As industries consistently change with new technologies emerging, companies need to adapt to these changes in order to maintain success. Where can organizations turn when they want to know how to remain competitive in their respective industries, even when they have limited expertise in innovation?
While the high failure rate of startup businesses is no mystery, even large companies are not immune to disruption that puts them out of business — and the threat is increasing. According to a study by Credit Suisse, the average lifespan of an S&P 500 company is now under 20 years. In the 1950s, the average lifespan was closer to 60 years. Bringing new technologies and innovative frameworks into large corporations keeps them alive, even ones that were created decades ago. The innovation consulting firms we’ve identified as the leaders in corporate innovation are all providing compelling solutions and have significant track records. We evaluated and selected these companies based on their reputable corporate clients, unique methodology, and solutions-based outcomes.
Top Innovation Consulting Firms
Below we have highlighted some of the key players in the space that are driving established companies to bring innovative and entrepreneurial culture into their organizations.
Innosight
Location: Lexington, MA
Year Founded: 2000
Embracing a principle they called “dual transformation,” Innosight addresses short-term problems facing corporate clients while simultaneously setting them up for long-term success by bringing innovation into their DNA. In addition to their corporate clients spanning multiple industries, they are leaders in research and innovation theory with well-known publications in the subject such as the Innovator’s Dilemma, by co-founder Clayton Christensen. The company currently has offices in Singapore, Switzerland, and Boston but has a presence in other global locations through their parent company Huron, a global consultancy.
etventure
Location: Berlin
Year Founded: 2010
Many companies focus on external innovation or partnering with startups to enhance their businesses over internal innovation in order to bring in the best technological expertise. etventure is unique in that they do both, providing a “Seed Labs” service for companies that want to build innovative products and services internally as well as providing access to over 5,000 potential startup partners. In addition to their seven global offices, they have a partnership with Ernst and Young which has expanded their network and added management consulting services to their practice.
Fahrenheit 212
Location: New York, NY
Year Founded: 2002
Known for paying their employees based on outcome, Fahrenheit 212 embodies the entrepreneurial culture internally when working on client projects in order to mimic the innovation happening in the startup world. Each project starts by defining a growth strategy based on the client problem at hand and then building prototypes and scalable solutions internally. Capgemini, the parent company, gives Fahrenheit 212 more global reach through their European presence.
Jump Associates
Location: San Mateo, CA
Year Founded: 1998
Dev Patnaik, the CEO of Jump Associates, is a professor and scholar that has published several pieces of work on innovation theory. The principle behind Jump is getting people to care deeply about ideas through mapping out opportunity areas based on values, goals, and potential future scenarios. Using a hybrid consulting approach of design thinking and management consulting, Jump works with their clients from the ideation phase through the entire prototyping and pilot phase.
Plug and Play
Location: Sunnyvale, CA
Year Founded: 2006
Partnering with a startup is similar to investing — it’s important to cast a broad network for the greatest chance for success. Plug and Play is known to have one of the largest innovation networks that they leverage to bring corporate clients into a community of thousands of startups for deal flow. With 28 locations nationwide and 180 VC partnerships, corporations that work with Plug and Play have access to a global network of innovation by getting personalized startup introductions and becoming decision makers in the accelerator program.
RocketSpace
Location: San Francisco, CA
Year Founded: 2011
RocketSpace’s coworking facilities, industry collaboration programs, and custom consulting services provide a wide range of innovation opportunities. On the consulting side, RocketSpace works with the client to identify areas of innovation opportunity, determines the appropriate startups to bring in for partnership, and initiates a robust pilot partnership once a partner has been chosen. The network of startups that have come onto campus and through the accelerator programs further validates RocketSpace’s partnership recommendations, ensuring that every partner is ready to collaborate with the corporate client.
Determine the Right Innovation Solution
There are a variety of innovation strategies and structures for incorporating innovation into a company. It is important to evaluate the structure of your company and what kind of innovation methodology you would need to be successful before determining the right company to help you scale your innovation efforts.
For those interested in learning more about RocketSpace’s customized services for corporations looking to transform their innovation structure, check out Corporate Innovation Services.
