For innovation labs (corporate or university), the pressing question is always one of how effective the lab is at supporting the organization and its innovation efforts, in terms of facilitating specific tasks and activities, as well as fostering good collaboration and knowledge transfer.
The goal in each case is to empower the organization to pursue leading-edge innovation work. In particular, top-down initiatives require specific capabilities and resources so that their projects can quickly and nimbly iterate through the innovation process, while bottom-up (grassroots) initiatives require many resources that allow workers – both individually and collectively – to come together and conceive new ideas and thereafter pursue those ideas through whatever research, prototyping, and testing stages are required to validate the ideas (both the problems they represent and the solutions proposed to those problems).
The most effective and impactful innovation labs are able to simultaneously support both these top-down and bottom-up requirements without having their respective innovation endeavors interfere with one another. This results in the greatest possible impact for the organization overall.
To assess the overall effectiveness of an innovation lab, one must examine – in detail – four (4) specific areas of the lab and its operating organization, namely:
By intentionally addressing and mastering each of these four key areas, any given innovation lab can become highly effective at supporting the needs of its organization. It takes a clear focus, however, on building capacity in each of these areas if the lab is to achieve world-class status.
The need, therefore, is to know – as an innovation lab – how far along one's lab is, and how well it stacks up against the best in the world (such as those at, for example, Google, IBM, Cisco, and Georgia Tech University).
To assess this, we carry out Global Innovation Institute's Accredited Innovation Lab Assessment Process. This is a comprehensive on-site assessment that critically examines each of the above four areas, recording yes/no answers to a series of pertinent questions in each area.
Learn more about Global Innovation Institute's Innovation Lab Accreditation at www.gini.org/ainl/.
As the flagship Authorized Innovation Provider® (AInP®) of Global Innovation Institute – Legacy Innovation Group executes the GInI Innovation Lab Assessment Process using GInI's world-class assessment methods and tools.
The GInI Innovation Lab Assessment is a comprehensive assessment of the lab and its associated support programs, allowing us to establish the lab's overall level of effectiveness in supporting the organization and its innovation program. It is an indicator, therefore, of the lab's ability to successfully support each of the organization's new innovation projects (both top-down and bottom-up) from initial conception all the way out to final implementation.
The Innovation Lab Assessment Process involves three primary steps.
Per GInI's requirements, this process must be executed using at least two (2) GInI Authorized Innovation Assessors® (AInAs®) chosen by Legacy Innovation Group, and operating under Legacy Innovation Group's direction and supervision. For especially large innovation labs, more than two AInAs® may be used.
The outcomes of this process, as documented in the InLAAR, will determine whether or not the innovation lab qualifies for formal accreditation by GInI as an Accredited Innovation Lab.
It is permissible in some cases, per the AInAs' discretion, for them to issue a preliminary ‘conditional pass’ to the lab in order to give the organization additional time (up to 3 months maximum) to rectify certain missing elements prior to their submitting the formal InLAAR to GInI. This can in some cases allow an innovation lab to pass that otherwise would not. In these cases, the innovation lab – after having rectified these missing elements – must present substantiated evidence to the AInAs that the missing elements have in fact been rectified (to the AInAs' satisfaction), at which point the AInAs will update the InLAAR and submit it to GInI for review.
The final report that will be shared with you by GInI (the InLAAR) will contain all of the Assessors' findings, a tally of the affirmative and negative answers (and thus a pass or fail) for each of the subsections, and a gap analysis indicating where improvements can be made in the innovation lab. It will not, however, include prescriptions for how to address any of these gaps, as those types of insights are the domain of consulting (and not of assessment).
All information gathered, reviewed, and documented within this process is treated as confidential. The upfront documentation and interview records will remain with the AInAs® and are not sent to GInI. Only the final report (the InLAAR) is sent to GInI.
The Innovation Lab Assessment Engagement typically follows these steps:
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