Innovation strategy and governance review, ensuring innovation intent is explicitly linked to organizational strategy and leadership accountability
Innovation Management
ISO 56001 Certification
Innovation Management
ISO 56001 Certification
Prove Innovation at Your Organization Is a System, Not Just a Slogan
ISO 56001, published in 2024, is the first certifiable international standard for an Innovation Management System, giving you independently verified proof that your organization generates, evaluates, and delivers innovation through a structured, repeatable process, not just enthusiasm and the occasional hackathon. We build that management system around how your organization actually innovates, close the gaps a certification auditor would flag, and get you certified without smothering the creativity the system is meant to support.
The challenge
The Problem We're Usually Called In For
Most organizations have innovation activity, R&D projects, internal idea programs, pilot initiatives, without a governing system connecting that activity to strategy, resourcing, and measurable outcomes. A promising pilot stalls because nobody owned the decision to scale it. An idea program generates hundreds of submissions a year with no consistent evaluation criteria, so good ideas and weak ones get the same shrug. Leadership talks about innovation as a priority, but there’s no portfolio view of what’s actually being invested and what it’s returning.
We work with Chief Innovation Officers, Heads of R&D, Strategy Directors, and CEOs at organizations across technology, manufacturing, financial services, and the public sector, where innovation outcomes are treated as a genuine strategic priority rather than a marketing talking point. Some of you are formalizing innovation management for the first time. Some are consolidating fragmented innovation efforts, R&D, digital transformation, internal ventures, into one coherent system. Others need certification to support a government tender, an ESG narrative, or a genuine competitive differentiation strategy.
Scope
What the Certification Process Covers
Gap analysis against ISO 56001's requirements, covering context, leadership, planning, support, operation, performance evaluation, and improvement
Idea generation, evaluation, and decision-gate process design, so ideas move through consistent, defensible criteria rather than informal judgment calls
Innovation portfolio management review, giving leadership a structured view of what's being invested and what value it's generating
Pilot and proof-of-concept process review, including how experiments are resourced, evaluated, and either scaled or retired
Innovation culture and collaboration assessment, since ISO 56001 expects genuine organizational engagement, not a program run by a single isolated team
Performance measurement and KPI design specific to innovation outcomes, not just activity metrics like idea volume
Internal audit support and management review ahead of certification
Engagement
How the Engagement Works
Step 01
Discovery & Scoping
Step 02
Gap Assessment
Step 03
System Design & Build
Step 04
Internal Audit & Management Review
Step 05
Certification Support
A short call to understand your current innovation activities, governance structure, and what's driving certification. We agree on scope before assessment begins.
We assess your current innovation practices against ISO 56001's requirements and flag exactly what's missing, informal, or disconnected from strategy.
We help design the governance, processes, and decision gates your innovation management system needs, built around how your organization actually generates and evaluates ideas.
We run the internal audit ISO 56001 requires and support the management review that certification depends on.
We prepare your team for the certification body's Stage 1 and Stage 2 audits and help resolve any findings quickly.
Outcomes
Proof, Not Promises
Technology company running three disconnected innovation efforts, an internal idea platform, a separate R&D function, and an innovation lab reporting to marketing:
the gap assessment found no shared evaluation criteria or portfolio view across any of them. Consolidating governance under one framework let leadership see, for the first time, which initiatives were actually worth continued investment.
Manufacturing firm with a well-used employee idea program generating little measurable impact:
the process review found ideas were logged but rarely evaluated against clear criteria or resourced for piloting. A structured decision-gate process turned the program from an idea graveyard into a source of two funded pilots within the first quarter after implementation.
FAQ
Questions We Get Asked Before Signing
It's certifiable. ISO 56002 is the earlier guidance standard for innovation management, while ISO 56001, published in 2024, sets formal requirements that an accredited certification body can audit and certify against, following the same Annex SL structure as ISO 9001 or ISO 27001.
Typically four to seven months, depending on how fragmented or informal your current innovation activities are and how much governance needs to be built from scratch.
That's the most common concern, and a fair one. We design decision gates and processes to be lightweight and genuinely useful for evaluation and resourcing decisions, not paperwork for its own sake, since a system that smothers creativity defeats its own purpose.
Yes, ISO 56001 follows the same Annex SL high-level structure as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 27001, so integration is straightforward and audits can often be coordinated to reduce duplicated effort.
No, ISO 56001 covers innovation broadly, including new products, services, processes, business models, and methods, so it applies just as much to operational or business model innovation as it does to R&D.
Certification runs on a three-year cycle with annual surveillance audits. We can support those ongoing or transition the system fully to your internal innovation team.
Ready to Prove Innovation Is Something Your Organization Actually Manages?
Enthusiasm for innovation is common. A structured, governed system that turns ideas into measurable value on a repeatable basis is rare, and ISO 56001 certification is independent proof you've built one.
Schedule a 30-minute innovation management readiness call and find out where your gaps are. When you reach out, we'll ask for your name, work email, company, role, and a brief note on your current innovation activities. That's enough for us to come prepared.