Success

Success stories in the field of innovation usually don’t happen overnight, nor do they always go as planned either. As such, in this context, “success” is all about how you define it (for the record, innovation, in a business context, is defined as follows: “The process of translating an idea or invention into a good or service that creates value or for which customers will pay”.) Can you say you’ve been successful once your business idea has been brought to market, or can you only talk of success when you’ve accomplished your business plan? What is certain is that innovation successes should contribute towards increasing customer benefit, meeting the customer’s needs and so to resolving current or future problems. This, in turn, safeguards the future of our company, and paves the way for future income. We have decided to include innovation success stories from all sorts of different backgrounds, and which are at different stages. We then plan on updating and redefining these on a regular basis. Our focus is on horizon 3 of the innovation projects.

The following innovation projects have successfully completed the innovation process in VNTR:

Failures

When it comes to innovation, failure is not a negative side effect that must be avoided at all costs. Instead, it’s about failing – not for the sake of it – but rather to learn from the process. The lessons we learn can then prompt us to make changes or to stop doing certain things entirely, but in a short space of time and with limited resources. Regular, rapid learning provides the basis for successful innovation in future. To help us learn from the innovation projects that never saw the light of day, we have reflected on all our failures over recent financial years and summarized them – as well as our successes – in a book (see the information box), so that others can benefit from this knowledge too.