Defence requires Enterprise-Level Innovation: Using a Systems Approach to secure superior Value from Ideas

The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) has embraced innovation as a means of leveraging operational advantage by pulling ideas through to operational capabilities more effectively and efficiently. As a result it has announced the Defence Innovation Initiative (DII) aimed at attracting investment from government and non-government sources and to improve value for money. This paper explores the challenges associated with delivering enterprise-level innovation and suggests that holistic systems approaches that are sensitive to the locus of innovation within an enterprise system are needed to secure superior value from ideas. Our early findings show the utility of addressing innovation system coherence through an understanding of the models, constructs and time constants within the innovation landscape when viewed from the perspective of the Operate function within the Defence Operating Model. The insights derived have the potential to inform the approach taken by the UK DII and, by generalisation, the design of innovation systems within the context of any complex adaptive system (CAS).