How to become an Innovation-first Hub

How to become an Innovation-first Hub

Establishing an Innovation hub is one thing. Ensuring that it provides a fresh outflow of Innovative business-enhancing tools and ideas is another. One exciting thing about Innovation hubs is that they have the capacity to stimulate ideas from different angles and perspectives. 

Even if some of these ideas sound weird, they are encouraged. This allows the curation of several ideas that can be explored and fused together, in some ways to formulate much bigger and better innovative ideas.

According to TIBCO Software company, Innovation hubs are accommodating new research areas for innovation that can be applied to startups/ businesses to drive productivity and in turn, revenue.

With this in mind, it is a wonder that so many innovation hubs have failed at this. There is an increasing number of failed Innovation hubs in our ecosystem, but with it comes an even larger increase in the number of hubs that are being established yearly. Hence, the hope for new and sustainable innovations that we stand to gain from them.

So, how can an innovation hub be innovative?

In this article, you will find a list of what Innovation hubs can do to ensure that they live up to their names. Although it requires painstaking planning, management, and financial commitment, It will all pay off in the long run as it is necessary for Innovation hubs to make it their mission to discover new potentially useful innovations in their various focus areas.

If you’re looking to make your hub an innovation-first hub, you can try looking through the list below.

Identify and Determine a Clear Innovation Strategy

The first step to achieving the aforementioned will be by identifying an innovation strategy that will work in the ecosystem that you are in. It is critical to study the ecosystem, to see where it is at the moment, where it seems to be headed, the changes that may come, and how that might impact hubs in the future. 

According to Stanford Social Innovation Review, being able to target collaborations, focus on experimentations, apply systemic thinking, have long-term perspectives among others, are clearly defined features of an innovation-first hub. So as a hub looking to thrive within the innovation ecosystem, you must strive to own these features too.

Focus on Providing Solutions to Complex Problems

With the ever-growing globalization and technological advancement, problems are springing up in every sector, as well as in our everyday lives; and they can be quite complex. Innovation hubs have the capacity to develop possible solutions to these problems. 

To get started on this, there is the need to make a list of potential problems hubs can find around their focus area, and within their locality, then simplify and focus on the essentials in order to develop ideas that can become potential solutions to these problems. 

The way to go is…  

First, 

Understand the problem: Clearly define what the problem is and establish a system model that can allow you to work on the problem step by step. You can also carry out research to learn from other solutions.

Then,

Draw up a Plan: You can do this by making a priority to-do list. This way you can work on some things first. You can also map out a strategic approach to enable you to see the whole system and how to connect them together to solve the problem.

And,

Execute the Plan: This is where the hard work lies. Being able to put to work all that has been planned is important. Be open to changes, we all know that no plan is ever complete so keep in mind that there will be times when you have to re-plan your approach. When that’s over, verify your result.

Develop Sustainable Innovations

When it comes to building innovations, the challenge is no longer that we don’t have enough innovations or a fast-paced ecosystem but that the innovations we are able to build are sustainable for the long term. Innovation hubs need to critically consider how they develop ideas and products and ensure that they develop the kind of visionary innovations that can survive the future.

Conclusion

By popular opinion, some of the really good innovations in the world today were developed by the innovation hub. This means that they have the capacity to live up to their names but to achieve that, they need to focus on being innovative in their approach. 

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