Stop Trying to Make Innovation Fit

Last week, a research institute asked me how they could make innovation fit their existing research processes. It's a common approach, but doesn't give researchers what they need.

The challenge isn't fitting innovation in. It's creating and holding space for it to exist.

Every research institute has a natural state it wants to return to: research excellence. It's what they're built for. What they're funded for. What they're measured on. This isn't wrong - it's necessary. And of course, great research can lead to impact.

But this creates a gravitational pull that makes creating and holding space for innovation incredibly difficult. Without deliberate counterforce, every initiative, every project, every decision will bend toward the familiar patterns of research. Patterns that have served science well, but might not be enough to bridge the gap between possibility and impact.

Yet some institutes have found another way. They've discovered that innovation, while different from research, follows its own clear path through uncertainty. From identifying unmet needs to prototyping solutions, from early adopters to scaled impact - each step answers fundamental questions. Is there a real, unmet need? Can we deliver a solution that's 10x better? Can we scale it?

These questions are constant. How you answer them isn't. Each innovation demands its own evidence, its own proof points, its own path to certainty. The structure isn't there to constrain this journey, but to ensure we're learning what matters at each step.

The best research institutes understand this deeply. They create workshops not to follow steps, but to drive learning. They use structured approaches not to check boxes, but to derisk opportunities. They build frameworks not to constrain innovation, but to protect its space to flourish.

This isn't about choosing between research excellence and innovation. It's about creating space where both can thrive, where tension between them becomes productive rather than destructive.

Creating this space is hard. Holding it is harder.

Every successful innovation program faces the same pressure. The pressure to make innovation more "efficient." More "predictable." More like research. It's a constant gravitational pull back toward the familiar, the measurable, the known.

Resisting this pull requires more than good intentions. It requires deliberate structure. Regular rhythms of customer discovery and validation. Protected time for experimentation. New metrics that value learning and impact alongside academic excellence. Leadership that understands its role isn't to make innovation comfortable, but to keep it possible.

Take 15 minutes:

Step 1: Find Your Tension Points

• Capability: How could you systematically build innovation skills alongside research expertise?
• Behavior: What incentives would encourage researchers to step into innovation?
• Resources: Beyond grants, where could new value streams create healthy tension?
• Culture: How might you make innovation success as visible as research excellence?

Step 2: Enable Your Researchers

New behaviors need new support structures. Consider:

• What tools and frameworks would help them succeed?
• Which skills and experiences do they need access to?
• How could you make innovation less risky to attempt?
• What ongoing support would help them persist?

Step 3: Pick One Point. Design One Tension.

Choose the opportunity with most potential. Design a specific intervention that creates productive pull toward innovation while respecting research excellence. Consider who needs to be involved - both internally and externally - to make it succeed.

Make it concrete. Make it meaningful. Make it last.

Innovation thrives not in the comfort of familiar processes, but in the productive tension between what is and what could be. Your job isn't to resolve this tension. It's to create space for it to drive progress.

When you get this right, something remarkable happens. Research doesn't diminish - it strengthens. Innovation doesn't disrupt - it amplifies. The space you create becomes a source of energy, pushing both forward in ways neither could achieve alone.

The future belongs to institutes that master this balance. Not by choosing between research and innovation, but by creating space where both can flourish, each making the other stronger.