ISO 56003:2019 Innovation management- Tools and methods for innovation partnership – Guidance

ISO 56003:2019 Innovation management- Tools and methods for innovation partnership – Guidance. 5.1 General Once an opportunity for innovation has been identified, the organization should conduct a gap analysis to evaluate the difference between the organization’s existing competencies, capabilities and assets and those it needs. Based on the gap analysis, the organization can decide if the project can be handled intern ally or through training, new hires and/or acquisition. For instance, when the opportunity cannot satisfactorily be handled within the organization, the organization should consider partner selection. In most cases a gap analysis produces an inventory of missing technological and organizational knowledge, competencies, capabilities and assets, which then is used to identify and select the most appropriate partner(s). It may also happen that based on the relevant internal and external issues, needs and expectations, an organization can join forces without any defined opportunity for innovation. It may have the competencies, capabilities and assets to handle the innovation initiative alone, but still prefers partnering. Other reasons for partnering may include — sharing risks (including financial risks) and addressing them more effectively, — gaining a clearer insight into an ecosystem, as part of the context of the organization (e.g. new market, sector, etc.), — motivating people (e.g. internal teams) and building unity, as part of the leadership and innovation culture that aims to enable the coexistence of creativity and actions needed to identify and deliver new solutions that realize value, — learning from benchmarking and from any other means for monitoring and evaluating the innovation capacity and performance of the organization, — reducing time to market, by enhancing planning and operational processes of the organization, — reducing costs and/or optimizing resources and assets of the organization, — establishing best practices to identify and deliver value driven new solutions, — enhancing image or reputation, and — reducing own investments. Reasons for not partnering may include a) loss of independence, b) prefer to develop capabilities internally, c) reluctance to share proprietary knowledge, and d) prefer to retain ownership of intellectual property. The result of the analysis allows the organization to decide whether to enter an innovation partnership (see 5.2 and Annex A).ISO 56003 pdf download.