In an increasingly complex world, it is no longer enough to hope that innovation will emerge spontaneously. Innovation must be organized and made an available resource, just as a service organization offers support and help when needed. Instead of trying to reduce or control complexity, we need to create organizations that can live and function in the midst of it. Building innovation readiness is crucial: an ability to quickly capture challenges, formulate problems, and create solutions in real time.
Innovation on Demand is about exactly this. Always being ready to act when new needs and opportunities arise. To do this, you need both structure and culture, as well as the right tools and places that support creativity and creation.
Diversity in teams
One of the cornerstones of enabling innovation on demand is having teams with broad and varied skills. When a challenge arises, you need to be able to quickly see it from multiple perspectives: technical, economic, social, aesthetic, ecological, etc. A team where everyone thinks the same risks missing crucial angles or getting stuck in old solutions. But a diverse team, with different backgrounds and experiences, can discover opportunities that would otherwise have gone unnoticed. It’s not just about competence on paper, it’s about real diversity in the way you think, interpret and create.
A physical place for creation
In order for innovation to not just stop at ideas, places are needed where you can build, test and develop quickly. Makerspaces, prototype workshops and creative labs become the organization’s tools for transforming ideas into action. By having tools, materials and surfaces for experimentation always available, teams can quickly sketch a solution, build a first version and see what works in practice. Innovation must be both physical and mobile, and a dedicated place for creation lowers the threshold between idea and implementation.
Fast and experienced framing of challenges
When a complex challenge arises, it is crucial to be able to quickly frame the problem and initiate an innovation process. Experience and training play a huge role here. It’s about not getting stuck in analysis for months, but quickly gathering the right people, defining an initial understanding of the challenge, and starting to work with prototypes and insights. Innovation work is not built on perfect plans, but on the ability to create direction and momentum, and then adjust along the way. The most successful innovation organizations are those that understand that speed and flexibility beat slow perfection every time.
A creative culture
No tools or processes in the world can compensate for a culture that stifles new thinking. Therefore, an innovation service must also build and nurture a culture where creativity is natural and valuable. Such a culture is about encouraging questions rather than quick answers, rewarding courageous attempts even when they fail, and creating a climate where curiosity is seen as an asset. When people dare to think differently and try new paths without fear of failure, enormous innovative power is released.
Innovation as a living and ongoing service
Innovation on Demand means that innovation is not seen as a project, but as a continuous service function in the organization. Just as we can always get technical support or customer service support, we must also be able to get innovation support when new problems or opportunities arise. This means building a constant readiness: teams, tools, premises and processes that are ready to be activated. When innovation becomes a natural part of everyday business, we can face change with curiosity and creativity instead of fear.
Innovation on demand requires a conscious choice: creating structures, places, culture and leadership that make innovation available every day – not just when we have time.
