Managing innovation - creating value from ideas
Episodes
The gold in the mine - why your best ideas might already be on your payroll
15 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
You can find a transcript hereAre you missing out on your organization’s greatest untapped resource? Many companies look outward for the next big id...
One night in Bangkok...
23 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Power of the "Innovation Mash-Up"Ever had a memory so vivid you’d swear it was true, only to find out you made it up? In this episode,...
Fighting a Different Kind of War: Inside the WFP Innovation Accelerator
19 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In a world that has moved beyond "VUCA" (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) to become BANI—Brittle, Anxious, Non-linear, and Inco...
The invisible man of innovation
21 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever used a safety pin, a fountain pen, or a sewing machine? You might know the famous brands behind them, but you likely don’t know the ma...
A Winter's Tale
04 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A seasonal story to inspire some New year's innovation (re) thinking...On a cold Christmas Eve, Jimmy Weston sits in a crowded wine bar with a cru...
Murder on the dance-floor - why your organization needs innovation routines
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why does innovation often feel like awkward "dad-dancing" at a party? Because repeating success requires more than just luck—it demands di...
Gadgets or global good - why we need hopeful innovation
05 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We're in something of an 'invention crisis'. On one side, you have the latest futuristic gadgets—like a stringless AI guitar or a robot ...
Sewing up the competition: The larger-than-life story of Isaac Merritt Singer
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
(You can find a transcript here)Isaac Merritt Singer, the "father of the sewing machine" , was a larger-than-life character whose life was a...
Innovation on a plate
29 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ever wonder what happens when a devastating setback becomes the spark for a revolution? The remarkable story of Josiah Wedgwood is a masterclass in tu...
Sweeping the floor with innovation
18 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The humble vacuum cleaner is a household hero, but its story is far from simple. It's a fascinating saga of grit, genius, and a little bit of luck...
Innovation alchemy: How an unlikley partnership sparked a global inudtsry
29 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the ‘Managing innovation’ podcast, where we uncover the stories behind some of history's most fascinating innovations! In this epi...
Connecting the world
30 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Skype is no more. The familiar blue and white logo has quietly disappeared, retired by Microsoft back in May. But this was always much more than a po...
Fashioning an innovation revolution
04 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This May marks a huge anniversary for a brand that utterly transformed the way we dress, a company that became a chameleon, adapting instantly to the ...
Neuroplastic entrepreneurs!
13 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Neuroplasticity, the brain's ability to rewire itself, is a powerful tool for entrepreneurs. This video explores how this capability allows indivi...
Audacious bubbles - the secret ingredient in innovation success
18 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A classic story of entrepreneurial grit, a passion for something and the willingness to persevere when things don’t go quite according to plan. Cent...
Working backwards to move forward – a surprising recipe for innovation success
20 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode explores PR/FAQ in a fascinating interview withMarcelo Calbucci, an experienced entrepreneur who has extensive hands-on experience of usi...
The data alchemists - how an entrepreneurial couple helped start a retail revolution
06 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The story of dunnhumby, a small entreprenurial business which changed the face of retailing by bringing the concept of consumer data science into the ...
Paralysed by possibilities? How to get to grips with AI
07 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We grow through what we know. Put simply that’s at the heart of the innovation equation. Innovation is creating value from ideas, a journey which st...
Inspiration for innovation
25 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Fifty years ago and Keith Jarrett created a legendary performance which was captured on record and became the best selling solo piano album of all tim...
Beating the bougainvillea blues
05 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Managing innovation isn’t a matter of abstract systems or process flow charts; it's much closer to the challenge of planting and tending an orchard....
Dear Santa...
17 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s the time of year when letters are getting hastily scribbled and sent to the old gentleman in Lapland expressing preferences for possible presen...
AI through the rear-view mirror
06 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What we can learn from the past to help navigate the AI storm This podcast looks back at the experience of earlier technological revolutions to find s...
Flying the flag for innovation
15 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How having an innovation management standard can help — and why it might get in the way (you can find a transcript for this podcast at the 'Man...
Bridging different worlds - unlocking the power of recombinant innovation
21 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You can find a transcript together with many other innovation-related resources at my website here
Continuing continuous improvement
04 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You can find a transcript together with many other innovation-related resources at my website here
Irresponsible innovation anyone?
12 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Why innovation isn't always a good thing - and what we can do to manage that. You can find a transcript, together with many other resources - video, a...
Hitching a ride to higher productivity
20 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You can find a transcript, together with many other resources - video, audio, cases, tools, activities, etc - to help explore innovation management at...
Cartography matters! - the importance of maps in navigating the uncertain journey of innovation
21 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You can find a transcript on my website here together with many other resources - blogs, videos, cases, tools, interviews - to help you explore the wo...
Impact intrepreneurship - leveraging the power of organizations for social innovation
03 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You can find a transcript on my website here together with many other resources - blogs, videos, cases, tools, interviews - to help you explore ...
In the (innovation) soup....
26 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You can find a transcript on my website here together with many other resources - blogs, videos, cases, tools, interviews - to help you explore ...
AI is a no-brainer...
23 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You can find a transcript on my website here together with many other resources - blogs, videos, cases, tools, interviews - to help you explore ...
Irrelevant innovation
27 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You can find a transcript on my website here together with many other resources - blogs, videos, cases, tools, interviews - to help you explore ...
It's not (only) what you know...
02 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You can find a transcript on my website here together with many other resources - blogs, videos, cases, tools, interviews - to help you explore ...
Beating the scaling innovation blues
13 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You can find a transcript on my website here together with many other resources - blogs, videos, cases, tools, interviews - to help you explore ...
Changing the world, one innovation at a time
22 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You can find a transcript on my website here together with many other resources - blogs, videos, cases, tools, interviews - to help you explore ...
Innovation lessons - from a skateboard!
25 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You can find a transcript on my website here together with many other resources - blogs, videos, cases, tools, interviews - to help you explore ...
Innovation is rubbish!
14 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
You can find a transcript on my website here together with many other resources - blogs, videos, cases, tools, interviews - to help you explore ...
A Christmas innovation fairytale
22 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Some seasonal thoughts to accompany all good wishes....! You can find a transcript of this, together with many other resources - video, audio, cases, ...
Start-up success - an interview with Faisal Abid, Co-founder and CTO of Eirene Cremations
06 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Faisal Abid shares some fascinating insights into the do's - and don't's of trying to launch and grow a new venture, drawing on his experience in foun...
Pathways to scale
25 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Taking an innovation from a small-sized success story to something which delivers value at scale is not an easy one. You can find a transcript of th...
Growing up fast
09 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This podcast features Zach Rattner, founder of Yembo and author of ‘Grow up fast!’, a great book which captures some powerful learning about innov...
Tell 'em a story - another innovation song
31 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Innovation is all about trying to convince others — people to help develop your idea, sponsors to back you, markets to buy in to your great new thin...
Prove it to me!
16 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Why evidence is so important for scaling innovation A good idea will sell itself, right? Unfortunately not – Emerson was spectacularly wrong when he...
The entrepreneur's journey - another song
04 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
I'm running a course on entrepreneurship and was looking for a way to help students remember some key milestones on the journey - value proposition, m...
Unlocking creativity
07 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This podcast explores some of the key lessons we've learned from research into creativity. You can find a transcript here, together with...
The power of position innovation
14 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How creating experiences for underserved markets can be a key innovation strategy You can find a transcript here, together with many ot...
Crystallising the spirit of innovation
07 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
An interview with Hannes Erler, Strategic Director for Innovation Ecosystems, Swarovski. This wide-ranging interview looks back at how a major Europea...
Why value networks matter in scaling innovation
16 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Innovation needs ‘complementary assets’ – the ‘who else?’ and ‘what else?’ pieces of your innovation jigsaw puzzle. This podcast explore...
Cracking the innovation code - an interview with Robyn Bolton
28 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This episode offers an enlightening conversation with Robyn Bolton, founder and ‘Chief Navigator’ of Milezero, a consultancy specialising in helpi...
Time for innovation
14 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This podcast explores the complex links between time and innovation. You can find a transcript here, together with many other innovatio...
Cooking up some innovation magic
20 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This podcast offers a case study of Instituto Caldeira, a successful innovation hub which has helped transform the city of Porto Alegre in Brazil thro...
Underground innovation - how giving people space can amplify innovation efforts
25 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
By their nature people are innovators, full of ideas which can often lead to significant value-creating innovations. This podcast explores the ways in...
IMPACT - Building values-based innovation cultures for sustainable business impact – an interview with Prof. Dr. Henning Breuer
12 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sustainability matters - of course. You'd have to be living in a bubble not to be aware of the wide-ranging conversation on this theme. But how to tra...
A flop is not a failure...
22 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Changing our mental models about what we do and how we do it can be an important trigger for new directions - innovation. This podcast explores the id...
Innovation - we've got it taped!
06 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This podcast looks at the history of data storage, from the early days of recording sound to today's huge data management tools. In its patterns of ra...
Innovating innovation
01 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Machine learning (AI) has its roots back in experiments with ‘artificial intelligence’ in the 1970s but has come to represent a powerful technolog...
If at first you don't succeed...
20 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What do Mickey Mouse, vacuum cleaners, air travel and light-bulbs have in common? More than you’d think, especially if you look to the originators o...
Delivering innovation
10 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
2022 was a record year for home delivery of parcels and packages. After the Covid-19 lockdowns the idea of remote shopping became an even bigger reali...
A letter to (Innovation) Santa....
27 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Christmas, as my 6 year old never tires of reminding me, is coming. Never mind that technically it’s a month away and forget the efforts I make, Scr...
Playing the innovation game
20 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Birds do it. Bees do it. Even educated fleas do it….. Well, I’m not sure about the last one but someone somewhere has probably done some research ...
Ice cream dreams
04 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ice cream and innovation may seem unlikely bedfellows but as this podcast tries to show there's a lot of useful lessons to be found in exploring the i...
Don't kick the copier!
15 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Innovation isn't a solo act - it depends on sharing and shaping ideas. And one underestimated place where this happens is within what is called a 'com...
Open innovation - another innovation song
09 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This one was written in part as a contribution to the retirement celebrations of the Father of Open Innovation, Henry Chesbrough ...... Yo...
Two timing innovation
28 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Multiple independent invention is surprisingly common — there have been many research studies highlighting the pattern. Examples include the blast ...
Scaling innovation
11 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Innovation isn't just a matter of fighting through the challenges of the start-up. That's only halfway along the journey to real impact - and the chal...
Digital is different?
21 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There’s no shortage of scary headlines reminding us of the looming challenge of digital transformation. The message is clear. On the one hand if we ...
Why creative conflict matters in innovation
17 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Is your innovation team full of 'nodders'? That's the wonderful name P.G.Wodehouse gave to the 'yes-man' characters in his books about the early days ...
Managing knowledge spaghetti
24 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Innovation is all about knowledge spaghetti.Just like a plate of pasta innovation involves many different strands. Only this time we are talking about...
Releasing the power of users - why healthcare innovation is going to depend increasingly on the insights of patients
06 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We’re all going to depend increasingly on healthcare innovation for the quality of our future lives. Keeping ourselves healthy, coping with chronic ...
The suggestion box strikes back
17 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The suggestion box sounds like a very old approach to the challenge of high involvement innovation - how to engage the majority of people in an organi...
At the Innovation Ball - another innovation song..
27 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Innovation is all about uncertainty - no-one knows quite what's around the corner. So there's a limit to how far we can plan to work with it - and ins...
Making innovation count - why measurement matters
03 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The great management writer W. Edwards Deming had a powerful introduction to his talks on quality management. Pulling out a dollar bill and waving it ...
Not invented here? Why letting go is sometimes the hardest part of innovation
20 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
History is full of examples of innovations which, despite their promise, have been resisted by established players – the ‘not invented here’ (NI...
Everyday entrepreneurs
10 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Here’s a challenge. Close your eyes and try to visualise an entrepreneur. There’s a good chance that what you’ve come up with will be one of th...
Learning to create the digital future
20 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What kinds of skills are going to be needed in organizations as they move towards an increasingly ‘phygital’ (= hybrid physical and digital) world...
Delivering digital transformation - an interview with Alan Brown
10 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe challenge of digital innovation is everywhere. It’s hard to escape the talk of ‘revolutionary impact’ or ‘digital disruptio...
Moving to an online world of innovation training
06 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textPodcasts are a bit like London buses. You wait a long time and then three come along all at once! This week we feature more in the ser...
Successful alchemy
25 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis is the story of the development of porcelain, a series of innovations which enabled the creation of beautiful artefacts and a globa...
Shaping the future learning landscape for innovation
19 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe development of skills and capabilities to work with innovation is becoming essential — they are no longer the province of speciali...
Priming the innovation pump
01 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textYou don’t get to be 150 years old just by being lucky. German pump-maker Wilo is paused to celebrate its big anniversary next year an...
Learning into the future
21 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textInnovation matters — of course. It’s the driving force behind economic and social change and underpins our evolution as a civilised ...
Playing to learn - and learning to play
08 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWatch any group of kids at play and you can remind yourself that this is something which comes naturally. It should do; evolutionary psy...
Going with the flow
29 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textSometimes it’s the simplest ideas which change the world. A metal box which can be easily loaded and unloaded transformed the pattern ...
Sustainability-led innovation
14 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe sustainability challenge.Maybe you’re a pessimist, seeing dire threats in global warming, worrying about the rate at which we’re...
Flying high with great ideas...
02 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textTry this. Get hold of a group of people, mostly strangers, and have them gather at the opposite side of a large room. Now run very fast ...
The power of problem exploration
18 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a text‘Houston, we’ve had a problem here’. John Swigert’s famous words, delivered in a voice as calm and clear as the mountain air in ...
Old kids on the innovation block
13 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIt’s sometimes easy to forget that even the world’s largest companies were once start-ups. And a key feature of start-ups (the succe...
Learning to manage innovation - a glimpse into the future
30 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWe need innovation more than ever. But we also need to be able to make it happen effectively, to be able to repeat the trick. There’s...
Crisis innovation - another innovation song
13 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textTime for another innovation song....This formed part of my keynote session with Tim Minshall at the R&D Management conference last w...
Transacting innovation ideas...
30 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textISPIM - the International Society for Professional Innovation Management - holds an annula conference which is always a good place to bu...
Innovating with diversity
18 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAn interview with Henry Rose LeeVariety is the spice of life - and diversity is the driver of innovation. There’s a great deal of res...
Mastering the craft of innovation
10 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe idea of learning a craft offers us a useful metaphor for the world of innovation. We know it’s not magic - creating value from ide...
Collaborative innovation
28 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a text‘With every pair of hands you get a free brain!’ This flash of the blindingly obvious underpins the growing awareness in organizati...
Metacognition....
18 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMetacognition. Sounds a good word and it's certainly an important one. The dictionary defines it as ‘thinking about thinking’, self-...
Diving deep for innovation - an interview with Gavin McClafferty
02 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDiving deep for innovationFor many years Gavin McClafferty was Innovation Manager with Subsea 7, a major player in the highly specialise...
Managing innovation in the humanitarian aid sector
22 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWe often talk about innovation being a survival issue - but in the context of humanitarian aid it takes on a very literal meaning. Cris...
Platforms for social innovation
15 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAmongst all of the interest in platform models it’s worth looking at the potential they might have for social innovation. Can we cr...
Dynamic capability - another innovation song
08 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textContinuing my quest to put key innovation management themes to music, here's another song. Lyrics below: You like to think you’re sit...
Flirting with good ideas...
26 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textNext time it starts to rain and you reach for your folding umbrella spare a thought for Slawa Duldig. She was the Viennese sculptress w...
A question of balance
16 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIt's easy to think of innovation as being all about creative freedom, experimentation and exploration. But we also need to recognise th...