Standards Australia have endorsed a set of ISO Innovation Management Standards that will provide cohesion and a simplified, standardised approach to driving innovation strategy and business improvement.

The Standards provide a set of consistent approaches and methods to manage innovation and its implementation, aligned with international best practice.

Now is the time to ensure that your innovation program aligns with standards that are driving innovation across the world.

• There are currently five Standards with another four in development.
• The ISO Innovation Management Standards are written as recommendations or guidelines. They are not compliance regulations yet.
• Applying the Standards will ensure your innovation efforts are aligned with world’s best practice.
• Organisations that do not consider the Innovation Standards risk being left behind as their competitors apply international best practice methods to improve the value, ROI and impact of their innovation activities

The new standards have been developed from the insights of 44 participating ISO member countries and 20 observing member countries. Brian Ruddle (Managing Director, Impact Innovation) is the chair of Australia’s Innovation Management Standards committee (MB-279).

The Innovation Standards support innovation management systems, regardless of an organisation’s origin or size, taking into account the different ways that companies in various sectors operate across the world.

Australia’s committee has representatives from a large number of industries and organisations that are focused on enhancing innovation outcomes.

ISO 56000 – Innovation Management. This standard covers the fundamentals and vocabulary around innovation systems. It focuses on building knowledge within organisations, looking at IP and how to manage initiatives. It includes guidelines for performance and assessment. It’s built on eight principles of innovation and explores the relationships between different stakeholders in innovation systems.

ISO 56002 – Innovation Systems. This standard describes setting up an innovation management system in the context of how it drives value within an organisation. It looks at what leaders need to do to ensure that innovation is aligned with strategy and the planning around setting up and evaluating an innovation system, e.g. the support required for innovation managers and teams, the resources, the competence, the awareness communication and other tools.

ISO 56003 – Tools and Methods for Innovation Partnerships. This standard describes the value of a partnerships framework, how to go about entering a partnership, partner selection alignment, interactions between partners, etc.

ISO 56004 – Innovation Management Assessment. This standard helps the user understand why it is beneficial to carry out an Innovation Management Assessment (IMA), what to assess, how to carry out the IMA, and how to maximize the resulting benefits.

ISO 56005 – Tools and methods for intellectual property management. This standard proposes guidelines for supporting the role of intellectual property (IP) within innovation management. It covers guidelines relating to creating an IP strategy systematic IP management within the innovation processes, and consistent IP tools and methods in support of efficient IP management.

The four other standards to be released later consider such factors as tools and methods for strategic intelligence, ideas, and innovation operation measurements.

You can find out more, and purchase the International Standards for Innovation Management on the Standards Australia website or on TechStreet