Innovation and Future

Servitization continues to evolve, changing industry and branch structures."

Servitization continues to evolve, changing industry and branch structures. At the same time, companies and organizations are striving to servitize their businesses, products, and customer processes. Furthermore, companies that once built services around their products now often aim to develop products that can be embedded in their services. The final offerings are frequently produced in complex networks. To succeed in the digitalized world, traditional B2B service providers also need to step up their service productization capabilities and leverage customer insight.

Renewing business through digitalization

Digitalization has dramatic implications for revenues, profits, and business opportunities. Digital platforms and the platform economy are disruptive transformations, influencing the way companies do business. The digitalization of products and services is shaping traditional business models and blurring boundaries in business, as well as in the public sector.

Most of the world’s most valuable brands are associated with digital platforms."

Most of the world’s most valuable brands are associated with digital platforms. Onetenth of the US labor force participates in a platformmediated “on-demand economy,” “sharing economy,” or “gig economy” in some way or other. The platform economy is less prevalent in Finland, and the country plays a minor role in providing such global consumer platforms. However, Finland has had some success in using platforms and has good leads in emerging industrial platforms. Digital service ecosystems and platforms may provide Finland with an important competitive factor. Finnish companies have the potential to succeed in the platform economy, particularly if they can focus their existing strengths and competencies on industrial digital platforms. Health and wellness, the bio economy, forest economy, and Mobility as a Service are areas where Finnish companies have a competitive advantage in the global market.

Bringing innovation to markets

In the innovation economy, bringing services and products to the global market and scaling them up is more challenging for many European companies than for their Asian counterparts. In the service and platform economy, even small players have opportunities to grow and succeed on the basis of unique business models. This calls for building competencies in commercialization as part of the innovation process.

Leading organizational change and creativity

In innovation management, organizations are seeking new ways of transforming their practices and processes, and of developing more agile structures. The key is ambidextrity; securing the core business while developing new initiatives and innovating. This calls for exploration and exploitation in both business management and business models.

This requires an understanding of how work and work processes are transformed and the capability to lead and influence people’s attitudes and motivation."

In innovation leadership, the crucial question is how to lead change, enhance creativity, and develop the capacity to deliver change within an organization. This requires an understanding of how work and work processes are transformed and the capability to lead and influence people’s attitudes and motivation. Digital transformation is a major driver of change in organizational cultures and work. To manage such change, it is vital that leaders develop their understanding of the challenges it brings and improve their capabilities to lead people and renew processes and practices.

Design-led innovation

Innovation practices must evolve to match the need for business renewal. The key factor is to genuinely focus on customer needs and new ways of creating value. Design-led innovation offers valuable insights and methods for achieving this. Design Thinking is a methodology for taking a practical and creative approach to solving business challenges. Design Thinking methods guide companies towards rethinking and reframing problems, and acquiring new insights in idea development.

Design Thinking will help you to enhance your creativity and capability to innovate. Combined with business innovation methodology, Design Thinking forms a powerful and actionable approach to innovation. Such an approach and methodology can be applied to developing products, services, and organizational practices.