Innovation is not innovation... ...It's strategy

A large mining company's failed attempt to 'reinvent mining' from scratch reveals a common trap: chasing eureka innovation instead of executing strategic innovation. The difference between the two often determines whether corporate innovation efforts create value or destroy it.

The problem with chasing Eureka! Innovation In late 2016, with great fanfare, a large multi-national mining company began an innovation effort to re-invent mining. The goal was to fully transform the mining process—from exploration to extraction—where drones would identify new deposits, machines would do the digging, and humans would stay above ground. And then, in 2018, the corporation abruptly shut down the whole effort. In a similar way Target, in 2017, abruptly shuttered its ongoing “store of the future” innovation effort, stating: "We recently made some changes to the innovation portfolio to refocus our efforts on supporting our core business, both in stores and online, and delivering against our strategic priorities." Many other corporate innovation efforts with broad aspirations—at companies like Ogilvy, Disney, Coca Cola, New York Times, and even Facebook—have also been halted in recent years. In a world filled with “disruption” and where innovation seems to be an overarching priority, why would corporations shut down these bold innovation efforts? Many factors might explain why corporations tire of innovation programs—from a lack of progress, to poor leadership, to bad processes. But in our experience, failure is often a matter of philosophy . The problem with conventional innovation efforts is they are designed to drive, well, innovation . With this philosophy, innovation is itself the goal. Innovation, so the theory goes, is inherently unknowable, impossible to plan for and can’t be linked too closely to business objectives. The task is to create conditions for great innovations to spring into being. When it does, “We’ll know it when we see it;” if it’s strong enough, it will naturally find a way into the business and drive improvements. We call this “Eureka! Innovation.” As well-intentioned (and widespread) as it is, Eureka! Innovation isn’t well aligned with the management approaches of most corporations. First, it is hard for corporations to absorb Eur

By Andy Annacone at TechNexus Venture Collaborative