Companies that have adopted ISO innovation have 271% more understanding about the importance of innovating

We are one of the biggest economies in the world. But there are few ventures in the country that enjoy robust innovation mechanisms in favor of their competitive growth. In a study by Alexandre Pierro, one of the only Brazilians who participated in the formatting of ISO 56001, in innovation management, and Founding partner of Palas, a pioneering consultancy in this methodology in Brazil, it was found that companies that use this international management methodology raise their understanding on the subject in 271%, acquiring greater preparation and ability to generate innovation, reaping positive results in the short term. The study is the result of a master's thesis carried out by the professional at the Federal University of ABC.

For practically two decades, we have occupied intermediate places in the world ranking of innovation, even though it is such a thriving economy and having such a large consumer market. According to the last Global Innovation Index (IGI), held by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), we are in 50th position among 133 countries. “There is a great incongruity between our economic and innovation positioning. ISO 56001 is an excellent opportunity to reduce this gap”, points out Pierro.

The main objective of the study was to evaluate the performance of organizations before and after the use of the ISO innovation methodology. In this case, five specific objectives were considered: to compare the processes and the innovation structure with the application or not of the standard; analyze the company's culture of innovation and compare it with the application or not of the standard; analyze the launch of new products, services or processes created with the application or not of the standard; compare annual financial revenue generated with products linked to innovation with the application or not of the standard; and compare the capillarity of the innovation strategy in the organization with the application or not of the standard.

The research methodology considered an online questionnaire on the principles of innovation; online questionnaire on the culture of innovation; and live interviews with innovation professionals from companies at tactical, strategic and operational levels. From the online forms' response options were: I totally agree, I agree, I disagree, I totally disagree and I don't know how to say.

The first stage of the study heard 60 medium and large companies from different segments in order to identify which are the most used innovation methodologies. The result pointed to three: Design Thinking, Brainstorm and Agile. With this information, the professional applied the research methodology in 17 Brazilian companies that have already adopted the ISO of Innovation. Among them are Grupo Boticário, Atento, CPFL Energia, Eneva, Copel and many others with different sizes and segments.

The answers of each company, according to Pierro, were grouped and classified according to the pillars and concepts of the ISO 56000 family of standards, which make up a complete governance model for innovation management, with ISO 56001 as the certifiable norm. The results were amazing.

According to the researcher, the level of understanding of the general strategy of innovation is almost three times higher in companies that have adopted ISO. Analyzing topics such as innovation definition; innovation goal; focus and type of innovation; innovation process; innovation objectives and indicators; innovation tools; and ideas program, the maturity level of strategic innovation leaders jumped from 35.71% to 87,50%; among the tactical team was 29,58% to 90.27%; and among the operational team was 32,70% to 8,12,127%; and among the operational team was 32,70% to 8,12,120,100,10.

The look at the ecosystem recorded a growth of 58% to 67.1%. Communication improved from 55% to 69.5%. the resources needed to innovate – such as time, people, knowledge, infrastructure and budget – They have improved from 62% to 72%. “All these aspects are critical to ensuring a continuous and high-impact innovation strategy”.

As far as culture is concerned, the fear of making mistakes has fallen from 43.3% to 37.9%; this demonstrates the creation of a safer environment and favorable to the presentation of new ideas. “This fear creates a defense system in corporations, preventing professionals from sharing their ideas for fear of being reprimanded. ISO manages to make the corporate environment safer, with less resistance to innovation”, celebrates Pierro.

All these highlighted improvements contribute to a greater balance between efforts and investments in innovations, which was also identified in the study. With this methodology, the organizational ambidexterity – which is the ability to think about the future while meeting the needs of the present – has improved about 10% in the companies interviewed, reinforcing the greater ability to explore innovation.

The results achieved so far show that ISO 56001 can be an important methodology to drive innovation in our country. “This governance model is demonstrating itself as the most effective way to leverage innovation, creating numerous gains in the aspects of strategy, understanding of the ecosystem, culture of innovation, leadership, uncertainty management, communication, support and process. It is our chance to improve our positioning in the global innovation ranking and become more competitive with the world”, concludes Pierro.