Everyday innovation report - Nesta
Everyday innovation report - Nesta
Everyday innovation report - Nesta
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Figure 1: Response to the current economic climate<br />
The focus on <strong>innovation</strong><br />
will be reinforced<br />
Team members will become more cooperative<br />
and willing to combine their efforts<br />
Individuals will be given more freedom<br />
and opportunities to innovate<br />
Executives will spend more time on<br />
<strong>innovation</strong> than day-to-day operations<br />
Control will become more centralised<br />
Competition amongst team<br />
members will intensify<br />
Available resources for<br />
<strong>innovation</strong> will be reduced<br />
The percentage of workforce time<br />
dedicated to <strong>innovation</strong> will decrease<br />
Reliance on more traditional work<br />
methods will be increased<br />
Information flow will be restricted<br />
<strong>innovation</strong> has a key role to play in climbing<br />
out of a recession. However, over half of<br />
respondents also agreed or strongly agreed<br />
that ‘control will become more centralised’ and<br />
a third agreed that ‘competition amongst team<br />
members would intensify’ both of which some<br />
researchers argue are inhibitors to innovative<br />
working.<br />
Our interviewee responses also indicate that<br />
whilst some organisations view the current<br />
economic climate as a strong incentive to<br />
innovate in all aspects of their business,<br />
others <strong>report</strong> focusing on certain types of<br />
innovative working, like incremental <strong>innovation</strong><br />
in business processes, which typically require<br />
fewer resources than more radical forms of<br />
<strong>innovation</strong>. “Innovation is usually associated<br />
with the creation of new products but in this<br />
climate the focus will shift to cost-effective<br />
ways of optimising what we have” (Peter<br />
Harrison, Innovation Manager at Entheo, a<br />
Facilitators<br />
Inhibitors<br />
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100<br />
Percentage<br />
70 19 10 1<br />
54 28 17 1<br />
47 28 24 1<br />
24 31 42 3<br />
52 23 24 1<br />
38 33 28 1<br />
33 27 38 2<br />
24 31 44 1<br />
21 26 52 1<br />
17 23 58 2<br />
Strongly agree/agree Strongly Disagree/Disagree<br />
Neither Agree nor Disagree<br />
Don’t know<br />
Base: N=824-846 as non-responses are not included in the calculation of proportions<br />
UK-based <strong>innovation</strong> and change consultancy).<br />
“The economic crisis should be used as a<br />
catalyst for <strong>innovation</strong>. If that opportunity is<br />
not taken, the long-term costs can be ever<br />
greater. Playing it safe by choosing less risky<br />
projects is a strategy that we have adopted in<br />
the past and it failed; it is not the right way to<br />
do things for us”. (Claire Whitaker, Director at<br />
Serious, an international music producer).<br />
Whilst most organisations acknowledge<br />
<strong>innovation</strong> as vital for their long-term success,<br />
the literature shows that in a recession many<br />
businesses typically sacrifice the financial<br />
resources dedicated to <strong>innovation</strong>. This is<br />
confirmed in our survey results, where a third<br />
of respondents consider that the available<br />
resources for <strong>innovation</strong> will be reduced as<br />
a result of the current economic situation<br />
(see Figure 1). Furthermore, almost a third of<br />
organisations surveyed <strong>report</strong>ed that resources<br />
and facilities were currently not readily<br />
13