FEI
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What is the FEI?
The overall Innovation process can be divided into three parts: the front end of innovation, the new product development process and commercialization. Most people think of the front end as those things that come before gate 3 of the Stage GateTM process.
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What is the New Concept Development (NCD) model?
The NCD model provides a common language and holistic view of the front end. The model divides the front end into three distinct areas. The first is the engine, or center of the model, which accounts for the vision, strategy and culture which drives the FEI. The second or inner part defines the five activity elements of the front end. The third element consists of the external environmental factors.
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KOEN FEI ARTICLE I
FEI Article 1This first article looks at effective practices in the front end of innovation through a study of practices in 197 large US-based companies over a three-year period. Best practices in the engine - senior management commitment, vision, strategy, resources, and culture - of the NCD model are evaluated. It was found that the engine explained an amazing 53 percent of the variance in performance among participating companies. This result suggests that the engine is the most important part of the front end.
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KOEN FEI ARTICLE II
FEI Article 2This second article evaluates best practices in an additional set of engine attributes - effective teams, team leadership, and communities of practice - and activity elements of the NCD model. Opportunity identification and analysis, idea enrichment, and concept definition were found to be the most important activity elements for front-end incremental innovation success. In contrast, effective activity elements for radical innovation were related to under-standing both existing and disruptive markets and leveraging new and emerging technologies.