Innovation management tools: A comprehensive literature approach of the last three decades

The innovation management comprises risks and uncertainties as it involves many variables. Thus, regardless of the organization’s size, decision-making concerning innovation management is extremely complex, despite being supported by tools that can lead to greater assertiveness or at least lessen the risks. This article aims to identify innovation management tools described in the extant literature in the last three decades. Therefore, a systematic review was carried out in Scopus, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect databases using the keywords ‘innovation management tool,’ ‘innovation management framework,’ ‘innovation management software,’ and ‘innovation management system’. As a result of the search, 67 articles were identified, and 57 remained after eliminating duplication and discarding articles without adherence to the proposed theme. The content analysis revealed that proposals for new tools are rare. Thus, a gap in the literature became evident, demonstrating the lack of tools to support innovation management. Additional inference showed that there is a lack of variations in methodology in the composition of these tools, such as multivariate analysis or linear regression based on technologies transferred by industries that achieve greater success in their segments. Final conclusions are that there is a vast field of studies that promotes greater efficiency of management and, therefore, a greater security in the decision-making related to the innovation management process.