
The Complete Guide to Measuring Innovation
It's obvious that if you can't measure it, you can manage it!
The Secret R&D
Setting Goals
Input Vs. Output
Input
Innovating
Output
We divide all metrics into two groups. Input metrics Vs. Output metrics. This will help you confirm you’re doing enough of the right activities to reach your goals.
Input Metrics
What goes into your innovation process
- Measure if you're doing enough activities to reach your goals and whether you allocate your resources properly
- Refer to the Investment in ROI (time, employees effort, money)
- Easier to measure, especially if you are new to measuring innovation
Outputs Metrics
What comes out of it
- Measure whether these activities and resources have achieved the desired impact on your innovation process
- Refer to the Return in ROI (results, new products/services/processes, new incomes)
- Takes more effort to measure
Input KPIs ideas:
- R&D spend as a percentage of sales
- The number of innovation projects started
- The number of new ideas in the pipeline
- Percentage of engaged employees in the innovation process
- Number of new employees in R&D
Output KPIs ideas:
- Number of new products/services launched in X amount of time
- Revenue/profit growth from new products/services
- ROI of innovation activities
Sample KPIs
Biz Dev / Finance:
- Number of new products launched
- New products or services sales
- Number of new/improved business modules
- Number of Improved working procedures that demonstrate saving in operation costs
- % of corporations’ revenues came from products introduced within the past X years (choose your X. 4-5 years is a good time to start seeing a return on investment).
- Number of patents filed in the past year
- Revenue gained from new products launched, or new markets entered
- Annual R&D budget as a percentage of annual sales
- Total R&D headcount over time
- Innovation budget as a percentage of sales
- Number of active projects
- Percentage of sales from products introduced in the past X year(s)
- A ratio of revenue (or net profit ) from new ideas divided by the average cost of implementation of an idea
- Number of training sessions performed (related to innovation processes)
- Number of employees trained in innovation methodologies
- The number of executives receiving training related to innovation (for example innovation management process related, or industry-specific training)
- Number new ideas coming from the organization’s company employees
- A ratio of the number of new ideas per 100 employees
- Percent of new ideas selected for funding
- Number of ideas submitted by employees
- Number of new ideas from open innovation
- Number of employee hours spent on independent research and Ideation
- Number of innovative projects adopted through Ideation and their success rate (described in revenue, outcomes generated)
Implementing a culture of innovation/rewards innovation/accept risks:
- Number of new ideas tried
- % of new ideas that lead to larger initiatives
- Number of startups we met with
- Number of existing/new startups we work with
- Number of meetups we hosted
- Funds invested in startups
- Number of startups applied to our acceleration program
We are positive you can think of other KPIs (please share from your experience), but the list above can help you start building your set of KPIs.
Defining the right metrics for your organization is not an easy task. We gave you many examples to help you get going. There is no one right set of KPIs to answer each organizations’ questions, and that’s why you should find out what works for you.
Remember to beware of metric overload. Many companies have too many metrics and try to measure everything. Too many metrics lead to excessive activities, lack of focus and a waste of time you should invest innovating.
Let's Make It Happen
Need help deciding on the right set of KPIs, read our Excel by choosing the right metrics article.
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