Global Innovation Study Confirms In Search of Innovative Problems Model
In In Search of Innovative Problems, we set out a reusable, repeatable methodology and a set of practical tools to seek out and identify innovative problems (when neither the problem nor the solution are known) and transform them to known problems that can be solved. A key element of the methodology was an intense focus on the customer. As we said, it is the user base that knows the product best.
A just-released international study by Strategy&, formerly Booz and Company and now part of the PWC family, strongly supports the conclusion that our model is the future of innovation. The 2014 edition of the Global Innovation 1000 study, now in its tenth year, classifies companies into three innovation models: Need Seekers, Market Readers and Technology Drivers. The authors of the study find that Need Seekers, such as Apple, Procter & Gamble, and Tesla, make a point of using superior insights about customers’ stated and unstated needs to generate new ideas. They conclude that companies following the Need Seekers model are inherently innovation advantaged.
Our model not only focuses on customers but also recommends seeking out insights from company employees, dealers, sales, service and other members of the distribution channel. The Global Innovation study confirms our recommendations and tells Need Seekers that they should improve their model in the coming decade by seeking out new ideas not only from customers but from suppliers, competitors and other industries in the delivery chain.
Using the 10 Signposts of Innovation to navigate in the enhanced Need Seekers model will be a key element of success in the future. It will allow innovators to identify areas where innovative problems reside, to find the unstated customer needs of the future and to be the first to address them. Successful innovators will be in a position to better align their innovation strategy with their business strategy.
The Global Innovation study supports our main contention — the best innovators of the future will be problem seekers.
Read more about the 2014 edition of the Global Innovation 1000 Study at Strategy&
© Brian Leitten & Bradley Strock 2014
