At this years Conference of the International Society for Professional Innovation Management we contribute a short workshop on the Buisness Innovation Kit and an academic paper publication introducing the Values-Based Innovation Framework – Innovating by What We Care About.
The values-based view on innovation focuses on the role of values and normative orientations in triggering and directing innovation within and beyond organisations. This paper presents a theoretical framework in which values, understood as subjective notions of the desirable and criteria for decisions and evaluations, provide heuristic and integrative functions for normative, strategic, and operational innovation management. A central feature of this framework is a new and values-based interpretation of open innovation relationships, for example with external stakeholders. Theoretical notions such as specific values types and their integrative functions within and beyond organisations are developed and discussed with the aid of the illustrative cases of Aravind Eye Care System and the retail company Otto Group. Defining values as a source, lever, and orientation mark for innovation activities brings notions of the desirable from the periphery to the core of organisational value creation and renewal.