What causes innovations to fail in the company

This is according to Capgemini's new study, "Scaling Innovation - What's the Big Idea?" which explains why most innovations are not successfully rolled out.

Olivier Hervé, head of strategy consulting at Capgemini Invent, summarizes the findings as follows:

"Scaling innovation needs to be treated as a separate discipline within the innovation journey because it is fundamentally different. It has its own challenges and typically resides in a business area of a company that is completely separate from ideation, scaling also requires a different mindset and skill set.

By treating scaling as a specific and unique discipline, putting the right governance in place, and building a culture willing to make tough decisions to scale innovation, companies can do so with a speed and certainty that competitors struggle to match."

Innovation and the successful scaling of the same are two different functions that often require different attitudes and capabilities. Few companies, however, distinguish between the front end of innovation generation and the back end of innovation scaling. They don't think about scaling itself - a discipline that is clearly distinct in its purpose, requirements and challenges.

Although scaling occurs downstream in the innovation process, it is often too little, too late. By considering innovation scaling as a discipline in its own right, companies can ensure that they have teams in place early in the ideation phase that are more focused on the feasibility and viability of innovation.