Idea Management in Product Innovation – the Empirical Research Results

Original scientific paper The competitiveness of the economy to a large extent depends on its ability to innovate. There is a consensus between researchers and business practices on the high importance of innovation management process, particularly in the earliest stage when it is necessary to identify business opportunities and find the best possibilities for their realizations. In the process of innovation management, many authors emphasize the critical role of idea management and efficient ways of creating, gathering, evaluation, promotion, selection, and implementation of ideas. As part of the research project "Models and methods of knowledge management in product development", by the Croatian Ministry of science, education and sport, a survey was conducted on a sample of Croatian companies which have product development in their production process. The conducted survey attempted to determine the situation in the area of product innovation, as well as in the field of innovation and idea management in the economy and to compare data with best practices. The collected data show when and how the ideas are collected, which motives and purposes are drivers for the collection of ideas and how companies are organized and trained for this demanding job. This paper presents the results of the survey, which suggest ways to improve product development, and sources and methods of collecting ideas. Publication of the outcome of this and other research on product innovation aims to spread the knowledge about this very important but under-explored area.