A normal approach would involve creating strong collaboration between R&D and quality assurance teams, with regular audits and feedback loops to help maintain this equilibrium. Personally, I would give more leverage to R&D while emphasising three key words: safety, efficacy, and compliance..to standards or targets ... With this focus, they can make magic happen.

Balancing innovation and quality requires maintaining a forward-thinking approach while ensuring reliability and consistency. Focusing solely on innovation can lead to rushed outcomes, while overemphasising quality may hinder creativity. Successful balance lies in blending fresh ideas with rigorous testing and attention to detail.

Driving innovation with the right level of quality is a fine balance between leaving room open for creative thought and speed to market, but also having the right thought leaders in the room for considerations on the feasibility of the idea and rigor of quality required for the industry, regulatory landscape and most importantly for the target consumer. Brand equity owned by being known for superior quality and customers paying for that quality requires different innovation/quality perspective than brands known for their economy of price and availability. The balance of innovation and quality should highly depend on the strategic objectives a company has for capturing, maintaining and growing market share.

Sir Alec Issigonis reportedly coined the phrase, "A camel is a horse designed by committee." I take a contrarian approach to using cross-functional (or dysfunctional) teams to evaluate innovation's effect on quality. Such teams are an easy way out - spread responsibility for the ultimate decision (IF ANY) to a group rather than individuals. Each member will see the issue and proposed solution in terms of their functional area, bringing with it their worldview. For example, QA typically regulates change, R&D typically seeks change for its own sake, Finance typically seeks to cut costs. I suggest that each dep't assign an expert to evaluate the proposed change, and submit their written reports to upper management who will ultimately decide.

The pressure to innovate often runs headlong into the need for bullet-proof quality assurance. In my experience, ensuring quality assurance isn’t just a final hurdle, but a co-pilot in the innovation process pays back with dividends. The most successful organizations understand that innovation and quality are not at odds, but rather, they can enhance each other. The secret lies in strategic alignment. This translates to: ??Leveraging data analytics to monitor and optimize innovation pipelines and quality processes continuously. ??Embedding quality checkpoints within the innovation process. ??Balancing higher tolerance for risk while safeguarding critical quality benchmarks.