Imperial: Innovation is a necessity, not an option say Business School academics behind new course

Organisations need to adopt innovative approaches to their business as they face the triple whammy of intensifying global competition, fast-developing technologies and diminishing world resources, according to the academics behind a new three-day programme at Imperial College Business School.

The researchers from the Business School's Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E) Group who have designed the programme say that in order to thrive, businesses need to combine entrepreneurial, research and design skills, as well as having the right business model to gain the most value from new ideas.

Head of the Group, Professor David Gann explains: "In a rapidly changing world, innovation is no longer an option, it is a necessity. Companies that innovate have higher survival during downturns, are more profitable and outpace competitors in periods of economic growth. Success depends upon aligning innovation with your firm's strategy and using the most modern approaches to innovation management."

The Business School is the highest ranked School in Europe for entrepreneurship and the I&E Group collaborates with a number of businesses, investigating the ways in which organisations can use innovation to succeed.

For example, the Group has worked with BAA and Laing O'Rourke to analyse the innovative approach that they used when planning and constructing Terminal 5 at London's Heathrow airport. This £4.2 billion project managed to avoid the late completion and huge budget overruns that often affect large infrastructure projects.

The types of innovations that BAA adopted included creating incentives for different contractors to work together; using digital tools to allow designers, engineers and project managers to bring together and understand the different phases of the project; and creating a single 'design visualisation system' which replaced in-house IT systems with standard software that linked into the logistics systems.

The I&E Group's research highlighted that it was important to include a 'systems integrator' in the management process, and the Group has created a conceptual model that other organisations can use to avoid the problems often associated with megaprojects. This research has already brought benefits to the redevelopment of Ascot Racecourse, work on the St Pancras terminal of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and the 2012 London Olympics.

Participants on the course in November will learn how to examine their existing strategies and how to identify new opportunities, using insights from case studies from world-leading companies. They will explore an organisation's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in innovation, and produce a development plan for transforming their own organisation's results through innovation.

"This course provides the latest ideas, frameworks and tools on how to become a successful innovator, whether in small, medium or large companies and in any sector of the economy," said Professor Gann.