Innovation experts are only half of the story. To be truly innovative, innovation has to be baked into the culture and ethos of the organization.

I had an amusing moment working at a large pharma client where all of the full-time staff suddenly started filing out of the room in unison. I asked them what was happening, and they said "we have innovation hour!".

Apparently the company had scheduled mass townhall sessions of 100+ people on a quarterly basis where the attendees were suddenly expected to "do innovation!".

The best innovations are often known (only too well) by the staff working at a company, but unless there is a culture where they can easily share them and be recognized for doing so, most of them will never be realized.