Source: ISO news (www.iso.org)

Innovation isn’t just having a few bright ideas. It’s about creating value and helping organizations continuously adapt and evolve. ISO is developing a new series of International Standards on innovation management, the third of which has just been published.

Innovation is an increasingly important contributor to the success of an organization, enhancing its ability to adapt in a changing world. Novel and innovative ideas give rise to better ways of working, as well as new solutions for generating revenue and improving sustainability. It is closely linked to the resilience of an organization, in that it helps them to understand and respond to challenging contexts, seize the opportunities that that might bring and leverage the creativity of both its own people and those it deals with.

Ultimately, big ideas and new inventions are often the result of a long series of little thoughts and changes, all captured and directed in the most effective way. One of the most efficient ways of doing just that is through implementing an innovation management system.

An innovation management system provides a systemic approach to integrate innovation into all the layers of the organizations in order to seize and create opportunities for the development of new solutions, systems, products and services. The first International Standard for such systems has just been published.

ISO 56002, Innovation management — Innovation management system — Guidance, covers all aspects of innovation management, from how to generate those first sparks of an idea, right through to selling something new in the marketplace. It considers the context that an organization is working in, the culture, strategy, processes and impact. It crosses many types of activities including products and services, business models, organizational innovation and more, and is applicable to all types of organization, regardless of size or type.

Alice de Casanove, Chair of the ISO technical committee who developed the standard says ISO 56002 will help organizations increase business opportunities and their performance in a multitude of ways:

“Every organization that wants to master their future needs to incorporate some aspects of innovation management. That is, they need to evolve and adapt to keep up with market and societal trends,” she says.

“The challenge is to identify what will give them the competitive edge and create value for the future, and thus which strategic actions to take. By providing guidance on how to best capture their ideas, test them effectively and manage the risks and opportunities associated, ISO 56002 can help organizations create new value propositions and maximize their potential in a structured way.”

ISO 56002 can also help to instill a culture of innovation in an organization, adds de Casanove, thereby harnessing the creativity and motivation of every member of the organization and ultimately improving the company’s collaboration, communication and performance.

ISO 56002 complements two other documents in the series that were recently published, ISO 56003, Innovation management — Tools and methods for innovation partnership — Guidance and ISO/TR 56004, Innovation Management Assessment — Guidance.

Future additions to the series include:

• ISO 56000, Innovation management — Fundamentals and vocabulary
• ISO 56005, Innovation management — Tools and methods for intellectual property management — Guidance
• ISO 56006, Innovation management — Strategic intelligence management — Guidance
• ISO 56007, Innovation management — Idea management

The technical committee has also been working closely with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Bank in developing this series.

ISO 56002 was developed by ISO/TC 279, Innovation management, whose secretariat is held by AFNOR, ISO’s member for France. All the standards in the series can be purchased from your national ISO member or through the ISO Store.

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