Innovation strategy

Innovation is an essential component of business activity. This requirement can be generated from an offensive need to create competitive advantage and enter new markets. Or, from a defensive perspective, it’s all about protecting market share and ensuring long-term competitiveness in relation to industry players. Thus, business strategy will determine the requirement and appetite for innovation development activities and drive an effective portfolio of the three levels of innovation.

Three generic innovation strategies can be defined

• Pioneer: Focused on bring new and industry leading or transforming technologies to market.
• Fast Follower: Adept at improving existing technologies through incremental innovation in both product and process technologies. Often focused on cost-downs.
• Opportunistic: Makes some investment in substantial innovation but also sources innovation from third parties and invests in adapting these for its identified market opportunities.