a single company. Therefore, Innovation Norway desired a solution that was all-encompassing but provided flexibility in its application and sequence.
Together with Innovation Norway, we developed four dialogue mats, each addressing a distinct topic.
- Drivers for innovation
This is the “basic training”, providing a solid understanding of why innovation is crucial and the significant drivers behind it. It’s suitable for those who have had limited exposure to innovation and need a framework to understand it. It can be used internally within a company or as a foundation for discussions and collaborations between businesses. - Collaboration areas for innovation
This offers an overview of the “innovation system”, i.e., various support schemes, ways to organize productive developmental work, and a mapping of one’s local environment status. Especially relevant in discussions between companies, for instance, under the auspices of local/regional business associations. - Areas for innovation
A significant barrier to innovation is the frequent limitation of only considering new “products”. However, innovation touches every part of the value chain. This dialogue cloth is particularly useful when a company needs a critical perspective on potential new business opportunities. - Innovation competency
Mapping one’s internal innovation competency is key to prioritizing development in business-critical areas.
The four dialogue mats can be utilized independently or as a multi-step process, depending on the business’s needs. They are compiled into one dialogue mat with multiple sections, making their use even simpler while consolidating information and discussions into a single folder.
