What are the secrets to successful product innovation?

Over the years, research has yielded insights into the secrets of success and best practices in product innovation. This selection of carefully chosen readings and articles strategically focuses on the four points of performance that drive a business’s new product success, illustrated in the Innovation Diamond™:

• Product Innovation and Technology Strategy
• Portfolio Management
• Stage-Gate Idea-to-Launch system
• Climate, Culture and Leadership.

• Understand the key practices that separate the top performers from the rest
• Learn how leading companies generate breakthrough new products
• Discover what causes the gaps between the best and the worst
• Learn the processes, methods and approaches that enable improved performance
• Arm yourself with proven methods and ideas for managing an innovation program.

A ‘Must Read’ for People in These Roles

• Business executives responsible for leading product innovation performance results
• Managers responsible for implementing new product/new revenue generation systems
• Cross-functional product innovation development teams
• People responsible for contributing new product ideas
• Technology development managers, project leaders and team member ideas.

Keywords: Stage-Gate, productivity, Innovation Diamond™, market success, resource allocation, product innovation, product and technology roadmap, voice of customer, new product development, stages and gates, portfolio management, time metrics, benchmarking, climate and culture, strategy, best practices, cross-functional teams, gatekeepers, up-front homework, spiral development, strategic buckets, scalability, metrics, ideation, resource allocation, performance results.

Key Topics:

• How to get maximum returns from your scarce resources and valuable assets
• How to make appropriate investment allocations to critical arenas and project types
• The critical link between the portfolio management and businesses strategy
• Generating breakthrough new product and service ideas
• How to screen for winning products earlier in the process
• Overcoming the crunch in new product development resources
• Successfully implementing a Stage-Gate product innovation process
• Align cross-functional teams and drive new products to market with speed and success
• How top performing companies consistently achieve sales and profit expectations.

About the Authors

Dr. Robert Cooper

Dr. Robert G. Cooper is one of the most influential innovation thought leaders in the business world today. He pioneered the original research that led to his many groundbreaking discoveries including the Stage-Gate Idea-to-Launch Process. Now implemented by almost 80% of North American companies, it is considered to be one of the most important discoveries in the field of innovation management. He has spent more than 30 years studying the practices and pitfalls of 3,000+ new product projects in hundreds of companies and has assembled the world’s most comprehensive research on the topic. His presentations and practical consulting advice have been widely applauded by corporate and business event audiences throughout the world making him one of the most sought-after speakers.

A prolific author, he has published more than 100 academic articles and eleven books, including the best selling Winning at New Products, 3rd Edition. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards including the Crawford Fellow from the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) and the Maurice Holland Award from the Industrial Research Institute (IRI). Dr. Cooper is a Professor Emeritus of Marketing and Technology Management at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada and Distinguished Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM) at Penn State University in Pennsylvania, USA.

Dr. Scott Edgett

Dr. Scott J. Edgett is internationally recognized as one of the world’s top experts in product innovation and is the pioneer of portfolio management for product innovation. He is a high profile speaker and sought-after executive advisor on product innovation. Dr. Edgett has extensive experience advising large multinational clients in a variety of industries, principally focusing on issues affecting innovation leadership and capability. He is credited with helping business executives and innovation professionals successfully implement world-class innovation processes that have generated outstanding results. His speaking engagements and professional work have taken him around the globe to work with some of the world’s best innovators and companies among the Fortune 1000.

Dr. Edgett is Chief Executive Officer and co-founder, with Dr. Robert G. Cooper, of both Product Development Institute and Stage-Gate International. He has spent more than 20 years researching and developing innovation best practices and working with organizations in product innovation. He is a prolific author having coauthored six books including the popular ‘Portfolio Management for New Products, 2nd Edition’ and has published more than 60 academic articles. Dr. Edgett is a former Professor of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University in Ontario and is a Faculty Scholar at the Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM) at Penn State University in Pennsylvania, USA.