Risk ruins the road to innovation

An inability to measure and manage risk is a key factor behind why many companies fail to innovate. The risk associated with innovation – and a widespread ignorance of how to measure risk – means that many companies are scared away from trying to create a true innovation culture. Matthew White, head of design at Sagentia, will explain some of the links between risk and innovation at next Tuesday’s Innovation Conference in Daventry. “Approaches that are used to measure the risk of innovation are often applied at limited points of the organisation,” he says. “As a result, most pay only a passing lip service to understanding risk.” Another ‘enemy’ of innovation is the ‘mindset’, according to White – who lists traits such as ‘not invented here’, ‘we’ve never done that before’ and the pressures of a public company as reasons not to innovate. “Mindsets remain resolutely stuck in organisations, while the world changes around them,” he says. Matthew White will speak at the Innovation Conference – which is held at the Staverton Park Hotel in Daventry on Tuesday 24 April. Contact Jackie Hall to book places at the conference, call her on 01234 754505 or visit Cranfield School of Management