It’s a change so rapid that these aspects of business were simply never designed to cope with and it’s pushing a need for innovation that’s just as rapid. But what is required to spur innovation? Most will likely say some form of research and development, but this has always been a major undertaking, both from a cost and time perspective.

As John Cronin, a former top inventor at IBM, says, “It’s time to innovate how we innovate.”

The way forward for companies to embrace innovation without the significant R&D investment, is by leveraging the power of online innovation tools. 

"Many companies now have the option of using inexpensive yet surprisingly-robust internet and crowdsourced invention tools to create high-value patented products and services. It's not suitable for every enterprise or industry, but what I call 'virtualised innovation' can enable companies to respond much more rapidly and cost-effectively to declining product life cycles, accelerating technological change, and intensifying competition."

What’s possible with Virtualised Innovation

• Market research
• Product testing
• Access to technical expertise of all types
• Advanced patent searching
• Market sizing and valuation tools
• Customer surveys
• Data analysis
• Online focus group marketing

Approaching innovation in this way is especially beneficial for smaller players as it gives you access to an R&D department without the cost of setting up your own one in-house.