Statement from the Chairman

When IMIT was founded over 30 years ago the concept of Innovation had a very different meaning, and was in my view much more coupled to Inventions and technical R&D. The concept of Innovation has since, evolved gradually and grown to become a focused area in industry and academia, covering all disciplines including its old nucleus - Technology. Most organizations today have a strong focus on Innovation in all areas as a critical success factor and have Innovation related objectives in their strategy. The concept of Innovation itself has boomed the past 10 years with the rise of a variety of forums in media and seminars, through networks and as consulting offers. This “hype” of Innovation is positive in the sense that it increases the awareness of the potential of innovation for all disciplines of society and organizations. There are, however, challenges in succeeding with Innovation that reside in the management part, such as succeeding in creating cross-functional involvement and buy-in from all necessary stakeholders, which is a prerequisite to get results.

The major stakeholders from a macro perspective, universities, Institutes, consultancies and industry need to connect even better to fully leverage the potential of innovation that we have in Sweden. Despite its limited size, Sweden is a leading nation in several areas of research and has a tremendous, untapped potential for economic growth when it comes to improved commercialization of R&D.

IMIT has, for more than 30 years, successfully acted as a catalyst in these interfaces and we will evolve in order to secure the continuation of that role in the changing landscape of Management of innovation and technology. I am looking forward to be part of this development.

Hans Sjöström
Chairman, IMIT

September 22, 2011