What factors determine how to innovate as efficiently and successfully as possible?

Investigating opportunities and bottlenecks for organisations

Organisations that develop their own products are increasingly innovating. Although there are pressures arising from the rise of fast scale-ups and changing customer needs, among others, Pezy Group sees plenty of opportunities in product innovation for these organisations.

To better understand which factors are decisive for innovating as efficiently and successfully as possible, we launched a benchmark study in collaboration with The Blue Hour in autumn 2020.

Based on this research, we gained some interesting insights. For instance, where the bottlenecks in the field of product innovation lie. In this blog, we explain a number of outcomes that can also contribute to successful innovation for your organisation.

Need for ever-faster product innovation and inhibition by management

First of all, this survey noted that the time until innovated products appear on the market (known as time-to-market) is seen as a major challenge in the next three years. More than half of all respondents (56%) indicated that faster innovation is becoming increasingly important. Organisations would rather see products hit the market yesterday than today. Originally seen as a short trend, the ever-faster development of new products now seems to be included as a requirement within the product innovation process.

Not only planning and time-to-market seem challenging. Organisational strategic choices also come to the fore. 52% of those surveyed said they were inhibited in product innovation by choices from management. As an organisation, it therefore makes sense to work on a better connection between strategic plans and the product innovation department. Given the figures, there is therefore room for improvement here. This is how you continue to work on successful innovation together.

Organisations not prepared for government circular plan in 2030

The 'Netherlands Circular 2050' programme sets out the government's vision for the circular economy. The aim is to achieve a fully circular economy by 2050 at the latest. In 2030, the cabinet wants to realise an (intermediate) target of 50% less use of primary raw materials (mineral, fossil and metals).

The survey results show that 58% of those surveyed are not that far yet. Organisations do consider sustainability important, but indicate insufficient knowledge about the government's objective and what it means for their own organisation. Respondents also indicate that it is often still far away and not yet a priority. To be a forerunner and innovator in the field of circular product development, it is therefore advisable as an organisation to invest in circularity right now to be well prepared for the 2030 and 2050 plans

Market validation offers opportunity to improve product innovation

Testing whether a product has value in the market is also known as market validation. Whether the market is willing to buy the innovated product is figured out here. This can be a challenge for many organisations, survey results show. Almost 2/3rds of those surveyed (64%) indicated that this is an issue where gains can be made. Better collaboration between sales, marketing and innovators can ensure that product innovation can be tested earlier in the market. There are various methods and techniques for this, which are not yet adequately deployed by several organisations.

The survey results also reveal that only a very small proportion (4%) of respondents indicated that available manufacturing capacity is a challenge for product innovation. It can be concluded that therefore, for the vast majority of respondents (96%), production capacity is not currently seen as an obstacle. For these organisations, it makes sense to focus more on the market, rather than production techniques.