Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: How will my organization benefit from ICI?

A: Innovation is proven to increase business performance. With the help of ICI your organization will:

• Improve the return on your innovation-related investments (such as R&D).
• Improve product quality and differentiation, so that you offer global-best products and services.
• Improve business efficiencies, productivity and margins.
• Increase your revenues from new or significantly improved goods and services -- to achieve greater market share and accelerate growth.
• Attain both continuous improvements and breakthrough innovations.
• Realize corporate stretch goals.
• Demonstrate to staff the importance of innovation for the organization.

Q2: What is different about ICI? What are its primary attributes?

A: There are no other publicly-available tools in the world that provide such a comprehensive, quantitative assessment of a firm’s innovation capabilities and performance. ICI is the first of its kind. ICI has four primary attributes:

1. Comprehensiveness: ICI recognizes that there are scores of complex and varied factors that contribute to innovation in your organization. In addition to detailed reports, the tool aggregates these various factors into a few simple measures.
2. Inclusiveness: ICI captures the input of staff in order to provide a more holistic portrayal of the organization’s innovation capabilities.
3. Performance Orientation: The tool puts a premium on your business performance. Most other tools focus on innovation inputs, such as creative activities, R&D expenditures and corporate culture. ICI measures these inputs, but (more importantly) relates them to fundamental business performance indicators such as growth and profitability.
4. Benchmarking: ICI provides the capability of comparing and benchmarking your firm against other firms in groupings of your choice (data depending).

Q3: Simply put, what do I get when I sign up?

A: You will receive three primary outputs:

1. An easy-to-use Online Survey of your employees;
2. An Output Report, summarizing the detailed results for your organization and a Highlights Report; and,
3. A 2-3 hour Debrief session, between your management team and a Conference Board innovation expert.

Q4: How much does ICI cost?

A: The cost for a basic assessment, custom Output Report and Debrief is anywhere from less than $5,000 to more than $45,000, depending upon the size of your organization. Reduced prices are available for the first 50 users, for members of the Conference Board’s Innovation Council, and for those in partnership agreements (typically SMEs).

Q5: Who inside our firm is surveyed?

A: For firms of less than 1,000 employees, we prefer to survey all employees. This allows feedback from the “shop floor” to the “executive suite”. It provides a pervasive view of the human and cultural aspects of innovation in your organization. For larger firms, we attempt to survey a statistically representative sample of employees at all levels.

Q6: How are we surveyed?

A: The survey is provided on-line, through a secure web-site dedicated to your organization. Results are tabulated by the Conference Board team, and all individual records are secured as private and confidential.

Q7: How long does the survey take to complete?

A: Approximately 20 minutes, for all employees. The management survey takes approximately 30 minutes to complete.

Q8: Why is there a separate management survey, and how is it different from the all employee survey?

A: The management survey includes those questions addressed in the individual survey plus and additional set of questions on corporate strategy, business objectives and organizational practices. The individual survey focuses on employee’s perceptions of the organization’s culture and innovation-related practices.

Q9: Can I customize ICI for my specific needs?

A: Yes. You can add additional questions, or ask for special analyses of the resulting data. You can also compare different groups within your organization (e.g. different divisions, functional levels, office locations, etc.) CBoC personnel can help you to design and price these options.

Q10: Can I benchmark my firm’s performance against others?

A: Yes, we have benchmark data for the quantitative questions in the survey. You will be able to benchmark your organization against various “cohorts” such as years of operation, firm size and type of product offered.

Q11: What does the Output Report contain?

A: The Output Report provides the detailed results for all questions. It also aggregates data to assess your firm performance in broad categories. These aggregate scores may point to areas of weakness or opportunity for the firm. By benchmarking your scores, you will be able to compare your relative strengths and weaknesses to other organizations in selected areas. The Highlights Report provides a clear portrayal of your organization’s innovation quotient.

Q12: What do I do after receiving my Output Report and Debrief?

A: In the Debrief (with Conference Board experts), your senior management has an opportunity to build a corporate Innovation Action Plan. This might inspire actions such as: renewed leadership focus, new business processes, internal resource reallocations, staff reward & recognition programs, revamped knowledge management systems, or new external partnership initiatives, for example.

Q13: Ours is a smaller firm. Does ICI apply to us?

A: Absolutely. We have a shorter version of the tool adapted for small business. In addition, we are talking with potential partners who may assist in delivering ICI to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) [1].

Q14: Ours is a public sector organization. Can ICI be applied to us?

A: The core tool can be applied to all organizations. Special versions for government departments are under development. Depending upon demand, ICI can be adapted to health institutions, educational institutions, fourth-pillar organizations, etc.

Q15: How many firms have used the tool?

A: As of September 2004 we have data for approximately 250 firms in our ICI database [2]. An additional 66 firms responded to the Alpha version of the tool. Five firms participated in the Beta test. Over one hundred business people and innovation experts have had a hand in the development of ICI.

Q16: How was the tool developed?

A: ICI was developed by the CBoC over an 18 month period (2002-04). Scores of business people and experts had a hand in the development of the tool -- through Alpha and Beta testing phases. The input tool has had a full psychometric evaluation. Several partners provided input and funding in the development of ICI:

• Hydro Québec
• Industry Canada
• National Research Council Canada (NRC)
• Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade

Q17: How does the Conference Board define “innovation”?

A: The Conference Board defines “innovation” as: “A process through which economic or social value is extracted from knowledge -- through the creation, diffusion, and transformation of ideas -- to produce new or significantly improved products or processes”.

Q18: What is the research basis for ICI?

A: For over 20 years, the CBoC has researched, surveyed and case studied firms from around the world with regard to their innovation capabilities and performance. We have years of experience in both measurement / benchmarking, and in running business networks in this field. The ICI tool is based on two integrated frameworks: The value-chain view of economic performance, and our own innovation framework, based in part on the OECD Oslo Manual.

Q19: Why is the Conference Board offering this tool?

A: The Conference Board believes that innovation is a major contributor to the country’s socio-economic performance. We believe that innovation is driven by good leadership, and prospers at the level of the organization. This tool is meant to help stimulate all Canadian leaders and organizations to become more innovative. The initiative supports the Conference Board’s mission: to build leadership capacity for a better Canada by creating and sharing insights on economic trends, public policy and organization performance.

Q20: Does the Conference Board have longer-term policy or research objectives with regard to ICI?

A: Yes. Over time, ICI will allow the Conference Board:

• To analyze a variety of innovation issues for industry sectors, communities, regions and countries; and,
• To quantify the impacts of innovation. (i.e. To quantitatively relate innovation performance to business and economic performance).
• In future, we may publicly acknowledge superior innovators (in a quantitative manner). ICI could ultimately be used to influence investment decisions in the capital markets.

[1] Partners may include the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) of the National Research Council Canada (NRC).

[2] These firms come from our Corporate Innovation Outlook survey, carried out in the summer of 2004. A report of the results is available in our e-Library.