Kodak's own engineers built the first digital camera, and its executives shelved it to protect film. The gap between having ideas and managing innovation is where organizations quietly die.

In this special episode of GovCon Unscripted, Chelsea Roberts sits down with two of the people writing the international playbook for innovation management. Rick Fernandez is President of the American Network for Innovation, chairman of the US technical advisory group to ISO TC 279, and a veteran of Florida Power & Light's Deming Prize win, the first awarded outside Japan. Harlan Bennett is CEO of Ever Evolving, Inc., VP of the American Network for Innovation, and vice chair of the same US advisory group.

Together they take apart the most common misreads in federal innovation: that innovation equals technology, that more ideas mean more innovation, and that a standard is just another compliance flow-down. Rick contrasts idea-driven programs (14,000 employee ideas collected, roughly 100 developed, 13,900 contributors alienated) with value-driven innovation that starts from strategic intent. Harlan shows SBIR performers how to escape the one-lane trap by validating adjacent customers before the build starts. And both make the case that ISO 56001, built on the same harmonized structure as ISO 9001, is a management system, not a control system.

They also preview what's next: innovation ecosystem management, IP-sharing contracts between primes and subs, and why innovation is no longer an individual game.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Welcome and guest introductions

01:00 Harlan Bennett: Ever Evolving, Inc. and the American Network for Innovation

02:30 Rick Fernandez: from FPL's Deming Prize to ISO TC 279

04:00 Why innovation needs standards now: the three S's

07:00 Innovation is not a technology: something new that creates value

09:30 The garage tinkerer problem and the one hit wonder

11:00 Managing innovation vs controlling it

12:00 Idea-driven vs value-driven innovation: the 14,000 ideas story

14:30 Innovation portfolio management

18:45 SBIR: escaping the one-lane trap

23:30 The recipe: maximize value, minimize risk, resources, and time

24:45 Ambidextrous organizations: innovating without dropping daily operations

25:30 Case study: an innovation management office, 100 projects narrowed to 3

29:00 Ecosystems: innovation is no longer an individual game

31:00 Primes, flow-downs, CMMC, and fair negotiations

37:45 Standards as enablers, not regulations

39:30 The harmonized structure: why ISO 9001 shops are halfway there

42:15 Where to find Harlan and Rick

Resources:

Harlan Bennett's LinkedIn Profile

Rick Fernandez's LinkedIn Profile

Chelsea Roberts' LinkedIn Profile

Other resources:

Ever Evolving Inc. Website

2020 Innovation Website

American Network For Innovation Website

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