Innovation opportunities do not magically “pop-up” out of the blue, be it in R&D laboratories or brainstorming sessions. They emerge when organizations “learn to learn” from multiple internal and external sources, increasing their knowledge and intellectual capital by “thinking in new boxes,” mixing, maturing and combining multiple insights and inspirations.

The third innovation management challenge is therefore to effectively identify innovation opportunities, by developing the capabilities to systematically develop, screen, protect and combine both organizational and external sources of innovations.

Adapted from Gailly B. (2018), Navigating Innovation. Reproduced with permission of Palgrave Macmillan.