APQC Launches Study to Identify Best Practices in Early-Stage Innovation

Research Participants to Learn How to Organize and Pursue
Innovation for Maximum Returns and Outcomes
HOUSTON--(Business Wire)--
Targeted at front-end concepts before they enter the
well-documented commercialization or product development phase, APQC's
New Product and Service Innovation: Improving Front-End Effectiveness
study will identify best practices in the early stages of innovation.
The focus will include how to generate higher quality ideas, refine
early stage milestones, and optimize the portfolio of concepts.
Conducted by APQC, a non-profit organization, more information on the
research project and how to participate is located at
www.apqc.org/studies/innov08.

"APQC's innovation best practices study will help organizations
better orchestrate the chaotic front-end of the innovation pipeline,
ultimately improving the market results of new products and services,"
said Marisa Brown, APQC senior program manager. "Via site visits,
symposiums and networking, the consortium research format allows
participating organizations to learn first-hand from best practice
organizations in innovation."

In the initial, "fuzzy" stages of innovation, managers cannot
squash pioneering ideas with too much structure, yet companies have an
obligation to maximize the effectiveness of their investments. Study
participants will discover:

-- Strategies for generating and managing more and better quality
ideas.

-- How to identify high-potential ideas.

-- How leading organizations keep new ideas from being killed too
early.

-- Who should be accountable for go/no-go decisions.

-- How to involve marketing and customers in early innovation
efforts.

-- The key elements of an effective early-stage innovation
strategy.

-- Effective systems and tools for capturing and tracking ideas.

-- How to manage the handoffs when concepts become projects.

-- How leading organizations determine if they are meeting
innovation goals.

Joining Marisa Brown on the study research team are innovation
experts Steve Wunker, senior partner with Innosight, and Donovan
Hardenbrook, founder and principal of Hardenbrook Consulting and vice
president membership development with PDMA (Product Development and
Management Association).

The innovation research project builds on APQC's two previous
innovation studies. Successfully Embedding Innovation: Strategies and
Tactics, which examined the tools and cultural enablers of innovation.
This study identified best practices at leading companies that
included: Air Products, Boston Scientific, Computer Sciences
Corporation, Ethicon Endo-Surgery, and Hewlett-Packard. Innovation:
Putting Ideas into Action, which looked at how ideas move through an
organization, identified Kennametal, Bausch & Lomb, IBM Corp, The
Clorox Company, Procter & Gamble, and the Mayo Clinic as best practice
organizations.

Consortium benchmarking studies employ APQC's award-winning
benchmarking methodology that extracts proven, real-world best
practices from industry-leading organizations. Participants get the
knowledge they need to make major improvements in a fraction of the
time and approximately one-tenth the cost of conducting an external
best-practice study on their own.

The APQC "New Product and Service Innovation: Improving Front-End
Effectiveness" study will launch in mid-June, with site visits
scheduled for August and September 2008. It will culminate with a
two-day symposium in October to share ideas and best practices. For
information or to review the study proposal, visit
www.apqc.org/studies/innov08 or call 800-776-9676.

About APQC

A global resource for process and performance improvement, APQC
discovers improvement methods, identifies benchmarks and best
practices, disseminates findings and connects individuals. APQC's
employees conduct benchmarking and best practices research, offer
training and publish reports on productivity, quality, benchmarking,
knowledge management and other areas. Founded in 1977, the
member-based nonprofit serves more than 500 organizations. For
information, visit www.apqc.org or call 800-776-9676, +1-713-681-4020.

APQC
Paige Dawson, 214-744-6188
paige@mpdventures.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008