Not only are we in the age of innovation, but some argue that we have now entered the age of hyper-innovation. This can be seen in the top digital transformation trends for 2020 as new technology inspires change in leaps and bounds. Innovation has come in waves throughout history sparked by new disruptive technology. Each wave builds on the groundwork of the previous one, which is why the waves are coming larger and faster as time goes on. Now we are experiencing greater innovation in a shorter period of time than at any point previously in history. At the center of innovation is intellectual capital, or creativity/knowledge, and it has grown even more important than physical or monetary capital in the business world. Intellectual capital is the new primary source of value creation, and it is changing the landscape of how we create business and how we do work. It is important to understand the value of intellectual capital to understand how to generate innovation within your company. The most important step of creating sustainable innovation is to manage intellectual capital in a coordinated, streamlined and participatory fashion.

The Power of Intellectual Capital

It used to be that whoever had control of the most resources had control of the most wealth; however, that is no longer the case. Today, true power lies in collecting and aggregating adaptive intelligence on a continual basis from a broad ecosystem of employees, customers, strategic partners, suppliers, academia, researchers, stakeholders, startups and many more independent third parties. Intellectual capital has the unprecedented power to disrupt an industry, which leads to a battle of the fittest that forces business to adapt or die. Think of Facebook or Apple for example; two of the world’s biggest and most recognizable brands started with college students with big, creative ideas. You do not want to be the company trying to catch up; you want to be the company leading the way, which is why the world of hyper-innovation, creativity and knowledge are the key to sustained growth and success.

How to Manage Intellectual Capital

Innovation management platforms contain many features that allow for collecting and aggregating intellectual capital from within and without an organization. Making sure your innovation ecosystem voices are heard and ideas are archived can be difficult in some situations, especially in larger, multinational organizations. However,  innovation management is the optimal solution for transparent and safe record keeping and accountability. Most importantly, this solution ensures that useful knowledge will not be lost, even after  contributors in your ecosystem part ways. Here are a couple of ways to manage and make the most of your organization’s intellectual capital:

  • Gartner, a leading global research and advisory firm, says to nurture a process for ideation with intellectual capital providers to support digital business. Likewise, the firm reinforces the importance of employee engagement to keep up with the competitive environment of innovation. An Agile Innovation solution helps to collect, evaluate, and develop ideas on an ongoing basis so that your intellectual capital is always stored and put to good use. This process ensures that good ideas can be saved for the right time and insights are not lost or accidentally ignored.
  • Crowdsourcing and open innovation are powerful methods for encouraging the sharing of knowledge and creativity. Engaged employees, partners, customers and stakeholders, among many others, can provide useful insights and creative ideas that propel your business These strategies can be easily managed by open innovation solutions that facilitate coordination, collaboration and participation, such as Online Innovation Labs.

How to Protect Intellectual Capital

Innovation is a high stakes world, and intellectual capital is highly sought after by competitors. It is common to hear about successful businesses putting in a lot of time and resources to come up with valued intellectual capital that is stolen by a partner or investor for profit elsewhere. It is crucial that you apply for patents—and a lot of them. These applications should cover not only your invention or product but also your innovation process. Design patents and copyrights are important. The protection and security of intellectual capital is serious, from both outsiders and insiders. Of course, the key to agile innovation is transparency. This is not a bad thing, but it does mean that extra legal precaution should be taken where necessary.

Intellectual capital is the key to innovation. It is an invaluable resource that should be collected, managed, and protected;an all-in-one agile innovation management platform turns knowledge and creativity into a powerful and invaluable weapon  for the modern enterprise in the age of hyper-innovation.

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