What is the ISO 56000 Series?

ISO 56000 is an international standard for innovation management that was published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 2020. The standard provides guidelines for organizations of all sizes and types to effectively manage and create a culture of innovation. It covers areas such as the development of innovation strategies, the management of innovation processes, and the measurement and evaluation of innovation performance. The purpose of ISO 56000 is to help organizations optimize their innovation efforts, increase their competitiveness, and achieve sustainable success.

Benefits of Adhering to ISO 56000 Standards

Following the ISO 56000 standards can bring many benefits to your company’s innovation program. Some of the key benefits include:

1. Improved competitiveness: By following the guidelines and best practices outlined in the ISO 56000 standard, your company can increase its competitiveness by developing more innovative products, services, and processes.
2. Better innovation management: The ISO 56000 standard provides a structured approach to innovation management that can help your company more effectively manage its innovation efforts. This can lead to better decision-making, more efficient use of resources, and improved results.
3. Increased efficiency: The standard provides guidelines for managing the innovation process, from ideation to commercialization. This can help your company streamline its innovation efforts, reducing the time and cost associated with bringing new ideas to market.
4. Increased stakeholder engagement: By following the ISO 56000 standard, your team can engage with stakeholders more effectively, including employees, customers, and partners. This can lead to increased collaboration and a more productive innovation culture across the company.
5. Enhanced credibility and reputation: Companies that follow the ISO 56000 standard demonstrate their commitment to innovation and their commitment to best practices. This can increase their credibility and reputation, and make it easier to attract investment, partners, employees, and customers.

ISO 56002 and the PDCA Cycle Provide a Reliable Framework for Innovation

ISO 56002 is designed to work with the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle, which is a continuous improvement model that is widely used in quality management and other fields. The PDCA cycle provides a framework for organizations to continuously improve their processes and products by making small, incremental, changes.

In the context of innovation management, the PDCA cycle can be applied as follows:

Plan: In the planning phase, organizations identify the innovation opportunities they want to pursue and develop a plan for how to achieve their goals. The ISO 56002 standard provides guidelines for developing an innovation strategy, which is a key component of the planning phase.

Do: This is the phase in which organizations implement their innovation plan by launching new products, services, or processes. They also collect data and feedback from customers, stakeholders, and other sources to inform their ongoing innovation efforts.

Check: After implementation it’s time to evaluate the results of the innovation efforts and compare them to goals. In this phase organization’s also review their innovation process itself to identify areas for improvement. The ISO 56002 standard provides guidelines for measuring and evaluating innovation performance, which is an important component of the check phase.

Act: Finally, organization’s can utilize the insights they gained from the check phase to make improvements to their innovation process and refine their innovation strategy. They can also implement changes to their products, services, or processes based on customer and stakeholder feedback and other insights.

By following the PDCA cycle, organizations can continuously improve their innovation efforts and achieve better results. The ISO 56002 standard provides additional guidance and best practices to help organizations optimize their innovation management and achieve their innovation goals.

Get Started with the ISO 56000 Series of Standards

The ISO 56000 series contains the following standards, all of which can be purchased on IAOIP.org:

ISO 56000: Innovation Management Fundamentals and Vocabulary (Published 2020)
This standard provides the vocabulary, fundamental concepts, and principles of innovation management and its systematic implementation. It is applicable to all types of organizations, regardless of type, sector, maturity-level or size; all types of innovations, e.g. product, service, process, model and method, ranging from incremental to radical; and all types of approaches, e.g. internal and open innovation, user-, market-, technology- and design-driven innovation activities.

ISO 56002: Innovation Management System (Published 2019)
This standard covers innovation management systems and incorporates material from previous methodologies.

ISO 56003: Tools and Methods for Innovation Partnership (Published 2019)
This standard covers various topics, such as how startups collaborate with large organizations, innovation partnerships, and considerations for charities and public organizations.

ISO 56004: Innovation Management Assessment (Published 2019)
This standard covers various topics, such as innovation management assessment and methods for innovation success.

ISO 56005: Intellectual Property Management (Published 2020)
This standard proposes guidelines for supporting the role of IP within innovation management. It aims to address various issues concerning IP management at strategic and operational levels.

ISO 56006: Strategic Intelligence Management (Published 2021)
This standard provides guidelines for supporting strategic intelligence within innovation management.

ISO 56007: Idea Management (TBP)
This standard will provide guidelines on tools and methods for managing opportunities and ideas.

ISO 56008: Tools and Methods for Innovation Operation Measurements (TBP)
This standard will provide guidelines on tools and methods for innovation operation measurements.