Accessing Innovation Value

I am passionate about helping innovations achieve their potential and access the value they contain to support society, the environment and customers. To meet society’s challenges we need to adopt new ways of working and new tools and services to become more productive and efficient.

I have previously written about how organisations should appoint a Chief Adoption Officer to work with a Chief Innovation Officer to take proven innovations and take them to the next level.? I was unable to share at the time, the what and how of the CAO role. I have now developed the Soar framework with clients including the Environment Agency , South West Water , AVA Bridge and Anglian Water Services .? Soar is a comprehensive, easy to understand methodology for planning, tracking and scaling an innovation or portfolio of innovations.

Typical innovation journey

In my experience there are several paths an innovation can take in the infrastructure sector. They all start with a positive investment and end in disappointment. Does the following scenario sound familiar?

This journey starts with celebrating securing funding for a trial of your innovative solution! You have then navigated the challenges of deployment, released a press release and held showcase event with Spring , and perhaps been shortlisted for an industry award. That’s a fantastic achievement, as many innovations don’t make it this far! Then the discussions (if you’re lucky) begin…

Planning the Next Steps

You’ve probably discussed the next steps with your client, which might involve engaging various departments that ask numerous questions, require more testing, or remain unconvinced of the value. Or perhaps you’ve been told your solution is fantastic, but there’s no budget available due to the AMP cycle. Often, there’s no plan, structure, program, or suitable budget to keep the project moving forward. While a lucky few might receive follow-up funding from the Ofwat fund, most are left to fend for themselves.

Reflecting on Your Journey

You’ve undoubtedly learned more than you anticipated, often in unexpected areas. You’ve likely proven that your solution works and gathered valuable insights into whether you’ve addressed a real problem. This means you have a good grasp of the problem/solution fit. But have you answered the critical questions about viability and desirability?

Changing the Narrative

Should it be this way? No.

Does it have to be this way? No.

Can we plan our projects more effectively? Yes.

Can we predict future costs and timescales? Yes.

Introducing the Soar Framework

To address these challenges, implement the Soar framework into your project planning and portfolio delivery. This framework helps innovators develop their solutions across the Feasible, Viable, and Desirable paradigms systematically and efficiently.

The Soar Framework Explained

At a high level, the framework is a 3x3 matrix:

• Product Readiness (Feasibility)
• Collaboration Readiness (Desirability)
• Commercial Readiness (Viability)

These readiness criteria are then subdivided into 11 individual criteria which cover all aspects of innovation adoption. They are: Technology, Manufacturing, Reliability, Software, Integration, System, Organisation, Quality, Market, Demand and Team.

On the other axis, we have three stages of development:

1. Testing
2. Optimising
3. Scaling Up

Each of the stages is split into 3 steps with stage gates to move between the stages.

We use this framework and its underlying questions to set goals, tasks, and activities to develop a project plan and program. It’s essential to advance all three components at their own pace to ensure innovation success.

Phases of Development

• Testing Phase: Quickly identify blockers across all requirements, such as fitting within existing specifications, identifying procurement routes, and integrating into existing work processes.
• Optimising Phase: Remove blockers and test assumptions.
• Scaling Up Phase: Support the implementation of the solution once blockers are removed, which is the most crucial phase.

Detailed Readiness Assessment

The framework includes a set of questions to help innovators assess their readiness at a granular level across 11 criteria. It features progress tracking metrics based on the cost of lessons learned. This more effective for innovation projects than traditional project management techniques because innovation journeys are rarely linear. Using an innovation delivery cost curve, we can provide indicative development costs to reach scale based on the assessed readiness level and investment to date.

Supporting Innovations Beyond Trials

Innovations need support beyond a successful trial. The Soar framework helps organizations and innovators understand and provide the necessary support. Reach out if you would like to learn more and test the Soar framework on your innovation or portfolio.