Chemical Engineering June 2022 - 43

engines. Beyond the strategysetting
described above, a critical
piece of the CINO's job is to determine
when burgeoning successes
are ready to appear before the
executive committee.
Companies that do this well
tend to have some type of innovation
steering group that meets on
a regular cadence, perhaps quarterly
or biannually. It must be composed
of senior executives who
can make organization-wide decisions
and thus " clear the path "
when necessary. Its members must
be aligned on the broad strokes of
the innovation strategy, and beyond
that, they must be able to trust innovation
teams to incubate the
right options as they explore the
strategic priorities.
The new growth imperative
Formalized corporate-innovation
programs often get a bad reputation.
Some people view them as
nothing but theater. Others view
them as redundant with R&D or
strategy or information technology
efforts. And others take the cynical
view that, although focusing on
innovation is a good idea in concept,
it can never work in practice
because corporations are too slow
and bureaucratic to innovate as effectively
as startups.
Of course, there may be a kernel
of truth in each of these viewpoints
at each organization, but that does
not mean full-scale corporate innovation
is necessarily " dead-onarrival. "
Indeed, it can't be that way
- at least not if today's CPI companies
want to retain their status as
industry incumbents. Furthermore,
research data and hands-on experience
show that some large companies
already know how to succeed
in driving strategic innovation
at scale.
Thankfully, the barriers to action
come down to focus, persistence
and leadership. Driving a worldclass
innovation-operation practice
does not need to break the bank,
it just needs to better coordinate
many of the efforts that are already
underway within a given company.
Furthermore, it doesn't need to sidetrack
the company from any of its
shorter-term objectives - at least
not if managed with the right strategy,
the proper metrics and sound
portfolio governance.
Despite all the change and
uncertainty swirling in the CPI
today, the future is very bright indeed,
especially
Author
Chris
Townsend is chief marketing
officer of Wellspring, a provider
of Innovation Ops software
and solutions for corporations,
universities and government
agencies (954 W. Washington
Boulevard, Suite 750, Chicago, IL
60607; Email: chris.townsend@
wellspring.com). He has a B.S.
degree in biology from Harvard
University and previously held marketing roles within
Inova Software and Imaginatik.
that are prepared to innovate
with purpose.
for those firms
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JUNE 2022
43
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Chemical Engineering June 2022

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