Steve Armitage, Head of Innovation and Intelligent Automation at Heathrow Airport, said that prior to the 2020 pandemic the organisation had ambitious plans for its innovation strategy, but through necessity this has become one team focused on short-term needs.
He also had discovered the Innovation Management System by chance and saw the potential for it within the aviation industry. It offered a structured approach to identifying the opportunity, creating concepts, and validating them.
For him it offered a reframing of innovation towards developing concepts that addressed an industry challenge.
In particular, the IMS ‘hamburger’ graphic, which encapsulates the structure of the IMS, had been very useful for visualizing the process, particularly the focus on intent and the need for cultural change.
Creativity is influenced by culture, and Steve argues that within a highly regulated environment being open to something new is in itself ‘creativity’.
He comments: “The pace of change is such that new approaches are needed to offer solutions to business challenges. There is a massive opportunity to do things differently, and the IMS offers a structured way to do this.”
More about the Innovation Management System.
