This document provides descriptions, context, and examples for selected concepts of innovation management defined in ISO 56000, chosen to provide understanding of the most essential concepts in innovation management.

This document does not explain “how to” innovate or manage innovation, but it enables understanding of the language and concepts used in communication related to innovation and innovation management. Descriptions, examples, and infographics are used throughout this document, both to illustrate concepts and to differentiate between concepts. The examples have been chosen from a variety of industries and sectors with a focus on different types of innovations and are non-exhaustive.

The document is intended to be used by:

a)       organizations implementing an innovation management system, or performing innovation management assessments;

b)       organizations that need to improve their ability to effectively manage innovation activities;

c)        users, customers, and other interested parties (internal and external) seeking to ground and improve communication through a common understanding of the vocabulary used in innovation management;

d)       providers of training in, assessment of, or consultancy for, innovation management and innovation management systems;

e)       developers of innovation management and related standards.

This document uses examples to make concepts more comprehensible and is intended to be used as:

—     An introduction: Interested parties can be onboarded to the documents published as part of the ISO 56000 family of standards, bridging the gaps between alternative views, beliefs, and conceptions of innovation and the science and practice of innovation management.

—     A guideline: This document presents key technical definitions and concepts in a descriptive format suited to broad and non-technical audiences and can be used to provide basic understanding to organizations, academia, media, and other interested parties as the agreed upon standards become available to the world.