AI, VR and Blockchain are some of the latest buzz words around. There is a consistent drive from both startups and investors looking for the next big thing to start up or to invest in.
But at the core of the latest buzz words is ideation and innovation. Having attended the Women In Business Awards last week there were 3 corporate finalists and 3 small business finalists up for the Award for Outstanding Innovation. And only today on the radio was an advert for InnovateNI, a new website promoting innovation and innovation accreditation.
It’s a real hot topic at the moment.
Ideation is the new buzz word for brainstorming, the process of generating new ideas no matter how crazy they are and getting them down on paper. It is about being creative and often used when creating marketing campaign ideas. Then the key is refining these ideas down into what is possible, achievable and measurable and putting these into practice.
Ideation and Innovation are closely linked, innovation is looking at ways of doing things better to deliver significant benefits for the business. And then researching and validating ways in which this new innovation can be put into practice which often takes technical or industry knowledge to bring to fruition.
Startups and businesses need both creative minds to look at what’s possible in ideation and innovation alongside technical and industry knowledge to make it happen.
When building a team it’s key to look for skillsets that compliment each other around the table and focus on key role that can take the lead in ideation and innovation. There is little point having lots of blue sky creatives in a room without on the ground doers that can get to work.
The real challenge is building ideation and innovation into the workplace, is it lego on the lunch table, post it notes on the wall, a whiteboard and pens or team away days, every company approaches it differently.
However no matter what ideation and innovation are buzz and here to stay so startups and business will either have to adopt to keep up or get left behind.
We are putting our ideation skills to the test at the Belfast Marketing Meetup on Thursday 14th Nov – come along and join in the ideation fun
And if you have an idea, something you want to explore as a startup then drop the Raise team an email and come in for a chat info@raise-ventures.com
