Design-Led Innovation: A Framework for the Design of Enterprise Innovation Systems

Innovation is not business as usual. Many enterprises struggle to build the systems necessary to consistently deliver new and improved sources of value to customers and stakeholders. Through a thematic analysis, expert interviews, systems mapping, and a case study with the $100B Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), this paper presents a framework for the design of enterprise innovation systems, called the innovation systems design cycle (ISDC). To apply the ISDC, innovators iteratively plan, build, check, and refine innovation systems. The ISDC framework is detailed with new models exploring innovation system mapping and implementation, modes to assess and compare an innovation system’s development, and configurations to support rapid, adaptable design. Together they support innovators of all experience levels in applying the ISDC to design more resource-efficient innovation systems with a greater capacity to shape an innovation ecosystem and avoid enterprise disruption. The ISDC can be used to build or enhance an innovation system, benchmark performance, frame best practices, quantify value creation potential, demystify innovation systems design, and democratize innovation across not-for-profits and other organizations towards a more just, democratic, and sustainable collective future.