Skolan, liksom samhället i stort, befinner sig i en tid präglad av omfattande förändring. Demografiska skiften, teknologisk utveckling och nya samhällsutmaningar påverkar förutsättningarna för utbildning och lärande. Samtidigt ökar förväntningarna på att fler elever ska nå utbildningens mål och att skolan ska kunna stärka sitt kompensatoriska uppdrag. Därtill förväntas skolan rusta elever för framtida yrken och ett samhälle i snabb förändring. Sammantaget ställer detta nya och ökade krav på skolans ledarskap. Att leda en skola handlar i allt högre grad om att kunna navigera i osäkerhet och balansera kontinuitet i verksamheten med behovet av förnyelse.

Projektet utgick från forskning om innovation, innovationsledning, lärande organisationer och ledarskap i transformation. Genom att utveckla, testa och analysera utbildningen tillsammans med deltagarna har projektet gett nya insikter om vad som kan stärka skolans förmåga till förnyelse. Resultaten tyder på att många skolledare vill driva utveckling och förnyelse, men saknar gemensamma arbetssätt och verktyg för att leda innovationsarbete parallellt med det av skollagen förordade systematiska kvalitetsarbetet.

Rapporten bidrar med både praktiska och strategiska perspektiv på hur skolhuvudmän och kolledare kan arbeta mer systematiskt med innovation i en tid där skolans uppdrag påverkas av stora samhällsförändringar.

This study addresses the need for pedagogical practices supporting learning andimplementation of the ISO 56002:2019 Innovation Management Systemstandard (ISO 56002). Adopting an abductive research approach, the studyiterated between empirical data and theory to develop DCAP (Do–Check–Act–Plan) as an integration of pedagogical and learning dimensions at an individual,team, and organizational level. Using a multiple-case research design, empiricaldata were collected from organizations engaged in innovation management system development. The findings indicate that DCAP functions as apedagogical and operational structure that helps people interpret, enact, andexpand their learning of the ISO 56002 in practice, and serves as a complementto the PDCA (Plan–Do–Check–Act) approach. The study contributes empiricalinsight into how learning processes support the enactment of ISO-basedInnovation Management frameworks. Limitations and future research arediscussed.

This research addresses the need for visual and pedagogical support in implementing the ISO 56002:2019 Innovation Management System – Guidance (ISO 56002 standard). Drawing on theoretical perspectives of activity system for expansive learning, boundary objects, and knowledge visualization, combined with empirical data, we propose the Innovation Management System Canvas (IMSC:2025). Building on the ISO 56002 standard, the IMSC:2025 is structured around seven interconnected areas: Strategy, Relations, Processes, Planning and Monitoring, Resources, Support Functions, and Roles. Our findings indicate that the IMSC:2025 functions as a pedagogical tool that enables a holistic view of organizational innovation efforts, supports strategic planning, and serves as a boundary object for cross-disciplinary collaboration. The study contributes to the Innovation Management community by bridging the gap between standardized innovation management systems and practical, visual learning, thereby benefiting both academics and practitioners. Limitations are discussed and directions for further research avenues are suggested. 

Mining companies face growing pressure to innovate amid volatile markets and sustainability demands. This study explores adoption of a innovation management systems (IMS) approach based on the ISO56002 standard in an established mining company. Through a longitudinal case study involving interviews, workshops, and participant observations, we capture the implementation process and identify critical tensions, emerging enablers, and barriers. We identified enthusiasm, conceptual ambiguities, cultural and structural frictions, and adjustments in scope. Key themes such as leadership and strategic ambiguity, challenges in organizational learning, and system-level frictions that impeded implementation emerged. Adopting a critical perspective, the paper discusses how a generic innovation management standard was navigated in a conservative industrial context, and what this implies for practitioners and scholars. The study contributes with actionable insights for building innovation capabilities in complex organizations and reflects on the broader relevance of IMS in traditional industries.

Organizations can implement an innovation management system in order to address the multidimensional challenges they often have in their practical innovation work. Until the ISO 56002 standard was released in 2019, there was no international standard for the design of innovation management systems. The standard provides support as a framework and highlights important systems elements. We studied two early adopters that have used this international standard to design their innovation management systems. Based on the study findings, we devised a practical approach for framing the design of an innovation management system. The approach includes a set of steps and critical considerations that include understanding a company's innovation ambitions and direction, analyzing the systemic dimensions of the system (the elements and how they interconnect), and introducing a balanced set of control mechanisms.

Innovation in the food sector is needed. This study addresses how to support learning around systematic innovation management in smaller firms within seafood, part of the highly regulated food sector. A collaborative change project, with four SMEs, a science park, and a research institute, aiming at enhanced innovation capabilities within the SMEs, was studied. The project included direct interventions in terms of training, dialogues, and coaching related to systematic innovation management ‒ in order to facilitate blue innovation. Empirical data was gathered in interviews and reflective field observations. Crucial factors to consider were to enhance the understanding of the systemic nature of innovation management and utilize visualizations as well as an innovation vocabulary, preferably related to ISO 56000 and ISO 56002. Further, it is also important to include diverse learning activities, while also ensuring a closeness to the firm’s current situation, and to focus on the progress that occurred.

The building of Innovation Management System (IMS), particularly in the integrated management systems (MS) context is rarely reported in the literature. Furthermore, the implementation of ISO 56002/2019 Innovation management system standard has so far only been described in a few organizational contexts. Therefore, this paper presents a case study of a global technology company, initially producing consumer electronics, experiencing a shift including new business, and collaborations with start-ups. As a result, the paper describes the IMS building process with challenges and learnings during 2012–2020, in an organizational context with integrated management system (MS) with existing ISO MS standards, prior to ISO 56002 launch. It reveals the rationale for proactively building an IMS, illustrates the motivation and challenges of building IMS in the constantly changing business environment, highlighting the top management as a key support. Moreover, it presents the gains of implemented IMS as regards to the achieved innovations. 

This paper examines an organization’s adoption of a standard based innovation management system (IMS) to systematize and lead its innovation efforts. The organization, a large public hospital, characterized as an early implementor of the standard based IMS approach to innovation management, was analyzed during a fouryear time span via a longitudinal study. The paper utilizes components of neo institutional theory as a lens to explain the empirical findings, adopting a legitimacy-as-a-process perspective to trace how the IMS system became a legitimate approach to innovation management, through institutional work. By analyzing the organization from its initial planning to its implementation of the system, the paper presents an order of legitimizing an innovation management system. 

An innovation strategy aims to provide guidance in terms of direction and prioritisation regarding innovation efforts. This study explores formulation and implementation of innovation strategy in the context of a case study of an organisation that explicitly deploys the guidance standard for innovation management systems ISO56002. Interviews were conducted and were analysed together with an abundance of company documentation, spanning seven years. The empirical results convey how intertwined the work on innovation strategy was with the formulation and implementation of the company’s innovation management system (based on ISO56002). The study addressed the call for more research on strategy implementation and showed the innovation strategy (part of the ISO 56002 Leadership element) influencing the other system elements within the innovation management system. Further, it is important to use a system of systems approach to integrate an Innovation Management System with other management systems. This may be achieved through ambidextrous leadership competences given that the management systems have with different purposes, properties and actions. Finally, as an innovation management system develops, it is important to adapt rather than over-optimise in order to for retain flexibility required to innovate.