Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt were awarded the 2025 Nobel Memorial Prize in...
The innovation management imperative for Europe’s economic and social future
Leveraging the ISO 56000 family of standards for innovation excellence and competitiveness
Europe faces a widening competitiveness gap as productivity growth stalls, private-sector R&D intensity lags global peers, and too few organizations convert insights and ideas into scalable value. This deficit is structural: innovation is still too often episodic, siloed, and dependent on individuals rather than embedded capabilities.
The consequences are clear: slower growth, weakened technological sovereignty, and reduced capacity to deliver on the green and digital transitions. It is time for Europe to systematically upgrade how innovation activities are led and managed across companies and public institutions.
ISO 56001 offers a ready, internationally agreed solution. As the first requirements standard for innovation management systems, it provides a practical, certifiable framework that any organization, large or small, private or public, can adopt to make innovation efforts repeatable, measurable, and aligned with strategy. It clarifies leadership responsibilities, sets up portfolio and process discipline from opportunity identification to deployment, and builds in monitoring and continuous improvement without constraining creativity.
Crucially, it integrates seamlessly with established ISO management systems (e.g., quality and environment), enabling efficient, enterprise-wide adoption. Alongside organizational certification, emerging personal certification of innovation management professionals creates a complementary skills pipeline to lead change on the ground.
Promoting ISO 56001 aligns directly with EU policy goals. It strengthens firm-level innovation performance, accelerates diffusion of best practice across value chains and borders, and provides common language and assurance that reduce friction in public-private collaborations and consortia.
Policy-makers can catalyze rapid uptake through a focused package of actions.
First, signal priority by referencing ISO 56001 in EU competitiveness, industrial, and cohesion instruments, and encouraging its use in member state strategies. Second, boost awareness and capability via EU-wide training, toolkits, and local language guidance delivered through national standards and certification bodies, innovation agencies, and business networks, with special emphasis on SMEs.
Third, create adoption incentives by tying funding, grants, coaching, and selected procurement preferences to demonstrable innovation management maturity or certification, lowering costs and rewarding early movers. Fourth, professionalize the field by co-funding education, training, and Europe-wide personal certification aligned with ISO 56000 competencies, building a scalable cadre of certified innovation leaders.
Fifth, lead by example: pilot ISO 56001 inside EU agencies and flagship national or municipal organizations to improve public-sector innovation efforts and provide reference models. Finally, measure what matters by tracking organizational and personal certifications and incorporating innovation management capability indicators into European scoreboards to sustain momentum and accountability.
The ask of policy-makers is straightforward and urgent. Within two to three years, these steps can lift thousands of organizations to a higher level of innovation discipline, shorten time-to-impact for green and digital solutions, and crowd-in private investment by de-risking execution. Europe has a narrow window to convert intent into performance. Making ISO 56001 a cornerstone of EU and national innovation policy is a low-regret, high-leverage move that contributes to restoring competitiveness, strengthening resilience, and delivering tangible benefits to citizens.
