INSTITUTIONALIZING INNOVATION COMPETENCY THROUGH PEOPLE

Commercializing breakthrough innovation is a chronic challenge in mature industrial companies. Building a capability for breakthrough innovation that reaches beyond lone hero scientists to a sustainable management system has been the focus of the Radical Innovation Research Program, ongoing at the Industrial Research Institute since 1995. The focus of this ROR group, the current phase of the program, is on the roles and responsibilities required within a firm to institutionalize a breakthrough innovation capability or an innovation function to ensure that breakthrough innovation will occur repeatedly. Early analysis of initial data has confirmed that those working in the breakthrough innovation space continue to struggle with talent management. While companies recognize the importance of people issues in this regard, most do not have specific mandates to deal with them. While many companies are still struggling with identifying and clarifying the salient challenges in talent management for breakthrough innovation, others are experimenting with some interesting practices to develop more sophisticated expertise.