Killer Innovations: reblog

In the current issue of its Serious Innovation newsletter, Swedish innovation lab Idélaboratoriet profiles a recent Boston Consulting Group report on innovation metrics. The BCG report, which is available as a free 17-page PDF document, highlights five key findings:

(1) Innovation is widely under-measured and few firms - even those that attempt to track innovation rigorously - are confident they're doing it right;

(2) The majority of companies that do use metrics typically use only a handful (i.e. five or fewer);

(3) The three most valuable metrics are time to market, new product sales, and return on investment in innovation;

(4) Few companies tie employee incentives to innovation metrics;

(5) The potential for most companies to improve their measurement practices is sizable.

[graphic: BCG Senior Executive Innovation Metrics Survey]