Idea management: A life-cycle perspective on innovation

Innovation is rapidly becoming a strategic priority, but there is a large gap between the perceived importance of innovation and the effectiveness and appropriateness of approaches and methods used to systematically support and accelerate innovation. This paper presents results and conclusions from a new Idea Management concept that has been developed, introduced and tested in two company-wide idea campaigns in a Norwegian consulting company. This Idea Management concept is based on a life-cycle perspective on innovation, where the aim is to support all phases from insight to post-implementation learning and feedback. The overall concept is described, and comparative analyses of the two idea campaigns and three different Idea Management categories are provided together with conclusions and recommendations for companies interested in improving their Idea Management practices.