Market opportunities and a company’s competencies can be used to set up categories of focus in an Innovation Charter. A written Innovation Charter is the best way we have found to focus and communicate a company’s innovation efforts. Knowledge of markets, past, present and future, can be used to provide categories for innovation. These categories can be opportunities, problems and general areas of capability that a company has that they are committed to building on. The categories can be then promoted to all staff in idea program.

This gives idea program the advantage of being focused on things that are relevant for your customers. It also means that innovation is keep fresh as categories can be regularly changed very few weeks. All parts of an organisation can contribute to solve problems and create opportunity in a focused area.