It is both rewarding and humbling to be recognised by BRW*, Australia’s pre-eminent business publication, as Australia’s Most Innovative Company.
The accolade drew immediate acknowledgment of Planet Innovation’s clients and staff by CEO Stuart Elliott: “From day one, Planet Innovation was formed with an innovation process geared around delivering commercially successful products, not just products that look nice or are technically interesting. Our clients, like Genea Biomedx, have shared this focus and continue to motivate us in weaving innovation throughout our business and supporting the entrepreneurial thinking of all our staff,” said Stuart.
Planet Innovation has a dedicated Innovation Manager whose core responsibility is to proactively drive entrepreneurial behaviors within the organisation. Common to so many of the great companies on BRW’s list however is a commitment to hire and develop staff with the specific intent of building an organisation full of innovators.
Expanding on Planet Innovation’s innovation process, Stuart describes the tension he likes to build between commercial and creative thinking: “Our innovation process is designed in a way that our commercial focus helps us identify and develop winning concepts. We are always mindful of our client’s end game, even when we are exploring some truly radical concepts. It is the ability to juggle these two mindsets of commercial outcome with disruptive design that has been the secret to Planet Innovation’s success.”
Measuring innovation is a challenge that we all grapple with. While we do track the quantity of new ideas generated and their progression through the innovation process, ultimately it is the market success of a product that validates the idea.
We thank BRW and Inventium for the honour of coming in number one and we especially recognize our talented staff who gives their heart and soul every day to our loyal clients. Thanks.
* Since this article was published, the BRW’s Most Innovative Company list has become the AFR Most Innovative Company list
