We co-authored an article in the Innovation Leader’s May 2021 issue of Pointers — Adjusting Your Innovation Portfolio Success that outlines why the innovation portfolio just got harder to manage. Here is an excerpt:

Economic and market uncertainty drove the acceleration of timelines that may have previously been measured in years, whittling them down to months or weeks. It also reduced the appetite for investment and spending in some quarters. Other organizations realized that the challenges posed by the pandemic might be opportunities to innovate in ways they might not have considered otherwise.

Manufacturers who might have been hesitant to embrace next-generation automation quickly moved to introduce robotics into factory environments. Retailers experimented with all manners of digital channels, like augmented reality, so they could continue to serve customers. Schools and universities moved to online learning almost overnight.

As the pandemic is slowly contained, business leaders need to reevaluate their priorities and determine whether they are continuing to balance their innovation portfolios effectively. Not because the crisis is ending—because, to some extent, innovation will be the only way to respond to the changes we’ll continue to experience for several years.

Read the full article in Pointers — Adjusting Your Innovation Portfolio Success (pages 35-36).