INNOVATION MANAGEMENT: MASTERING IDEATION

Modern companies today need to apply a range of tools that are vital if they want to stay relevant in the rapidly changing economic, political and social environment. One of these tools is Innovation Management, a rapidly developing concept that helps organizations master change, enforce innovation and inspire teams to understand the processes and goals and work as one to achieve them. Tasia Tassova, a remarkable businesswoman and entrepreneur, is one of the professionals fluent in the opportunities presented by Innovation Management. In this interview we discuss this strategic lens across robotics, digital transformation and AI.

What Innovation Management is ultimately about?

It is about fostering new ideas to systematically create value. It means new technology, human capital and complex processes are aligned with strategic goals. In order to guarantee sustainability and adapt faster than the market, Innovation Management should revolve around a cycle: identify opportunities, experiment, develop, scale and continuously improve.

Robotics is no longer limited to industrial production – it spans automation, logistics, healthcare, agriculture, you name it… Is Innovation Management in robotics a challenge?

Yes, it is a challenge, because it focuses on three parallel dimensions: mechanical design, sensing and intelligence, and integration with the business processes. The ideation stage, which is mirroring a problem-solving fit, mechanically and software-wise, is only a part of the sustainable growth. Without an innovation management mindset focusing also on the long-term scalability and stakeholder adoption as well as the ROI, it will be a significant challenge.

Can you give some examples?

Process and productivity innovation is somewhat easier to imagine in the context of automation, since we innovate on identifying those newly automated processes offering the highest return. However, it becomes trickier with cobots designed to work alongside humans, for instance, as the innovation is not just the technology. It is more than this: we are now speaking of change management, redesigning workflows and reskilling staff. Moreover, what happens with service-robots and customer satisfaction? Imagine a hospital. There, the innovation challenge lies in the user adoption, reliability and enhance, rather than replace, in my view, the human experience…

What about scalability?

It is the ability to see the big picture. Creating a robot is not a one-off engineering project. The innovation driven company designs for modularity, upgrades and integration from the start. Marketing and strategy will then follow up.

Is Digital Governance supported by Innovation Management?

Digital Governance ensures that innovation is scalable and sustainable. Transformation is a capability to trace innovation: partnerships with start-ups, cross-functional teams continuously identifying and developing new ideas, creating innovation labs… It is important to empower teams through design thinking, while encouraging experimentation and breaking silos. Building digital skills is essential. More efficient operations are enabled by workflow automation and cloud-based platforms. The customer-centric digital strategy focuses on understanding customer behaviour, mapping journeys, and using technology to remove friction, which would not take place without Innovation Management.

Do you believe that the real value of AI comes when organisations embed it into their decision-making, operations and customer experience?

No, I do not. I believe, however, in augmented intelligence which means Human + AI. Instead of replacing people, AI will enhance decision making, the end responsibility belonging to the human expert. AI is only as good as the data behind it and the people who have chosen that specific data set.

Many people would agree that successful adoption of AI requires more than building algorithms. What else does it require?

We just talked about strong governance, but it will also require change management to kick in, apart from the need for data maturity. The real value of AI will come to be as far as we begin understanding it as a tool of Innovation Management, a very important tool: valuable, ethical, scalable, explainable and integrated into human workflows. For instance, AI assisting doctors and helping financial analysts, risk managers, consultants and lawyers, among others.

Do companies need to be certified in ISO 56002 Innovation Management Systems?

Currently, ISO 56002 is not mandatory, but is a guidance standard. This is a general framework of recommended practices. If followed, the idea of this practice is to demonstrate commitment to structured innovation to investors and partners.