If your company's innovation efforts are not providing the results you want, you are not alone. Even with robust teams, innovation centers and heavy investments, most companies struggle to commercialize their ideas at scale.
But there is another way: vertical innovation. This was the process of Brent Duersch, managing director of Cleveland's world-renowned Ey-Nottingham Spirk Innovation Hub, and John Nottingham, co-CEO of Nottingham Spirk, taught by participants at the recent Manufacturing Leadership Summit.
Why listen to these people? This figure is only 5% of the approximately 12 million patents filed in the US, only 5% have reached commercialization. However, Nottingham Spilk's “vertical innovation” process reverses the equation, with an astonishing 95% commercialization rate across more than 1,350 patents over decades.
According to Nottingham and Duelsch, the secret is to eliminate the siloed approach that destined for most corporate innovation efforts, replacing it with an integrated approach that allows trans-working teams to work together from start to finish and maintain momentum throughout the development process.
“We have market research, design, engineering, prototyping, IoT, supply chain, AI. Everyone is in the vehicle together,” Nottingham said using the SUV's ratio phors that run through Quicksand. “Now we have enough gas to get there. We have a commitment through thick and thin things.
The vertical innovation approach has driven Nottingham Spilk to thousands of amazing commercial successes, including the first affordable electric toothbrushes to sell at retail stores, such as Little Tykeskers and Crest Spin Brush. The engineer initially said it would be impossible to create a fully functional electric toothbrush at that price range. “I got it for $1.25,” Nottingham said. “We sold one billion of those, which is the world's best-selling toothbrush in 37 countries.”
Beyond the core processes, Duersch highlighted several key factors that determine the success of innovation.
1. They have a clear innovation strategy, not a slogan or wish list. “If it looks good on a t-shirt, it's not a strategy,” says Duersch. “Without an ineffective alternative, it's not a strategy.” Actual strategy means making tough choices about what you don't pursue.
2. Proactively manage your innovation portfolio. Avoid both the “prayer” approach (starting an initiative and hoping something will work) and the tendency to chase shiny objects rather than business value. “Show me how it rings the register,” Duersch said. “Show us how productivity, quality and margins are improving.”
3. Build a team with the right mindset and skills. “I'm looking for someone who's empathic, curious and persistent,” Duersch said. “Permanence is when you wake up every day, run at full speed on a brick wall, dust off the next morning and start running towards the next brick wall, because that's the innovation.”
The ideal innovator is “T-shaped people.” There is depth in certain areas, but wider in adjacent areas. Equally important is to have a dedicated innovation staff rather than asking everyone to devote their share of time to innovation.
“If innovation is everyone's job, it will always take the back seat for the operational fire drills that day,” Duarth explained. “Everyone has a great day at the forefront of innovation until the right track doesn't appear.”
4. Create an environment suitable for innovation. Nottingham Spirk houses an Innovation Hub in a converted 90-year-old church. This is a choice inspired by Pixar's headquarters.
“The architecture of the church is designed for inspiration,” Nottingham said. “It's designed to lift yourself up and think you can do anything.”
5. Apply discipline to the process. A successful innovation journey usually takes 12 months from idea to commercialization, with clear deadlines and accountability.
“Get your SUV, get the people in it, then give them a deadline,” advised Nottingham. “Take it all the way to the end and have a budget that makes it a priority.”
According to Duersch, the most dangerous innovation killers are the trend of pulling back to uncertain times. “Your competitors will have to wait, so don't give them the impulse when you're unsure when you say, 'I don't want to invest in innovation right now',” he warned. “If we're going to do something big, now is the time.”
