Measuring innovation has proved to be a constant challenge within the Innovation Management community. It can be difficult to gauge the progress of innovative efforts before a new product is released and often times traditional indicators are not representative of an organization’s true progress. In order to better measure progress, both objective and subjective variables must be evaluated simultaneously.
Researchers at Sweden’s Lund University have used this general concept to create a framework known as MINT (Measuring Innovation Capability in Teams), aimed at providing a more accurate and complete method of measuring innovation at a team level. MINT consists of four major areas: Innovation Elicitation, Project Selection, Impact and Ways of Working. Each of these area incorporates factors a number of factors from which MINT has derived measurements for.
Within the MINT framework, all ideas fall under one of four categories: Internal Generation, Internal Collection, External Generation and External Collection. The terms internal and external refer to stakeholders inside and outside the organization respectively, while generation implies a concerted effort to come up with ideas and collection is the gathering of pre-existing ideas. This area also includes feedback on each of the ideas in order to determine which will move on to the next stage of development.
The suggested measurements and indicators in this area of MINT are fairly straightforward. It is important to take note of how many ideas are being created and/or generated and the source of these ideas. This will provide a measure of the breadth and variety of ideas which are being brought to the table. For example, if the data collected show that a disproportionate amount of ideas are being generated internally, then this indication that the team should focus on collected more ideas from outside sources in order to maintain a balance and variety. Also important in this stage is measuring the time it takes to gather, create and provide feedback on ideas.
The best collected and generated ideas move on to project selection, where each proposal is evaluated based on a set of factors. MINT cites timing, risk, stakeholders and return on investment (ROI). Measuring these factors involved a wide range of indicators. Concerning timing, estimated time to market, and the ratio between short-term and long-term projects should be recorded. Measuring risk includes discussing the feasibility and possibility of any technical challenges arising during product development, while it is also crucial to keep a project portfolio which spans the breadth of stakeholders in the organization. Estimated ROI is one of MINT’s more traditional measures, as is the estimated potential loss in a worst case scenario.
It is important to keep processes and procedures in check throughout the innovative process. In order to maintain a healthy and functional environment, the creators of MINT suggest six factors to assess the way in which the team is working. These are process, innovation climate, incentive, competence, organization and process improvement. Factors involving the process are related to more concrete measures such as the number of process changes made. Many of the other factors encompass far more subjective measurements.
Within the areas of climate and competence, it is important to assess the overall background of the team, ensuring a wide variety of backgrounds, ages and specialties. The climate refers mainly to the work environment, in which measurements can include workload, time allocated to projects per individual and so forth. The purpose of this area is to ensure the welfare of the team, individuals and environment in order to optimize innovative capabilities.
This fourth area of the framework contains some of the measures found in more traditional models of measurement, including intellectual property rights, counting patents, etc. This portion of the framework contains 5 factors: Product Features, Interaction, Trust, IP Rights and Standards and Practices. The team’s impact on a new product can be assessed by how many features on the product were developed or derived from the team.
In addition, the interaction factor is mean to take into consideration the perception of a newly developed product within the organization and particularly with senior management. Other measurements can include how the product development process has influenced the standards and practices within the organization and the internal marketing efforts of the team.
It is important to keep in mind that MINT was developed as an inspirational framework designed to be flexible and work within a variety of teams. It takes a very holistic approach to the innovative process and focuses a lot of attention on incorporating both concrete and subjective factors into the measurement process as well as maintaining a healthy balance of ideas, projects and individuals. It is aimed not only at monitoring the innovative process, but optimizing the innovative capabilities of a team as well.
The creators of MINT also emphasize the importance of not just following the framework, but setting short, medium and long-term goals within the team as it is important to have something to strive more.
New Method Measures Innovation Capabilities, Lund University – Sweden
Measuring for Innovation – A Guide for Teams
Measuring Innovation in Teams, Blekinge Institute of Technology – Sweden
