Looking back at the beginning of this decade now that we’re closing in on the halfway point, it’s clear been a wild ride!
We’ve had a global pandemic, groundbreaking technological breakthroughs, geopolitical shocks, supply chain disruptions, and so much more.
These challenges have revealed a critical truth: organizations need to adapt and innovate faster than ever before.
Add to this the tough economic climate, shrinking capital availability, the disillusionment many business leaders feel toward their innovation teams (sometimes justified, sometimes less so), and we’re looking at a highly turbulent environment for corporate innovation.
The mandate has never been so clear: deliver more results, faster, and with fewer resources. For seasoned innovators, that’s just business as usual. However, structural shifts are poised to reshape the innovation management landscape.
Here are the top trends to watch in 2025.
1. Innovation as a Distributed Core Capability
With tighter budgets, the rise of AI and other transformative technologies, the pressing need for organizations to reinvent themselves, and you can see why innovation is increasingly owned by individual business units.
This shift can arise from necessity—businesses needing to transform—or simply from a desire for better strategic alignment and more measurable outcomes.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s still a need for innovation expertise, but the role of corporate innovators is undoubtedly evolving. Instead of driving innovation directly, they are now enablers and educators, equipping the broader organization to innovate effectively. Embodying this phenomenon is TD Bank, for example:
“The program is truly driven by each line of business—we’re here as a tool to empower their innovation, not to direct it.”
- Josh Death, VP of Intellectual Property and Ideation at TD Bank.
Innovation is now at a similar transition point as IT was during the digital transformation era a couple of decades ago: the exact method and approach can be debated, but one thing is clear: every organization must embed innovation as a core capability. Just as some organizations are “digital natives,” the situation is the same for “innovation natives.”
To pull that off, every organization needs to have 3 key elements in place:
- Frameworks, toolkits, and best practices: Innovation isn’t (always) rocket science, but you still need to know what you’re doing. To pull this off, the organization needs to provide its employees with practical tools, frameworks and practices, preferably in the format of a well-designed Innovation System or Program. The recently published ISO 56000 series of standards is now a great starting point, but they need to be complemented with tools that innovators across the organization can use.
- Education, coaching, and enablement: A good framework serves as an efficient and effective launching pad, but without proper education, most employees won’t benefit from it. This is where corporate innovation leaders play a key role. They need to organize education and enablement for innovators across the organization, and coach people on how to get past common obstacles. However, doing that at the scale of a large organization is complex—that’s where programs such as The Innovation System, which is included for all HYPE software customers, can be highly effective.
- Scalable and adaptive system support: To get measurable outcomes from innovation, you need to operationalize your program. Even the best designed programs with highly effective leaders and coaches can struggle to scale their work and get the outcomes they want without proper system support.
That’s where a holistic innovation platform, such as the HYPE Suite, can play a key supporting role.
AI as an Accelerator
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming an essential tool for corporate innovators, and it’s safe to say that it plays a huge role in the future of innovation management.
Generative AI has been the focus of most of the hype around AI lately, and for good reason, but there’s more to AI than that. When you combine the latest generative AI models with proven innovation best practices, more traditional machine learning algorithms, and data from your innovation ecosystem, you have a powerful toolkit that enables a variety of different use cases.
AI can:
- Analyze and structure large datasets.
- Provide actionable recommendations.
- Help users locate relevant information more efficiently.
- Detect market signals earlier.
- Generate novel ideas.
- Coach innovators to enhance their work.
The common denominator for all of them is that AI can help streamline, automate, and accelerate work, and provide easier access to information and skills that used to be the domain of only a few experts within the organization.
However, scaling AI’s benefits isn’t without challenges. Most employees aren’t going to be expert prompters or data analysts that know all the right innovation best practices. So, to unlock the real benefits of using AI, you’re going to need a capable system that is specifically designed for corporate innovation and deeply integrated with AI across the board. When deployed right, AI can help democratize, scale and accelerate innovation like never before.
3. Democratization of Innovation
The third trend builds on the first two. As innovation becomes a core capability better supported by tools, processes, and technology, it will also become more democratized.
Here are the three key shifts are driving this transformation:
- Innovation tools, frameworks, and best practices are becoming more widely available, understood, and easier to use: This makes it easier for anyone that wants to be an innovator to get started on the right path and avoid many of the common beginner mistakes.
- Technology reduces barriers to entry: Thanks to technologies such as 3D printing, low or no-code software, and Gen AI, it’s never been easier, faster, and cheaper to prototype innovations, whether focused on digital solutions, physical products, or process improvements.
- Organizations are looking for more bottom up, employee and team-led innovation and intrapreneurship: Corporate innovation is no longer solely driven by top management. While management needs to set the strategy and targets, more and more organizations are looking towards empowering their employees to help them get where they want to go. It all starts from ideas, but self-organized teams, business units, and intrapreneurship programs are all on the rise. Companies increasingly want to encourage employees to think and act more like entrepreneurs.
When you put all three together, they create a powerful combination that can propel organizations to new heights of innovation and growth.
4. Partner Innovation and the Venture Client Model
No organization, no matter how large or powerful, can house all the best talent on every topic. That’s why the “Not Invented Here” syndrome can be particularly dangerous.
When you need to move fast, and do so with a lower budget, your best bet is to leverage talent from outside your organization.
The trick? Partnering with leaders and early movers in your area of interest to accelerate time to market and gain valuable insights. These partners can include research institutes, universities, or, increasingly, startups.
Historically, large organizations have relied on accelerators or Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) investments to engage with startups. However, both approaches have limitations:
- Learning is indirect and secondhand.
- They often fail to directly contribute to strategic business goals.
- CVC investments require significant capital that could be allocated elsewhere.
The better approach? The Venture Client Model. This approach allows organizations to act as customers and development partners to startups that align with their strategic goals, resulting in:
- Lower costs and faster time to market.
- Accelerated learning through direct engagement.
- Quick ROI by leveraging the organization’s existing scale.
To succeed with this model, you need a systematic approach, the right tools—like HYPE Partnering—and a clear focus on addressing real business problems, not just nice to haves.
The Venture Client Model, featured in Gartner’s latest Hype Cycle for Innovation Practices, brings all these elements together, making it a proven and effective strategy for driving innovation.
5. Cross-industry Collaboration
Building on the trend of partnering, companies are increasingly looking beyond their industries to find innovation opportunities.
Experienced innovators know that there’s no such thing as a new idea. Every idea is simply a combination of previous concepts and ideas applied to solve a specific problem. By partnering with organizations in different industries, companies can leverage highly advanced, specialized capabilities to uncover surprising opportunities and tackle the often-difficult execution phase of innovation.
As such, we’re seeing more and more strategic partnerships between companies from different industries, such as automotive or life science firms partnering with tech companies, to not just learn from one another, but to cocreate hybrid solutions and products that unlock new value for customers and enable breakthroughs that neither industry could achieve alone.
6. Sustainability and ESG-driven Innovation
In recent years, ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) initiatives took a backseat due to economic pressures and growing disillusionment. Many organizations implemented ESG at a superficial level—promises and policies with little real-world impact—leading to skepticism about its value.
However, the fundamental need for transformation remains critical. From addressing government deficits to combating climate change, the urgency for sustainable innovation is greater than ever.
What’s different now? The drivers and enablers are firmly in place:
- Regulatory Pressure: Governments are introducing stricter mandates for sustainable practices.
- Technological Advancements: Breakthroughs in renewable energy, electrification, AI, and circular solutions provide tools for real change.
- Consumer Preferences: Shifts toward sustainability are influencing demand and shaping circular economic models.
For innovators, this is a perfect storm—a unique opportunity to create breakthroughs that move the needle for both their organizations and the planet. Sustainability is no longer a "nice-to-have" but a strategic imperative, making ESG-driven innovation one of the most significant trends shaping the future of corporate strategy.
Conclusion
These trends highlight a transformative shift toward more agile, sustainable, and externally focused innovation practices. By embracing these changes, organizations can not only stay competitive in an increasingly complex and fast-moving global market but also unlock new opportunities to create value, drive impact, and future-proof their strategies.
