Elements of innovation

Elements of an ‘innovation system’ can be grouped as:

• knowledge infrastructure, including the research and development capacity and design and prototype aspects;
• human resource infrastructure, including both education and training;
• organizational climate, including aspects of finance, regulation and infrastructure;
• the linkages to primary markets, including support for demonstration;
• links to global markets, including market intelligence and export support.
• The availability of such a dynamic partnership is what will make any new innovative product, process or service competitive in a global market.

Both strategy and its implementations are critical to successful exploitation of innovation. Many innovation strategies fail not because there is something fundamentally wrong with them, but because they are not well implemented. There must be a good strategy, but also appropriate organizational structure, systems, and the right people to implement the strategy. Innovation entails dealing with new knowledge – collecting information and turning it into new products or services. How successful an organization is in doing so is a function of the organisation’s capacity to collect and process that information, and of the nature of the information itself. Finally, one needs to understand theory in order to apply it. Concepts, models, and theories that are learned and not practiced evaporate quickly.