Innovation
Glossary

The most important innovation terms to get you off a good start with Nosco.

C

Call for Ideas

A call for ideas is an announcement used when an organization or person looks for ideas on a specific topic or project. In the field of innovation, it is used to describe the types of ideas welcome to an innovation challenge…

Corporate Entrepreneur

A corporate entrepreneur is a person that works on developing new ideas and innovation projects inside an existing organisation. They may be working with the explicit backing of management but also happen to work under the radar. A similar term, “intrapreneur”, is used interchangeably with corporate…

I

Ideation

Ideation is the creative process of conceiving and shaping new ideas. It includes everything from the first thought or inspiration to the formulation of an idea. In the context of an innovation challenge, it refers to the initial phase in which ideas are submitted online and…

Idea Campaign​​

An Idea Campaign is a time-bound, topic-focused initiative to ideate, screen, develop and validate ideas. It is used to address business or technical problems that require input from a broad group of people. The idea campaign is a simple method to quickly solve small and big problems…

Idea Management

Idea management is the structured process of managing ideas from ideation through evaluation and refinement to selection. Many companies use an idea management platform to support this process (the Nosco platform is an example of this).

Incubation​​

Incubation is the process of taking an idea from concept to an actual product, service or business and testing key-hypotheses about the concept to see, if the product can fit the market.

The early part of incubation is sometimes referred to as validation to clearly indicate that…

Innovation Challenge​​

An innovation challenge can be seen as an extended version of an idea campaign with a more ambitious topic, a wider reach in terms of participants, a greater communication effort, and a more ambitious process from ideation, over idea maturation, to pitching and awards ceremony…

Innovation Management

Innovation management describes a structured approach to managing innovation with defined processes, KPIs and governance structures to support it.

Companies that are serious about their innovation efforts will have defined processes for…

Innovation Pipeline​​

The innovation pipeline is the pathway for ideas from initial registration over development to launch or implementation. Innovation managers typically keep track of the innovation pipeline to see if ideas are moving ahead as planned…

P

Product-Market Fit

The term “product-market fit” refers to the match between the actual solution (product, service, business model, etc.) and the market it addresses. Essentially, it is about finding out if a solution satisfies strong market demand…

Pitch Session

During a pitch session, idea teams present their ideas to a panel and answer potential questions. The panel then decides whether or not to invest in the idea.

Pitch sessions offer the opportunity to gain insight into an idea and the team behind it, which…

Problem-Solution Fit​

The term problem-solution fit refers to the match between a proposed solution and the problem or an unmet need it is trying to address. Problem-solution fit precedes product-market fit.

The first indication of whether an idea will be successful is typically based on finding a…

S

Screening

Screening describes the process of evaluating ideas against a set of criteria and deciding whether ideas should progress/move forward in an innovation initiative.

The screening phase of an idea campaign or innovation challenge typically follows the…

V

Validation ​

Validation is the process of testing hypotheses to gain insights into whether an idea will be successful or not. This can be done through interviews, observations and experiments, and conclusions and recommendations are made based on the results…

O

Open Innovation​

Open innovation is a type of innovation initiative in which people outside an organizational unit are invited to participate. This can happen within a company by reaching out to the entire organization to gather ideas or by looking beyond the company. Today, “open innovation” is most often used…

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our Innovation Glossary!

To set you off for a good start and ensure smooth communication, we have compiled a list of the most important innovation terms and definitions. Download the PDF presentation and share it with your organisation.