How To Measurecompanies Innovation Capability?

Although Innovation is defined by many classical sources (Schumpeter, Oslo Manual etc.) it is still remains a myth at companies what it really means. It is well understood that sustainable growth is not possible without proper innovation management. Lots of energy is invested to implement and setup well-structured stage gate processes - from idea generation till market launch with state of the art project management, however fundamental question is mostly ignored, neglected: what innovation culture matches to industries, markets certain companies serve. This paper researches the literature of different innovation capability measurement systems Select one which has a fundamental new approach and shows the status of a model validation process at a new industry. The model main claim is that there is no good or bad innovation culture. The main question is how innovation culture/capability is matching to the company current and future targeted strategy and operational of excellence. During the validation process 2 strategic business fields are being selected similar in size and challenges (matured markets with stagnating product lifecycles, still need for 5-10 % of innovative growth within next 5 years which can be only reached via competence enhancement - not to be derived from current markets). These conditions provide excellent opportunity to validate the model at this industry and propose if applicable necessary adjustments.