As cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and automation continue to transform different industries, companies worldwide are gradually leaning toward innovation management instead of relying on conventional linear growth strategies.
And how exactly are they pursuing this? By blending technology with elements that encourage and promote successful innovations at their core – human curiosity and creativity.
In fact, Forbes reports that a strong majority of organizations—72%—believe that AI enhances human creativity rather than replacing it. This point of view fits with that of 77% of innovators, who argue that fostering a culture of curiosity is absolutely vital for propelling ground-breaking inventions.
Let us find some important factors that help people stay essential to innovation management.
Innovation Management: A Snapshot
Generally speaking, innovation management is the approach companies follow to develop and carry out innovative concepts, services, or processes.
Ultimately, it’s all about remaining one step ahead of the competition and offering value.
The main steps in innovative management include:
1. Idea Generation
Everything starts here, and fresh ideas are created. Team members gather to think, cooperate, and generate innovative ideas.
2. Evaluation and Selection
Once the ideas start coming, they need to be weighed against each other to see which ones are worth following. The best ideas are chosen based on their potential impact and how easy they would be to carry out.
3. Development and Prototyping
This is where the real work begins. The selected ideas are turned into prototypes or early versions of the product. This step involves testing and refining the concept.
4. Commercialization
It is now time to roll out the innovation to the market. It includes a mix of market entry and marketing strategies, as well as getting the product ready for customers.
5. Implementation and Adoption
Finally, the new product or service needs to be integrated into the organization. This may require training employees and managing any changes that come along during the process.
To note, PWC suggests that AI adoption in innovation management has increased by 65% in the last three years. Also, according to McKinsey,
84% of executives agree that innovation is crucial for long-term success, yet only 6% are satisfied with their innovation performance.
This stark contrast speaks volumes and highlights the critical need for effective innovation management practices to bridge the gap between ambition and execution.
What is Human-centric Innovation Management?
Human-centric innovation management puts people at the center of how new ideas are generated, evaluated, developed, and implemented. Unlike traditional approaches that might prioritize technology capabilities or market analysis alone, this approach focuses on the human element throughout the entire innovation process.
Human-centric innovation management is about designing innovation around people—employees, customers, users, and other stakeholders. It asks:
- What are people really struggling with?
- How can we create solutions that solve problems meaningfully?
- How do we empower diverse teams to co-create value?
It’s not just about coming up with flashy tech or filing patents. It’s about making innovation more empathetic, inclusive, and impactful for everyone involved.
If a sales person discovers a real customer pain point through their interactions, they
should have the platform and voice to turn that insight into a working solution. Their role, position, rank, or gender shouldn’t stop them from contributing to innovation.
“In the human-centered design process, the creators of products, customer journeys, and even policies immerse themselves in the lives and perspectives of real people. They try to understand needs, motivations, and roadblocks. They continually prototype solutions and seek feedback.”
This approach creates a powerful connection where internal innovation processes focused on human creativity naturally yield solutions designed around genuine human needs.
Key Elements of Human-centric Innovation Management
For innovation management to be truly human-centric, it needs to incorporate several fundamental elements:
- Empathy as Methodology: This means developing a deep understanding of human needs—both of employees and customers—and using these insights to drive decisions throughout the innovation process.
- Continuous Feedback Loops: Human-centric innovation thrives on creating systems where both internal teams and external users provide ongoing input. This constant flow of feedback shapes development.
- Experience-Based Metrics: Success in human-centric innovation isn’t measured just by efficiency or output, but by the quality of experiences created.
- Design Thinking Integration: While design thinking is often associated with product development, human-centric innovation applies these principles across the entire organization.
- Human Value Creation: This means asking “How does this benefit humans?” at each stage of the innovation process, from ideation to implementation.
What Are the Benefits of Human-centred Innovation Management?
When humans drive innovation management, the advantages go far beyond what purely technical or process-driven approaches can achieve:
1. Better User Adoption
Products born from human-centered innovation just click with users in ways others don’t.
- Forrester’s research confirms what many of us suspect – people eagerly embrace solutions designed with genuine human insights.
- Regular feedback loops ensure what’s built actually solves real problems.
- Involving users creates a sense of ownership that turns customers into champions.
Look at Airbnb’s brilliant “Instant Book” feature. By tuning into user frustrations about booking uncertainty and potential discrimination, they transformed the entire guest experience.
2. Market Differentiation
In crowded markets where products blur together, human-centered approaches help companies stand out memorably.
The data speaks for itself: brands creating distinctive human experiences keep 75% of their customers, while others struggle at just 48%.
This differentiation springs from understanding what people truly need – both what they can articulate and what they can’t.
Yes, analytics platforms and CRM systems provide valuable data points, but the real breakthrough happens when those insights merge with genuine human empathy.
Willow’s reinvention of breast pumps perfectly illustrates this point. By seeing beyond the medical function to address the whole human experience, they created an entirely new category that resonated deeply with users.
3. Increased Employee Engagement
When human creativity gets center stage in innovation, something remarkable happens within organizations. People become energized, engaged, and invested in outcomes.
- Gallup discovered companies with highly engaged teams enjoy 21% greater profitability.
- Also, Google’s Project Aristotle revealed psychological safety – a cornerstone of human-centered approaches – as the #1 predictor of team success.
Salesforce’s Trailhead shows this principle in action. Their employees have earned a whopping 40% of the platform’s 2.6 million learning badges. The quarterly AI learning days aren’t just professional development – they’re investments in the human capital.
4. Enhanced Cross-functional Collaboration
When people become the focus of innovation management, department walls start crumbling. Diverse teams bring complementary insights to persistent problems, creating solutions no single perspective could imagine.
Researchers found cross-functional teams are more likely to develop breakthrough innovations than specialists working alone.
LEGO Ideas exemplifies this advantage brilliantly, creating a platform where passionate fans, professional designers, marketers, and engineers co-create successful products together.
5. Improved Innovation ROI
Human-centered innovation management significantly boosts return on innovation investments by focusing resources where they’ll create genuine value.
An IBM study on the ROI of design found that companies applying design thinking methods (closely linked to human-centered innovation) experienced a 301% higher ROI on their design investments compared to those who didn’t.
Amazon’s “Working Backwards” methodology requires teams to write a press release from the customer’s perspective before development begins. This ensure human value is clearly defined before resources get committed.
6. Greater Organizational Resilience
Organizations that put humans at the center of innovation develop remarkable adaptability – crucial for navigating today’s unpredictable markets.
McKinsey found human-centered organizations were 52% more likely to successfully weather market disruptions.
This resilience stems from understanding fundamental human needs that transcend specific technologies or market conditions.
Netflix’s evolution from DVD delivery to streaming to content creation wasn’t random – each shift was driven by deeply understanding how people want to experience entertainment.
Parting Notes
While technology will undoubtedly play a significant role in shaping the growth of companies and enhancing efficiency, innovation strategies will require human intervention across different stages.
Humans must inject emotional intelligence, creativity, and impressive adaptive abilities to tackle real-time and unforeseen challenges – characteristics that technology cannot replace.
As an innovation management platform, InspireIP is designed to streamline the journey from idea generation to the development of valuable intellectual property (IP) assets.
By focusing on human-centric innovation management, the platform ensures that the creative processes align with the needs and contributions of individuals within an organization.
How Does InspireIP Sustain Human-Centered Innovation Management?
- Idea Assist: This tool facilitates the seamless capture, submission, evaluation, and collaboration of ideas. It ensures that every team member’s contribution is recognized and nurtured.
- IP Assist: Designed to simplify the management of innovation stages, IP Assist offers effortless invention disclosures, proper documentation management, and real-time updates.
- AI-Powered Inventor Assistant: InspireIP’s Responsible AI aids in brainstorming new products and services, enhancing ideas without overshadowing the human element.
- Collaborative Environment: To promote engagement, the platform provides a centralized space where co-innovators, reviewers, attorneys, and other stakeholders can collaborate effectively.
By integrating these features, InspireIP not only streamlines innovation management workflows but also places individuals at the heart of the process. Most This human-centric approach aligns with the principles of Industry 5.0.
To learn more, schedule a 30-minute live demo now!
