Innovation Academy

The long-term strategy of the IBM Client Innovation Centre is strongly oriented towards developing the organisation’s innovation capacity. The aim is a constantly adding value to the company’s global innovation process and achivements.

Developing and enhancing knowledge, skills, mindsets and motivation in the field of innovation is a complex task that addresses multiple aspects:

• Organisational culture and individual attitudes
• Knowledge, skills and competencies
• Principles and processes
• Reward and incentive systems

Target Audience and Goals:
The Innovation Academy is aimed at middle and project management within the organisation (35–40 participants). The main goals for development:

• Ensuring alignment between key management levels
• Transforming key people in the organisation into innovation agents
• Enhancing their role as role models, including in the field of innovation.

The academy design was based on an in-depth research and analysis of the current innovation culture in the centre, addressing the goals: The project consisted of the following components:

1. Research and identification of the strengths within the organisation’s innovation culture.
2. Workshop and practical implementation steps design aimed at developing the identified strengths.
3. Utilisation of LEGO® Serious Play® to stimulate creativity and build models for the desired innovation objectives.
4. Innovation business simulation, bridging to the organisation’s real projects.
5. An introduction to key concepts and best practices for measuring innovation indicators (KPIs) as part of the organisation’s strategic objectives.
6. Interactive workshops based on exercises and case studies, specially adapted to the needs of IBM’s participants.

Parallel transfer to everyday work:

• Defining and selecting innovation models and approaches to address specific challenges.
• Applying KPIs to measure the results and effectiveness of innovation activities.
• Working on specific projects chosen by the participants, linked to the organisation’s innovation capacity.