As I work in the big company with it’s own innovation process and climate I often think how this process and specially climate, can be established in small enterprises.First, the contact person for innovations has to be known by everyone – Innovation Manager or simply one ‘special’ person who will know how to handle each proposal. If the firm is close to technology changes, this person must be sent to special patent(intellectual property) training.
Next thing is establishing of innovation metrics, which must be transparent so that employees will know what they can expect, if their idea will be accepted.
It is important to establish a process for talk about successful innovations in the company. This can be half an hour in the meeting, or a news in the company intranet site or wiki-pages. If the company is technology leader, news about recent technologies and newest inventions also has to be present.
In the small enterprise all mentioned topics, can be the job of only one person – so it’s important to select the right person and to give him/her all the needed support.
7innovation 