As soon as someone mentions innovative companies, the name of the top 5 companies in the Global Innovation Index pops up.
Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, and Tesla surely are the innovation examples everyone wants to emulate. But they aren’t the only ones.
We have curated a list of five companies climbing the innovation ladder consistently and rather successfully.
Read on!
Innovative Company Examples
90% of companies that outperform on innovation outcomes have clear C-suite ownership of the innovation agenda. – Boston Consulting Group
It couldn’t be more true. Companies translate real value into their business only if the top management focuses on commitment, talent, and investment.
Here are the companies that have understood the way to business success and mastered the process right from ideation to implementation.
#1 Roche
Ranked number 48 on the World Innovation Index, Roche is a leading healthcare company that consistently works on transforming healthcare.
With ambitions such as bringing the right treatments to the right patients at the right time and creating sustainable innovation solutions, the company is taking on complex challenges.
Considering that healthcare is the third largest sector that innovates profusely, Roche is in for a long haul.
But here’s how Roche has been able to make a space for itself and a difference in the world:
- They have mindfully harnessed the potential of their employees across the globe.
- They foster diversity and encourage contrasting perspectives to discover new solutions.
- They took charge and introduced a centralized innovation management software that simplifies the innovation pipeline and enables collaboration.
Example
Roche is actively partnering with patients and healthcare professionals to health systems and industry for Biomarker testing: unlocking the unknown about lung cancer. Their initiative aims to deliver personalized care to far more people with cancer.
#2 IKEA
Ranked number 32 on the World Innovation Index, IKEA is a renowned Swedish company that designs and sells home furnishings. And not your ordinary furniture and home accessories, mind you!
They invest their time and resources in coming up with innovative solutions, ready-to-assemble products, and modern architectural designs. Their focus is continuous product development.
But as it has a global market base with more than 350 stores in around 50 countries, how do they stay ahead of their competition?
They stick to the basics: collaboration and innovation management.
IKEA thrives on its in-house culture of intrapreneurship and direct involvement of the top management. They have successfully established a value system that drives innovation.
Moreover, they utilize their innovation management platform to communicate with both employees and customers and evolve proactively.
Example
One of the latest innovation initiatives at IKEA includes an innovative nozzle that helps save water at home. It’s cool and sustainable.
ÅBÄCKEN is a small-sized nozzle that has two modes–mist and spray. The nozzle helps reduce the amount of water used for common purposes at home, such as washing hands.
But that’s not all. Hanna Carleke, one of the business leaders at IKEA, says, “The team will continue to develop products that can help create behavior changes at home around water use. IKEA will also continue focusing on creating water-saving products, such as the water recycling shower solution it is creating.”
#3 Cisco
Ranked number 17 on the World Innovation Index, Cisco offers an industry-leading portfolio of technology innovations, such as innovative software-defined networking, cloud, and security solutions.
Cisco became a role model for IT companies to innovate and foster global collaboration after it earned millions from its innovation outcomes.
The company has a large workforce with over 13000 employees across 13 countries, yet they have successfully aligned their business strategy with their innovation strategy.
How?
Through grand-scale crowdsourcing, a culture of co-creating, and communicating business challenges to fetch multiple perspectives.
And they did all of it by incorporating a collaborative platform meant to collect, identify, and prioritize ideation and implementation.
It has enabled them to take on innovation initiatives and move forward.
Example
Cisco is working on a breakthrough business innovation towards AI-First Security Cloud to simplify security operations and increase efficiency.
Related Read: Cisco’s new SSE solution
#4 Dell
“Innovation is born from new ideas that iterate in fast sprints…We believe in trying new ideas early and digging deeper quickly. At any given time in our various labs, we may have multiple new concept devices and solutions in progress.” – Glen Robson, CTO for Dell Technologies
With customers across 180 countries and 100000 employees dispersed globally, Dell works on:
- Leveraging the brightest and most creative minds
- Building an entrepreneurial spirit
- Running innovation challenges
- Preventing potential customer problems
- Building a positive customer experience
And it has been so far successful in their pursuit. They chose to adopt an idea management system and a focused innovation program to do so.
Example
Dell has tremendously turned the shift toward remote work culture into an innovation opportunity. The company launched its new commercial portfolio in 2023 that focuses on optimizing connection, collaboration, security, and sustainability.
Dell leaders successfully accelerated creativity and innovation through their new line of products that offers on-the-go productivity and work-anywhere opportunities.
As a cherry on the top–they have opted for innovative use of sustainable materials and recyclable packages to ensure eco-conscious design innovations.
#5 Citrix
A multinational cloud computing and virtualization technology company prioritizing innovation agendas since 2001, Citrix is sailing through the post-pandemic volatility.
They are perpetually improving their company processes and products by leveraging the talent of their employees dispersed across continents.
And with a need to provide the industry’s best service, they constantly seek and implement disruptive ideas.
As a leader in providing innovative solutions that secure digital workspaces, particularly for securing remote desktops, they successfully empower their employees too.
They have fostered an innovation culture company-wide and implemented an automated system that encourages employees to engage and collaborate.
Your practical takeaway: Build an innovation strategy that helps you stay afloat in every market condition.
Example
Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) offerings are the most recent innovative solutions of Citrix. Their latest solutions support the rising needs of hybrid customers.
Something for you to think about
Here’s a question for you: Did you find similarities between all these companies taking charge of their innovation program?
I’m sure you did! What’s more interesting is that even if we chose to talk about the top five or ten innovative companies, you would have found the same result.
They all establish a strong innovation program that reaps in-house and business benefits for them.
Because what is innovation in business if not creative ideas implemented by strong leadership? Time and again, we have witnessed that leaders in innovation have leveraged top talent to increase their company’s innovation velocity.
And those who don’t, well, here’s what happens to them: Archives
