Innovation and Ontologies

Innovation Gate 103
2.4.3 Support Activities: Monitoring
Once ideas have entered Concept Development, they should be continuously monitored.
Monitoring is done constantly to detect deviations in the course of work and not only at the
official milestones which might be months apart.
Monitoring is executed during the entire lifecycle of the project. It closely reviews the innovative
project against the original criteria and the wider environment changes (Tidd, Bessant & Pavitt,
2005). Flexibility in this activity necessarily has to be adapted to the specific tasks. Hauschildt &
Salomo (2007) suggest a threefold monitoring process:
• Continuous identification of deviations between ‘to be’ and ‘as is’: monitoring of results by
person or team responsible for the innovative project and monitoring of activities by superior
responsible for assessment
• Review: discussion of deviation with the responsible entity
• Evaluation of deviations and continuous motivation for corrections
2.5 Innovation Gate
Your gut isn't always the best judge of what will succeed in the marketplace,
and pet projects are more often than not big white elephants
that should be eliminated much, much earlier. (Watson, 2006)
Once an idea arrives at the Innovation Gate, it has become a viable, defined concept in which
some resources have already been ‘invested. At this gate, investment becomes substantial. Due to
the existence of sunk costs, invest/ stop decisions have become more difficult to take and
continuation of innovative projects into development is tempting (Ernst, 2002). Therefore, this
decisive gate is headed by the question:
Does the concept fulfill all requirements to enter the development phase?
The Innovation Gate is established to help senior management concentrate on the selection of
best concepts for further development – and on the rigorous de-selection of all other concepts
(Tidd, Bessant & Pavitt, 2005). It must be the overarching target of the Concept Gate to correct
the widespread belief that decision-making in an innovative context is only “uncertain fumbling
at minimal sight” (Hauschildt & Salomo, 2007). Careful crossfunctional due diligence which
produces vital information for the final go-to-development decision is indispensable. The effort
pays of: solid predevelopment homework has been identified to enhance new product success
rates and to be being positively correlated to financial performance (Cooper, 2000).