Let us start with what is an innovative method. In industries facing constant uncertainty, innovation is the key to staying competitive and maintaining market relevance. Yet, despite its importance, businesses often struggle to implement effective innovation strategies. With billions of dollars lost on failed projects each year, it’s clear that innovation requires more than just good ideas – it demands the right innovation methods and tools to navigate the complexities of bringing those ideas to life.
From brainstorming to design thinking, SCAMPER, and beyond, there is no shortage of innovation methods available. Each of these approaches offers unique benefits, but they also emphasize different steps in the innovation process. For example, design thinking focuses on deeply understanding customer problems, while SCAMPER encourages creative rethinking of existing ideas through structured prompts.
In this post, we’ll explore and compare several innovation methods, breaking down their strengths, differences, and how they can be adapted to different phases of innovation, from ideation to implementation.
1. The first of the innovation methods – Brainstorming
What is Brainstorming
It is one of the widely used innovation techniques for generating a large number of ideas in a short amount of time. Brainstorming encourages open, creative thinking, where participants are free to share any idea without judgment. The process typically begins with a clear definition of the problem, followed by rapid idea generation in a group setting. The goal is to create as many ideas as possible, regardless of feasibility, which are later reviewed and refined.
Why use Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a classic method for generating a wide range of ideas during the ideation phase of innovation. It encourages open thinking and helps teams come up with different solutions. By suspending judgment at the start, brainstorming creates an environment where even unusual ideas can emerge, that often leads to creative and new solutions. It’s an excellent way to unlock creativity and gather diverse ideas, making it especially useful when starting a new project or looking for fresh approaches early on.
2. Reverse Brainstorming
What is Reverse Brainstorming
It flips the traditional brainstorming process by asking participants to focus on how to make a problem worse rather than solving it. This approach helps uncover hidden challenges or issues that might not have been considered. Once a list of ideas on how to worsen the problem is created, these ideas are reversed to find potential solutions.
Why use Reverse Brainstorming
Reverse Brainstorming is a powerful tool during the ideation phase when traditional brainstorming isn’t bringing results. By approaching the problem from an opposite angle – focusing on how to make the problem worse – this method helps teams uncover hidden insights and overlooked obstacles. It breaks mental blocks and encourages thinking in new directions, often leading to more creative and effective solutions. Reverse brainstorming is especially useful when you need fresh ideas or when conventional methods have stalled, making it a great way to push past challenges early in the innovation process.
3. SCAMPER
What is SCAMPER
It is a creative thinking technique designed to help teams come up with new ideas by modifying existing products, services, or processes. It stands for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate, and Reverse – each representing a different way to approach a challenge.
- Substitute: Consider replacing parts of a product, service, or process with alternatives.
- Combine: Merge two or more elements to create something new.
- Adapt: Adjust an existing solution to solve a different problem.
- Modify: Change the size, shape, or attributes of a product or service to improve it.
- Put to another use: Repurpose an existing solution for a different application.
- Eliminate: Remove unnecessary components or features to simplify a product or process.
- Reverse: Reorganize or rethink the way something works by flipping its structure or process.
Why use SCAMPER?
SCAMPER is a simple yet effective tool for sparking creativity during the ideation phase. It helps teams break down existing products, services, or processes into smaller parts and rethink them through a structured approach. By prompting different ways to modify or adapt elements, SCAMPER encourages thinking in new directions and opens the door to a wide range of solutions. This makes it ideal for generating both incremental improvements and more innovative breakthroughs, especially when you’re stuck and need fresh ideas.
4. Design Thinking
What is Design Thinking
It is a human-centered approach to innovation that focuses on understanding the needs of users before developing solutions. It follows five stages: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. The process starts by gaining deep insights into user needs, clearly defining the problem, brainstorming potential solutions, and then quickly prototyping and testing those ideas.
Why use Design Thinking
Design Thinking is particularly effective innovative method for solving complex problems because it puts the user at the center of the innovation process. It spans both the ideation and development stages, starting by understanding user needs and clearly defining the problem. From there, it moves into brainstorming solutions, prototyping, and testing. By testing ideas early and often, Design Thinking helps teams learn quickly and adjust, leading to more user-friendly and cost-effective outcomes. This structured approach ensures that solutions are refined based on real feedback, resulting in innovative products or services that better meet user needs.
5. Hackathon
What is hackathon
A Hackathon is a time-limited event where teams collaborate intensively to solve specific problems or create new solutions. This type of innovation techniques often lasts from a day to a week, while participants work on a defined challenge, often building prototypes or presenting innovative ideas by the end of the event. A hackathon fosters rapid experimentation, creativity, and problem-solving under tight deadlines, making it highly effective for generating fresh ideas.
Why use a Hackathon
A hackathon is a great way to drive innovation quickly by bringing together a diverse team of people who might not usually work together. It fits into both the development and testing stages, encouraging rapid prototyping and collaboration. Hackaton promotes outside-the-box thinking and creativity, often leading to solutions that traditional processes might not uncover. Plus, hackathons energize teams and foster a culture of innovation within the organization, making them a powerful tool for tackling complex challenges.
6. Blue Ocean Strategy
What is Blue Ocean Strategy
This is an innovation methods approach to business innovation that focuses on creating new market spaces, or “blue oceans,” rather than competing in overcrowded, existing markets, known as “red oceans.” The idea is to break away from the competition by offering unique value propositions, making competitors irrelevant. This strategy encourages businesses to explore untapped markets and create demand where none previously existed, often through innovation in products, services, or business models.
Why use Blue Ocean Strategy
The Blue Ocean Strategy comes into play during the execution phase, once a product or service has been tested and refined. This strategy is an effective way to escape competition and discover new opportunities for growth. By creating a market space rather than competing over existing demand, companies can achieve differentiation, lower costs, and ultimately ensure sustained profitability and long-term success.
7. Business Model Canvas
What is Business Model Canvas
It is a strategic innovation tool that helps visualize and design a company’s business model. It breaks down the core components of a business into nine key building blocks: Customer Segments, Value Propositions, Channels, Customer Relationships, Revenue Streams, Key Resources, Key Activities, Key Partnerships, and Cost Structure. By mapping out these elements, companies can clearly see how their business operates and identify areas for innovation or improvement.
Why use the Business Model Canvas
The Business Model Canvas is essential during the implementation phase as it helps companies map out how their innovation will be delivered to the market. This tool lays out the key elements of a business model, ensuring a cohesive strategy for execution. Whether you’re launching a new product or optimizing an existing business, the Business Model Canvas encourages clear thinking and collaboration, making it easier to align strategy with operations and uncover new opportunities for growth.
8. The last of the innovation techniques – Open Innovation
What is Open Innovation
It is an innovation method where organizations look beyond their internal resources for ideas and solutions, leveraging external sources such as customers, partners, and even competitors. The goal is to combine internal knowledge with external insights to accelerate innovation. By collaborating with outside experts, companies can access new ideas, technologies, and markets that may not be available within their own teams.
Why use Open Innovation
This approach broadens your innovation potential and helps tackle complex challenges faster. Instead of relying solely on internal capabilities, open innovation taps into a wider pool of expertise, often leading to more diverse and breakthrough solutions. It’s a powerful way to stay competitive and adapt to rapidly changing market conditions.
This innovation tool can be applied across the entire innovation process, from the ideation stage, where external ideas enrich internal brainstorming, to the development stage, where collaboration with external partners helps refine and co-develop new products or technologies. In the testing/prototyping stage, Open innovation allows companies to gather valuable feedback from external testers or early adopters, validating concepts before full-scale development. Finally, in the implementation/execution stage, Open Innovation helps form strategic partnerships for market entry, distribution, and scaling, accelerating the market adoption of innovations.
To facilitate this process, platforms like Crowdworx offer powerful tools to manage Open Innovation effectively. They provide a structured space for gathering ideas, engaging external contributors, and guiding the innovation journey from idea generation to implementation.
The following diagram outlines the key stages of the Open Innovation process, which can be effectively managed using the Crowdworx Open Innovation Platform, from crowdsourcing ideas to refining and implementing solutions.
Wrapping up
Innovation is critical for businesses looking to stay competitive in ever-changing markets but choosing the right innovation method can be challenging. The methods explored—such as brainstorming, reverse brainstorming, SCAMPER, design thinking, hackathons, Blue Ocean Strategy, Business Model Canvas, and open innovation—each offer unique advantages depending on your business needs and the phase of innovation you’re in. From generating ideas to structuring business models and entering new markets, understanding and selecting the appropriate approach can significantly enhance the effectiveness of your innovation efforts. By utilizing these tools, businesses can unlock creativity, solve problems more effectively, and ultimately bring innovative solutions to life.
Sources:
https://hbr.org/2014/12/choose-the-right-innovation-method-at-the-right-time
