2. Selection: What are We Going to Do and Why?

Even the healthiest organisations cannot take unlimited risks, i.e. ideas have to be selected. Only the best ideas that contribute towards the strategy of the company can be chosen. The purpose of this step is to develop the input into an innovative concept which can later be implemented.

This phase has three inputs:

• The flow of signals from the environment
• The current knowledge base within the organisation
• The ‘fit’ of the innovative concept in the overall organisational strategy

The innovation decision-making process is more complex than a ‘normal’ decision-making process where all the alternatives are clearly defined. Innovation by its nature is about uncertainty – so we do not know in advance if the innovation will work.

The only way to gain certainty is to start with the project and learn as we go along. So innovation decision-making is a matter of calculating as best we can the risks associated with different options.

The question could arise: ‘Is innovation any different from gambling?’. Although some may argue that there are a lot of similarities, we like to belief that the management of innovation enables an organisation to ensure that there’s is a well calculated one.