Many organizations excel at collecting ideas but stall when it comes to acting on them. Without a clear process to develop and protect innovation, creativity sits idle—draining engagement and missing market opportunities. By embedding innovation into your company’s culture, strategy, and systems, you can turn parked ideas into lasting competitive advantages.

 

Why Do Great Ideas End Up Going Nowhere?

Cars parked in a lot do not move and neither do the ideas that companies ‘park’ without a plan for development. When we ask companies if they think they are innovative, we frequently hear, “Of course we are, we have a parking lot of ideas.”

The problem? Without a clear process to move those ideas forward (and protect the most valuable ones) they remain idle. Businesses often put effort into ideation events or hackathons to extract ideas from their employees but without follow-through or safeguards, those ideas rarely progress or may even be lost to competitors.

If this lack of action becomes embedded in the company culture, enthusiasm fades. Employees may be deterred from trying to be creative, fostering a mindset of cynicism around innovation.

 

What Happens When You Don’t Develop Ideas?

Most companies are born from a single great idea, refined into a product or service. Over time, however, urgent day-to-day challenges can overshadow long-term innovation.

How these new ideas are supported from conception through implementation is the lifeblood of every business. Supporting and developing ideas can make or break your long-term success. That’s why companies should have a deliberate and strategic idea development system, one that ensures innovation is continuous, not occasional.

Innovation isn’t limited to disruptive products. It can also take the form of incremental improvements, revolutionary marketing strategies, new manufacturing or development processes, clever pricing strategies and cutting-edge branding. Without a system to both develop and protect these ideas, organizations risk losing market opportunities, falling behind competitors, and seeing their best concepts replicated elsewhere.

 

How Can You Build a Culture That Keeps Innovation Alive?

For innovation to be appropriately leveraged, it needs to become part of the strategy, culture and processes. This means:

  • Simple ways for capturing innovative ideas: make it easy for employees to contribute suggestions
  • Clear evaluation criteria: show how ideas are assessed and prioritized
  • A managed pipeline: track progress from concept to implementation with checkpoints to identify potential IP worth protecting.

These three simple steps keep ideas moving forward, enabling your company to continue innovating without adding unnecessary overhead. When employees see their contributions advancing (and know valuable ideas will be safeguarded) they feel valued, empowered, and motivated to keep contributing.

A culture built on these practices doesn’t just generate ideas—it transforms them into ongoing competitive advantage.

 

What’s the Secret to Staying in the Innovation Fast Lane?

Just like a well-designed freeway, innovation processes work best when the lanes are open and the flow is smooth. When they’re built to fit your organization’s needs, they allow R&D, product management, and other teams to collaborate at speed—avoiding the gridlock that slows great ideas.

Think of an innovation meter: at the beginning of a company’s life, the dial is at maximum while the initial product is designed and marketing strategies are created. As the company moves into a more mature deployment phase, the focus shifts to urgent short-term problem solving and the innovation dial quietly slips down to zero before anyone notices it.

 

How Do You Keep the Innovation Engine Running?

If you’ve been relying on a “parking lot” of ideas, now’s the time to take action. An intentional innovation process keeps your meter high, your competitive edge sharp, and your best ideas safe from being claimed by others.

Move those ideas out of park, rev your creative engine, and get on the Innovation Freeway™.

 

How Can You Make Sure Your Best Ideas Stay Yours?

Innovation doesn’t just need momentum—it needs protection. As ideas move through your pipeline, some may have the potential to become patents, trade secrets, or proprietary processes. Without a clear intellectual property (IP) strategy, your most valuable innovations could be copied, claimed, or commercialized by others.

Filing a patent or securing other IP rights early can safeguard your innovation and enhance your organization’s valuation. It also sends a clear message to investors, partners, and competitors: We protect what we create.

If your innovation process doesn’t already include IP review checkpoints, now is the time to build them in. That way, when an idea shifts into the fast lane, it’s protected for the entire journey.

 

Ready to move innovation from stalled to accelerating—and keep your best ideas secure? Contact Stratford Intellectual Property to learn how we can help you design processes that both execute and protect innovation.

 

You May Also Be Interested In:

 

About the Author

Natalie Giroux_ Natalie Giroux
 is President of Stratford Intellectual Property, where she leads a team of IP strategists and patent professionals dedicated to helping innovators protect and leverage their intellectual property. With deep expertise in strategic IP management and a business-first approach, Natalie has supported over 100 companies in aligning their IP portfolios with growth objectives. She is recognized globally as a leading IP strategist, including being named to the IAM Strategy 300 list. She is passionate about maximizing the value of innovation.

 

This blog post was originally published in 2018. It has been updated with new content.

 
, , , , , ,