Employers
could do more to inspire staff innovation according to research that claims
firms are not being innovative enough and are not fulfilling their potential.
A
report based on a survey by the CBI and 3M in partnership with the Design
Council concludes that an innovation gap is being created because ideas are
going to waste due to poor follow-up procedures.
Less
than 40 per cent of employers have formal processes for monitoring innovation
and only 56 per cent of firms review past ideas to spot new opportunities. Only
15 per cent of companies use IT to keep track of ideas and most do not consider
selling or trading ideas.
Only
55 per cent of employers offer financial or other rewards to encourage
innovation and less than three-quarters regularly discuss new ideas with
customers.
The
survey finds that many companies are wary of gambling on projects that might
not pay off, with 60 per cent developing one or more high risk project a year.
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Digby
Jones, CBI director general, said, “The UK is something of a design goldmine
and companies need to be tapping into that more often. They need to do more to
boost innovation not just by encouraging creativity but also by fully
exploiting ideas.”
Web
link www.cbi.org.uk
