The challenges of bottom-up innovation

Volume 41, Number 3 of the Engineering Management Review included my comments on Top-Down Innovation (TDI) and Bottom-Up Innovation (BUI). I drew the distinctions between the two approaches to innovation and noted that in most organizations BUI eventually becomes TDI. Not too many organizations provide a supportive environment that fosters BUI. The appropriate environment requires 1) organizational freedom that supports risk-taking, and 2) people willing to accept the risks; both are essential. BUI cannot function when the organization fails to offer freedom with discipline; discipline meaning that innovation requires thinking and doing and not just thinking; it's not sufficient to just think and generate ideas. Innovation crosscuts the entire organization; it requires the integration of all organizational functions to be successful. Keep in mind that: INNOVATION = INVENTION + COMMERCIALIZATION OR IMPLEMENTATION. No commercialization or implementation, no innovation.