Keys to successfully setting up an innovation centre

Dr. Simon Jones (CEO – Ictinos Innovation, UK) indicated these key elements to successfully set up an innovation centre. Here they are – (in cryptic format)

• Inter-disciplinarity: Disciplines do not innovate by nature. They want to protect the purity of their discipline. Look for overlaps between different disciplines. Look for places where disciplines do not exist. Look for people who are specialists in different disciplines or open to inter-discipline co-operation by nature.

• Churn: Switch people often enough. R&D teams function most optimally at the start of the project, not the end. At Ictinos Innovation people get 2-year contracts after which they must leave and are replaced by new people.

• The Leader: The leader should be able to manage highly-skilled and strong-willed individuals.

• People: Again, you need people who are predisposed towards inter-disciplinarity. People who have worked / specialized in various fields. People with hobbies or a life outside their normal professional life.

• Projects: Innovation and research should be defined in project terms, where people take ownership in the definition and delivery of the projects.

• Management and structures: Light-weight and informal and flexible. Rewarding failure.

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