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Chief innovation officer

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A chief innovation officer (CINO) is a person in a company who is primarily responsible for managing the process of innovation[1].

The CINO is responsible for managing the innovation process and identifies strategies, business opportunities and new technologies, then he develops new capabilities and architectures with partners, new business models and new industry structures to serve those opportunities[2].

The term "chief innovation officer" was first coined and described in the 1998 book Fourth Generation R&D.[3]

Essential Responsibilities

  • Perceives promising ideas and look for manner to integrate them into the company’s future plans.
  • Perceives ideas that are ineffective, costly, or beyond the scope of the company’s mission.
  • Works with the creative team so as to propose new ideas and strategies to resolve problems or to innovate.
  • Converts with the product development team general ideas into practical solutions.
  • Encourages the creative thought of the employees and finds manners to raise the innovative thought through all the areas of the company.
  • Appraise the progress of innovation and adapts the pace or direction of new projects in accordance[4].

How to become a Chief Innovation Officer?

To become a Chief Innovation Officer, you might be ready to take some risks by testing new product ideas that have a high rate of failure. Moreover, this position has became very popular in recent years and requires people who have both management and IT experiences[5].

Education

You need to obtain an bachelor’s degree in business, management or IT if you aspire to become a CINO. Also, a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree would probably help you for salary negotiation and career advancement. Indeed, there is no specific university major or MBA concentration that lead to you should pursue to chief innovation officer requirements however being evolved in creative problem solving during your time in college could be helpful[6].

Certified Chief Innovation Officer programs

There are some organization such as InnovationLabs which propose programs to prepare people from all fields to be successful innovators, contributors and leaders. For example, the Certified Chief Innovation Officer™ (CCIO™) program[7] was created and designed by senior innovation specialists expert Langdon Morris and provide the participants the knowledge and skills necessary to be an effective Chief Innovation Officer and innovation leader in their organizations. The program lasts 4 days and is divided in two parts, they will have some training sessions with innovation experts then they will take a final certification exam which deliver the diploma. Participating in this program will significantly advance the career possibility and the credibility of the participant.  For more information: http://www.innovationlabs.com/innovation-services/innovation-training-and-certification/

What makes a good chief innovation officer?

  • The taste of innovation: with the very fast development of the technologies, companies and individuals constantly need to innovate so as to stay competitive. Consequently, the CINO has to promote and stimulate the innovation, takes some initiatives and improves what is already done.
  • A good understanding of the needs and the perspectives of the company: the CINO needs to be very determined to innovate however he cannot forget the framework and the culture of the company he works in. He has to be able to adapt his ideas to the needs to the company.
  • The capacity of connecting people and ideas: it takes a combination of business, social and technology innovations to really make an impact. Indeed, The CINO always needs to find the right person for a specific task.
  • Excellent communication skills: innovate is one thing, however presenting this innovation is another one and not less important. Indeed, it is very important for a CINO to be clear, concise, but also open-minded and listen around him but above all a good CINO needs to be very convincing[8].

To conclude, to survive in today’s business environment, it is indisputable that companies are looking to innovate, therefore the role of a Chief Innovation Officer is suited to someone who understands the needs of his company, makes connections, and communicates with all stakeholders about innovation.  

BBC NEWS. (2008) Factory gloom worst since 1980. [Online] Available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7681569.st

Salary

The average salary for chief innovation officer jobs is $105,000 (≈ 65,000£). However chief innovation officer salaries can vary greatly due to company, location, industry, experience and benefits[9].

In comparison, the average salary for IT jobs is $43,000 (≈ 27,000£)[10].

Outside of companies

On the contrary to expected, Chief Innovation Officer are not only present in companies. Indeed, they have a first choice role to play in other organizations such as schools or even cities.

CINO in schools

These last years, Chief innovation officers are slowly popping up in school districts. This phenomenon mainly happens in american schools but will probably spread into other countries quickly. For now, only a few Chief Innovation Officer work inside of a school district and their job is to stimulate the creative and innovative part of students for their future but also learn them how to collaborate, communicate, think critically and solve problems. In other world CINO is schools prepare students to be future leaders in companies[11].

CINO in cities councils (in the U.S.)

In the United States some cities also hired some Chief Innovation Officer such as the City of Austin which was the first one in U.S. to name Kerry O’Connor, who previously worked for the U.S. Department of State, in the Office of the Secretary as Program Manager[12], at this job in the city council. Her job is to conceive new new innovative solutions to civic issues. Also, she has to create a link conduit between the city and the members outside of it. Indeed, Austin create this positions to be more efficient in technology challenges[13]. Once again this phenomenon started in the U.S. however it should spread into other countries quickly.

Other cities in US which named a Chief Innovation Officer[14]:
City Name of the CINO
Ferndale, California Joseph Gacioch
Davis, California Rob White
San Leandro, California Deborah Acosta
Riverside, California Lea Deesing
Los Angeles Peter Marx
Colorado Mark Sirangelo
Kansas City, Missouri Ashley Hand
Nashville, Tennessee Yiaway Yeh
Pittsburgh Debra Lam
Maryland Michael Powell
Philadelphia Adel Ebeid
New York City Rahul Merchant
Boston Nigel Jacob

References

  1. ^ KOETZIER, W. and ALON, A. (2009) You Need A Chief Innovation Officer. Forbes. [Online] 16th December. Available from: http://www.forbes.com/2009/12/16/chief-innovation-officer-leadership-managing-accenture.html?feed=rss_home [Accessed: 13th October 2014].
  2. ^ JAZYLO, J. V. (2014) The Role of a Chief Innovation Officer. Leadership Capital Group. [Online] 10th February. Available from: http://lcgsearch.com/the-role-of-a-chief-innovation-officer-by-john-v-jazylo-partner/ [Accessed: 13th October 2014].
  3. ^ Miller, W. and Morris, L. (1998) Fourth Generation R&D - Managing Knowledge, Technology, and Innovation.
  4. ^ greatsampleresume.com. (2014) Chief Innovation Officer Job Description.[Online] Available from: http://www.greatsampleresume.com/Job-Description/Chief-Innovation-Officer-Job-Description.html [Accessed: 13th October 2014].
  5. ^ MACGREGOR, J. (2013) What does it take to become a Chief Innovation Officer?Celent Insurance Blog. [Online] 15th August. Available from: http://insuranceblog.celent.com/2013/08/15/what-does-it-take-to-become-a-chief-innovation-officer/ [Accessed: 13th October 2014].
  6. ^ KALU, N. (2014) How Do I Become a Chief Innovation Officer? wiseGEEK. [Online] 4th October. Available from: http://www.wisegeek.com/how-do-i-become-a-chief-innovation-officer.htm [Accessed: 13th October 2014].
  7. ^ InnovationLabs.(2012) Innovation Training and Certification. [Online] Available from: http://www.innovationlabs.com/innovation-services/innovation-training-and-certification/ [Accessed: 13th October 2014].
  8. ^ UMEH, J. (2014) What makes a good Chief Innovation Officer? Capgemini.com [Online] 10th May. Available from: http://www.capgemini.com/blog/capping-it-off/2014/05/what-makes-a-good-chief-innovation-officer [Accessed: 13th October 2014].
  9. ^ indeed.com. (2014) Chief Innovation Officer Salary. [Online] Available from: http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=Chief+Innovation+Officer&l1 [Accessed: 13th October 2014].
  10. ^ SimplyHired.com. (2014) Average IT salaries. [Online] Available from: http://www.simplyhired.com/salaries-k-it-jobs.html [Accessed: 13th October 2014].
  11. ^ Roscorla, T. (2014) Chief Innovation Officers Make Their Way Into Schools. GovernmentTechnology.com. [Online] 23rd July. Available from: http://www.govtech.com/education/216673401.html [Accessed: 13th October 2014].
  12. ^ Florance, C. (2013) City Manager Ott names first Chief Innovation Officer. AustinTexas.gov. [Online] 17th December. Available from: http://www.austintexas.gov/news/city-manager-ott-names-first-chief-innovation-officer [Accessed: 13th October 2014].
  13. ^ POWELL, C. (2013) Austin's Getting a Chief Innovation Officer. kut.org. [Online] 18th November. Available from: http://kut.org/post/austins-getting-chief-innovation-officer-so-what-heck-does-mean [Accessed: 13th October 2014].
  14. ^ MULHOLLAND, J. (2014) Chief Innovation Officers in State and Local Government. GovernmentTechnology.com. [Online] 28th March. Available from: http://www.govtech.com/local/Whos-Making-Innovation-Official.html [Accessed: 13th October 2014].


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