AN INNOVATION PROJECT MAP
HOW TO GET STARTED
IDEASCALE
AN INNOVATION PROJECT MAP 1
Getting Started with Innovation
Innovation is the introduction of significant, positive change. Large-scale,
small-scale – it can impact products or offerings, processes, it can introduce
new markets, and much more. And with open innovation, the solution or
change can come from anywhere, eliminating the boundaries between
industries, departments, or disciplines.
However, innovation actually begins long
before the point of inspiration in sophisticated
groups of champions and experts who are
This paper addresses: laying the groundwork and building a culture
that will sustain these changes. These teams
Objectives originate both officially and organically and
the most successful ones have laid the
Resources groundwork for innovation long before the
first idea is suggested.
Targets
To that end, IdeaScale has assembled a
Process workshop list of questions that will help
Implementation streamline the innovation process no matter
what your goals may be. Each section is
followed by a set of workshop questions that
will help you plan your innovation program.
Identify Objectives
Before you begin, it is important to know what objectives you are trying to
meet. Not simply so you can position all communications to source the best
solutions, but also because you will return to these objectives when trying to
evaluate and prioritize the final solutions at the end of the innovation
lifecycle. This will also help build a case for the success of the program.
EXPLORING CROWDSOURCING AND RISK
AN INNOVATION PROJECT MAP 24
• What goal are you trying to achieve?
• Articulate the question you are trying to answer
• What are the criteria that good ideas will be measured against?
• What are the metrics for program success? How will they be measured?
• What does the ideal idea look like? How detailed; how forward-looking; on
what topics? How can you ensure that the crowd is set up to respond to
those requirements?
• Is there value in extracting overall insights and strategic recommendations
in addition to potential solutions?
• How much participation are you expecting? How many ideas are you
expecting to get?
Identify Resources
Those organizations that identify a
team and establish champions early on
in the process are more likely to see
good ideas through to implementation.
Outlining roles and responsibilities at
the outset will ensure that there is
someone who will pave the way for
bringing ideas forward into real life.
Here are a list of roles and their
potential responsibilities:
Team Planning Meeting
Innovation Administrators
Champions or program administrators oversee the success of various
innovation programs. This person or team makes sure that participants
are reaching their targets, re-aligns efforts, and monitors the overall
success of the innovation program.
EXPLORING CROWDSOURCING AND RISK
AN INNOVATION PROJECT MAP 35
Communications
A communications team will help articulate the challenge in the most
compelling way possible. They will be the most important asset when
engaging the crowd and one of the most helpful resources when
promoting the success of the community. They will be involved at every
stage, from planning the promotion and articulating the challenge in pre-
launch, to coaching moderators during ideation, to refining ideas into
meaningful content, to sharing the next new innovation after
implementation. Successful open innovation depends on a well thought-
out communications strategy.
Moderators
Community moderators are in
charge of stimulating the
dialogue within an innovation
community. They refine
conversation, update the
crowd about idea progress,
screen for inappropriate
content and route promising
ideas to their appropriate
subject matter experts. The
IdeaScale Moderator Dashboard
number of moderators is often
determined by the size of the crowd
(small communities can have as few as one moderator and some larger,
more complex communities have a moderator for each department).
Subject Matter Experts/Review Team
Once a promising idea has been flagged, it depends on the experts to
review that idea and architect its plan for implementation. These experts
are the ones who are most aware of the resources available, the
constraints that might face a good idea, and they are also the ones with
the most insight into its potential business value. Identifying the team
that will bring these ideas to life leads to higher levels of engagement and
program success.
AN INNOVATION PROJECT MAP
EXPLORING CROWDSOURCING AND RISK 46
Legal
Many innovation challenges result in legal questions about anything
from prize rules to intellectual property. Identifying a resource to
address legal questions is useful.
Analysts
Innovation programs often generate large amounts of data. Individuals
who can parse data for quantitative and qualitative information will
help improve the dialogue as it continues and enhance all ideas that
might be received and set them in context. These analysts might also
aid in the selection process, if appropriate.
Leadership
The best innovations often require senior level buy-in. Identifying
company leadership that will help champion an innovation program
leads to higher program success. Ensuring that they are informed along
the way will also streamline the process.
Identify your budget and the core members of your team members in the
section below.
• Operating budget for the innovation program and idea
implementation:
• Innovation Administrator:
• Moderators:
• Subject Matter Experts/Review Team:
• Communications:
• Legal:
• Analysis:
• Leadership:
AN INNOVATION PROJECT MAP
EXPLORING CROWDSOURCING AND RISK 58
Identify Targets
Open innovation is dependent on casting the net wide and communicating
with as many people who can help you solve your problem as possible. When
thinking about how you can collaborate with an audience that large, it is good
to identify outreach methods, anticipated goals, and best practices before the
engagement begins:
• Identify your target audience:
• What channels will you use to reach your audience?
• How will you activate and maintain participation within a community?
• How large do you expect/want your audience to be?
Define the Process
Asking for ideas is only the beginning of the process. Ideas have to be
selected, refined, vetted, re-packaged, and presented depending on the goals
of the program and a company’s organizational structure. Identifying the
process for success within your company early-on will help ensure that ideas
don’t languish in the void, but instead begin to add value to your organization
as quickly as possible.
A high-level view of the process
would address:
Pre-‐Launch Planning: the stage
for planning and strategizing.
Idea Collec4on: the stage for
idea submission and
collaboration
Idea Refinement: the stage for
researching and refining
promising ideas 2011 Winner Meeting with Obama
Idea Review: the stage for
prioritizing and building a business
case for potential innovations:
Implementa4on: the stage for creating and launching a new innovation
EXPLORING CROWDSOURCING AND RISK
AN INNOVATION PROJECT MAP 69
• Is your ideation ongoing or time-limited?
• What are your best practices for communicating with the crowd during
ideation? How many resources will you dedicate to this stage?
• What are the stage-gates for each part of your process?
• When is an idea ready for refinement?
• What is your template for refining and articulating selected ideas?
• When is an idea ready for review?
• What vectors will ideas be evaluated against? What will their relative
weight be in determining an idea’s value?
• For valuable ideas that do not meet stated objectives, how will you utilize
their value and input?
• How often do you communicate with the larger network throughout the
ideation lifecycle?
• When and how will you promote and share successful innovation?
Plan for Success
If new innovation targets are
identified, it will then become
necessary to follow-through
on those ideas so that
organizations and individuals
can benefit from them. This
means that you have to have a
team in place that is ready to
respond to great ideas – and
that team needs to have
resources at their disposal to
deliver on the idea’s promise.
Who will be in charge of
seeing your next great idea
through to completion? How
will they share their success
with the network as a whole?
Expedition 31 Launch
EXPLORING CROWDSOURCING AND RISK
AN INNOVATION PROJECT MAP 811
Innovation and IdeaScale
The concepts introduced here cover a range of topics, but are only a brief
introduction into all of the aspects touched by an innovation initiative. The
IdeaScale Strategic Services team works hard to answer all of these questions
and more in order to make it easier for your organization to focus on making
room for significant, positive change. To learn more about strategic services,
contact IdeaScale at sales@ideascale.com.
FOR MORE INFORMATION Global / Americas New Zealand Australia United Kingdom
sales@ideascale.com +1 800-‐549-‐9198 +64-‐080-‐099-‐5088 +61-‐02-‐9037-‐8414 +44-‐0-‐808-‐189-‐1476
