Measuring innovation performance and innovation capabilities

Purpose and goal

The knowledge of how companies can measure innovation is severely limited, both practically and theoretically, and existing knowledge is under review due to external changes. Also needed is new knowledge about how companies build up innovative capabilities. The goal of the pre-study was to contribute to these two related areas. Based on the pre-study has identified the ´state-of-the-art´ both practically and academically and explored the possibilities of measuring innovation and innovation capability. The result is that we have identified three key challenges.

Results and expected effects

The results of the pilot study are limited, and can be fully realized only in the main project, but have yet led to concrete results. The workshops we have conducted in the companies has stimulated a debate on innovation measurement, innovation, and building a capacity for innovation. Similarly, the final workshop with about 10 companies allowed the dissemination and discussion of the results to a wider group of companies. We believe that all participants improved their knowledge of innovative work through learning between the individuals in the workshop and from the research frontier.

Approach and implementation

In the pre-study, we conducted interviews and several workshops, in three cases firms, but also with a wider reference group of companies, to ensure the dissemination of knowledge, and to generalize the project results beyond our case companies. We have also analyzed the research literature and the popular scientific literature on innovation measurement. We note that there is a need to create new knowledge about metrics, indicators and models that better reflect current global trends, but also to improve knowledge on how companies can build their innovative capacity.