CULTIVATE SUSTAINED INNOVAtioN

Innovation Accelerator

Instill an ongoing culture of experimentation and customer-centricity in your product development or innovation process.

What is THE INNOVATION ACCELERATOR?

An innovation program to de-risk new business ideas and generate new engines for growth, fostering a culture of agility, experimentation and customer centricity with long-lasting effects.

Learn more about Innovation Accelerator

Why the Innovation Accelerator?

When teams are primarily focused on delivery, they often lack the time and know-how to explore and experiment new ideas for business growth. The Innovation Accelerator offers a structured framework to:

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Establish a regular rhythm of innovation within the organization.
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Encourage experimentation and validation of new ideas with customers
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Build a consistent pipeline of growth opportunities.
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Break silos and collaborate across functions.
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Engage the leadership and secure buy-in and support for innovation
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Demonstrate the ROI of innovation activities to management

Our Approach

The Innovation Accelerator is designed to operate with limited resources and seamlessly integrate into any existing Agile Product Delivery process or Innovation Framework.

The Innovation Accelerator's core principle is to identify key growth opportunities and establish a sustainable cycle of experimentation. This leads to a validated portfolio of new features, products, or business models, driving innovation and growth.

The cornerstone of the Innovation Accelerator's success is your teams' active involvement. While our expert consultants will provide comprehensive guidance, facilitation, and resources, it is your team's engagement in learning and applying new work methods that will generate innovative solutions.

Innovation Accelerator Overview

Commit

Secure commitment from business units and sponsors, and set clear goals for business and innovation impact.  

Explore

Engage business stakeholders and leadership to identify opportunities that align with their priorities and business goals.  

Experiment

Validate value propositions with customer feedback, collect fresh insights and iterate - all in short, focused cycles of time-boxed creative autonomy.

Exploit

Present validated solutions to sponsors and business units to move them into the next phases of implementation, scale-up and delivery.

How it works

Kick-off and Setup

This initial step involves identifying sponsors, key decision-makers, and stakeholders. We'll align on the process and outcomes, selecting which business units will participate/ benefit from the Innovation Accelerator. An essential part of this stage is setting the experimentation cadence for the year-long program, ideally at least one innovative concept per quarter to maintain momentum.

  • Commitment of key sponsors and stakeholders
  • Defined business outcomes and impact
  • Established experimentation cadence
Duration: 1-2 weeks

Explore

In this phase, we'll conduct a Problem Framing workshop with your stakeholders to understand their priorities and business goals. This helps in pinpointing growth opportunities that align with these objectives. Subsequently, cross-functional expert teams will address these opportunities through experiments (design sprints), validating potential solutions.

  • Growth opportunities defined  and aligned with business goals
  • Strategic alignment and stakeholder buy-in
  • Design Sprints scheduled based on agreed cadence
Duration: 1-2 weeks

Experiment

In this phase, our facilitators guide the formation of cross-functional teams to address identified opportunities using design sprints. This time-boxed approach brings together experts from your teams with diverse expertise and perspectives, fostering collaborative problem-solving. The outcome is a tangible, customer-validated prototype and new insights/learnings to inform next steps.

  • Tangible prototypes validated by customers
  • Cross-departmental collaboration
  • Hands-on practice with innovation methods
Ongoing, based on cadence, ideally 1 - 2 design sprints per quarter

Exploit

This final phase focuses on leveraging the results from the experiments (design sprints). With customer-validated prototypes in hand, it's time to reconnect with sponsors to plan the implementation and execution of these new, innovative concepts.

  • Consistent pipeline of validated, actionable solutions
  • Concrete evidence of innovation efforts
  • Confidence for implementation
Ongoing, after each experimentation cycle
Key results from the Innovation Accelerator
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Sustainable, consistent innovation pipeline
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Enhanced cross-functional collaboration
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Customer-centric decision-making
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Accelerated launch of new ideas and concepts
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Practical innovation skills for your teams
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A culture of continuous experimentation and learning
Ready to learn more? Let's talk!
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"Working with the Design Sprint Academy, we have fully unlocked the benefits of an innovation accelerator. Design Sprints have become a fundamental part of our working methodology. With ongoing support from the Design Sprint Academy, we are constantly enhancing and evolving our approach to experimentation, solidifying Design Sprints as a key element in our innovative practices. " 
Gavriel Magonet, Fintech Creative Technologist, Strategist @ Runpath by Experian
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Kickstart a cycle of sustainable experimentation

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