Agile Innovation: A Footprint Balancing Distance and Immersion

Abstract

To meet the demands of globalization, companies need to continually and rapidly access, absorb, and integrate ideas for innovation from around the world. Yet few innovation footprints are capable of meeting this challenge. This article introduces a model for “agile innovation” that differentiates between the need for a permanent presence in a location and the ability to access knowledge from a distance, by aligning different modes of access and integration against different types of knowledge. Adopting an agile innovation model will give companies the ability to better manage their global innovation footprint, leading to greater efficiency and effectiveness.