Why it is important to build an innovation strategy through the project management maturity model

Today, innovation is the main global economic growth booster, as well as representing a real need in all human matters. Private and public organizations must innovate to survive in a hypercompetitive marketplace that is changing profoundly and at an increasingly fast pace, conveying an ever-higher level of expectation, and linking social and technological fields that were previously separated. All organizations, public and privates; nonprofits; academia; professional associations; small and medium enterprises; and multinational industries have to develop their own missions in a highly complex scenario based on a large number of variables that are often unpredictable, dynamic, and managed by different owners. The market is affected by global crisis, not only economic and financial crisis but also crisis due to the reduced availability of natural resources; United States-European Union-North Atlantic Treaty Organization-Russia political tensions; social, ethnic, and religious issues; and different perceptions of values, quality, time, and cost. Consequently, it is more difficult to be innovative or to be recognized as an innovator, because the standards, the reference, and the metrics to measure this attitude have changed. In addition, it is more complicated to figure out how to create a sustainable development process. Studies on organizations show that innovation is achievable only through a strategic thought process and a specific risk-taking approach; it's feasible by implementing initiatives that aim at a global, integrated, and continuous modernization process, but it will and must infiltrate the whole value chain's phases and parameters [1] (e.g., people, processes, business models, offerings, and technology). Organizations, governing all these assets, can reach a real and concrete competitive position and create tangible benefits and values for all stakeholders and shareholders (Figure 1). Strategic initiatives should be carried out as projects, so they must refer to well-defined processes. They must benefit from support tools for their planning and execution and from teams with appropriate management and technical competencies and skills.