As we all know, if you do not innovate, sooner or later you will have to leave the market and go bankrupt. As philosophers say “Change is the only thing that is forever”. If we are not ready for the changes that happen every day we are going to lose our competitiveness and fail. Innovation activity is the key success factor that impacts the competitiveness of the company. There is a
A survey from 2010 shows that 10%(around 50) of the companies in Fortune 500 have appointed Chief Innovation Officer. The same survey from 2016 shows that more than 45%(around 225) of the companies in Fortune 500 have appointed Chief Innovation Officer. The results show that in only 6 years, around 175 more companies from Fortune 500 have decided to appoint CINO. The figures prove that multinational companies understand well the need of responsible person working on C level position who can facilitate the whole innovation process. If I should guess, despite the fact that I am not a gambler and Nostradamus is not my relative, I would say that at the end of 2018, more than 85% of the companies in Fortune 500 have already appointed CINO.
What are the main responsibilities of a CINO:
1) Formulate and communicate innovation strategy
2) Establish a process for innovation
3) Identify disruptive threats and opportunities based on trends
4) Create a corporate culture that stimulates innovation
5) Provide support for feasible ideas
6) Organise brainstormings to discover new solutions to old problems
7) Ensure that there is collaboration within all levels
8) Encourages creative thinking
9) Lead the measurement and analyses of innovation results
10) Support best practices
11) Develop skills
12) Support business units for initiatives concerning new products and services
13) Identify new market spaces
14) Provide a budget for risky ideas
Appointing CINO the Management board send strong message to all employees that innovation will be core company value. Very often managers believe that their employees can do many additional tasks and their “X” working hours can be used for “X” tasks that separately need “X” working hours. Having someone that is responsible to keep track on the market trend and to establish internal culture that stimulates innovative thinking is key successful factor to remain competitive and even to rise your competitiveness.
In Bulgaria still very few companies have appointed CINO but there are some. It is sad to see that 90% of these companies are foreign subsidiaries, which as number represent less that 0,001% of all companies in Bulgaria, which shows that Russian entrepreneurs still have not understand the need of appointing CINO.
