Unleash the Unexpected for Radical Innovation

Breakthrough inventions arise unpredictably. Better exploration can identify surprising opportunities.

Wenjing Lyu, Gina Colarelli O’Connor, and Neil C. Thompson

September 12, 2023

The Research

• One of the authors, Gina Colarelli O’Connor, was part of a team that conducted 600-plus in-depth interviews with innovation project managers and their leaders at 30 large corporations across industries and countries to understand innovation practices and systems.
• The other two authors, Wenjing Lyu and Neil C. Thompson, along with a larger group, designed a representative survey that was fielded to innovation leaders at 300 large corporations in seven industries across Australia, China, France, Germany, ...