INNOVATION.
COMMERCIAL CREATIVITY
WITH A CONSCIENCE.
The Innovation Agenda is a collective of individuals and organisations who are passionate about the role of innovation in improving our world.
We're here to inspire and enable businesses to drive growth and profit through commercial benevolence. We're here to curate connections that create positive societal and environmental change.
We help businesses do better kinds of innovation, and be better at it.
The need for innovation has never been greater
A TIME FOR
Rapid technological advances, relentless business disruption and an increasing number of consumers demanding that businesses do ‘better’ by people and the planet, all set a new stage for for the future of commerce. Purpose-driven businesses and nations will ultimately outperform their unthinking, complacent counterparts.
A recent global study by Nielsen showed that 87% of consumers believe that businesses need to place at least an equal amount of weight on commercial interests as on society’s interests. 81% of consumers believe that companies should help to improve the environment.
Purpose and profits won’t merely co-exist in the future; purpose will drive profits.
PURPOSE-DRIVEN INNOVATION
Moving from, “what’s in it for us?”, to “how can we help?”
Short-sighted businesses drive short-lived innovation a lot of the time. The incredible focus that is given to short-term share and cost-cutting initiatives hardly accounts for the future, or for things outside of your business: consumers, customers, animals and the planet. When innovation is used as a selfish tool to close budget gaps, or done because it apparently can be done “quickly and easily”, the risks of failure go through the roof.
Progressive businesses, on the other hand, those that approach innovation with a strategic, foresight-led mentality are the organisations that will win the future. Dedicated focus towards innovative ventures that are designed to solve problems for people and the environment will be most valued among consumers, and success will result. These ventures don’t need to be entirely selfless, either, as purpose-driven businesses and innovation has been shown to drive both top-line and bottom-line growth.
Consumers actively seek out brand and businesses that are doing great things and importantly, they don’t expect all businesses to turn into charities. Studies by Nielsen and Euromonitor suggest that only 6% of people believe that the singular purpose of business is to make money for shareholders or owners, however, almost 8 in 10 think that it’s OK for businesses make money and support good causes and at the same time.
Help ourselves while helping others.
The world of work is changing
Technological advancements that underpin this current information age will render many routine and predictable roles redundant in the future. Creative, lateral, problem-solving skills are distinctively human, and will be in high demand moving forward. It’s important that we’re building these capabilities inside organisations and educational establishments.
THE FUTURE IS ABOUT
As we enter the ideas age, the future will become more about compassionate, commercial creativity. The businesses and nations that prosper most will be those most capable of harnessing the power of human ingenuity to help solve the problems of the world in an economically-viable way.
we are champions for innovation
The Innovation Agenda (TIA) is an expanding network of people who are passionate about innovation and its role in boosting the prosperity of businesses, people and our planet.
TIA exists to elevate the profile, influence, positive impact and success rate (productivity) of innovation. We believe that innovation means making positive changes that add value to people’s lives, which drives business and economic performance.
Through our TIA network, programs, events, education tools and podcast (launching in July 2019), we aim to help individuals and businesses thrive in this new world of work, the ideas age. We also have a network of agencies, consultants and advisors that we can refer you to for specific projects or challenges you need support with.
WE can help you OVERCOME some KEY innovation sUFFOCATORS...
Confusion about what 'innovation' actually means.
Ad hoc approaches and stage-gate centricity.
High failure rates for innovation (75-85% of new ventures fail)
Starting with solutions without understanding problems.
Comfort, complacency, short-sightedness and linear thinking.
Perceptions that creativity means not being commercial.
Selfish innovation programs that are solely based on profit.
...BY PROMOTING THE INNOVATION OXYGENATORS (THE 7Cs)
CLARITY
A common understanding of what ‘innovation’ means.
CONSISTENCY
A better foundation for innovation process and philosophy.
CODE-BREAKING
Curiosity that anchors innovation in problem-solving.
CREATIVITY
Assigning greater value to insight, foresight and lateral thinking.
CONFIDENCE
Rigour that drives routinely improved success rates (50%+).
COMMERCIALITY
Building innovators that are financially-savvy.
CARE
Using innovation as means to do better by people and the planet.
PEOPLE
The Innovation Agenda is led by innovation practitioners who collectively have more than 30 years’ experience driving business growth through innovative solutions, including new products, services and business models.
ADAM HAMILTON
Founder & Managing Director
Adam is an entrepreneur, brand marketer and innovation practitioner with over 15 years’ worth of experience working for some of the world’s largest consumer food and beverage businesses such as Mars, Kirin-owned Lion Co., Kraft-Heinz, Mondelez, Devondale Murray Goulburn (now Saputo) and Glanbia. He has first-hand experience with ‘turning big ships’, influencing global-level change and building innovation functions and strategies from scratch. Adam’s development of step-change innovation programs and new product initiatives that have generated more than $120 million in incremental net revenue.
Adam has a Bachelor of Commerce (marketing management and e-commerce) from Murdoch University in Western Australia. He is also a qualified nutritionist that is driven to contribute towards science and tech-based advancements in sustainable food production and low-to-no harm nutrition.
ALASTAIR KENVYN
Partner
Alastair has 17 years’ worth of sales, marketing and innovation experience in some of the largest and most successful consumer goods organisations around the world including Unilever and AB Inbev. He was previously a partner at ZX Ventures, AB-InBev’s global disruptive innovation unit based in New York, where he led the design and creation of Zxlerator, an organic innovation engine which is rolling out globally. Alastair has experience working across the full spectrum of innovation, from traditional new product development inside big business, through to Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) and partnering with start-ups.
Alastair has a Bachelor of Marketing and is an MBA graduate at the Australian Graduate School of Management. He is also the founder of RadioCarbon, a transformative innovation consultancy.
Our combined experience has delivered:
PROGRAMS
The Innovation Agenda uses various programs to help it achieve its purpose and missions.
THE INNOVATION AGENDA FORUM
Quarterly, member-only forums where the TIA network gets together to help one of our member organisations to solve an important business innovation challenge that will lead to positive change.
EDUCATION
A combination of innovation tips, tools, techniques and online training modules that are designed to equip businesses and innovation practitioners with the mindset and skills necessary to innovate ahead of the curve and prosper from purposeful innovation.
INNOVATION CONNECT
A service that facilitates mutually-beneficial introductions between large, established consumer packaged goods businesses and entrepreneurs or small businesses. From these encounters, new ventures, corporate accelerator programs or incubators can be initiated of which TIA and its partners can help mentor.
INNOVATION AUDITS
An intensive two-day review of a business’s ‘innovative health’. A rapid but thorough, independent evaluation of an organisation’s purpose-strategy-platform fit, analysis of current and emerging disruptive forces and review of a selection of key, individual projects or ventures. Conducted in conjunction with RadioCarbon.
EVENTS
We host quarterly thought leadership events where we invite subject matter experts, opinion leaders, entrepreneurs, government representatives and educators to provoke, challenge and inspire us, as innovators, to do better and make bigger changes through business activity.
Formats, venues and topics are always changing.
Next event: ‘Conscious Consumerism’ and plant-based nutrition
When: November, 2019.
Venue: TBC
Tickets go on sale August, 2019.
Join our community to stay informed of upcoming events.