Innovation strategy

Innovation strategy is a rapidly developing specialty within the broader field of strategy. Driven by a set of thought leaders including Richard Foster, Geoffrey Moore, Peter Drucker, Clayton Christensen, Henry Chesbrough, W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne, Don Tapscott and Chris Anderson, innovation strategy is becoming a recognized body of knowledge of great importance to business leaders. See here for a list of core books in the field.

Much of this thinking originates in the technology industry. The rate of change, competitive pressures, short product life cycles, and other factors made the traditional strategy tools inadequate. In recent years, innovation strategy had broadened into a wide range of industries.

Today I was in four strategy sessions - a wireless company, a software company, an engineering consulting firm and a plumbing supplies manufacturer.  Despite the wide range of products and services, low tech and high tech - all were exciting sessions, all were filled with real passion, and all were populated by visionaries and innovators in their respective fields. The principles we'll explore in this blog applied equally well to all of them.

We're fascinated by this rapidly evolving field, and want to focus this blog on exploring and exchanging ideas about innovation strategy with fellow practitioners.  We look forward to the journey!