National foreword

This British Standard is the UK implementation of EN ISO 56001:2024. It is identical to ISO 56001:2024.

The UK participation in its preparation was entrusted to Technical Committee IMS/1, Innovation management.

A list of organizations represented on this committee can be obtained on request to its committee manager.

Contractual and legal considerations

This publication has been prepared in good faith, however no representation, warranty, assurance or undertaking (express or implied) is or will be made, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by BSI in relation to the adequacy, accuracy, completeness or reasonableness of this publication. All and any such responsibility and liability is expressly disclaimed to the full extent permitted by the law.

This publication is provided as is, and is to be used at the recipient’s own risk.

The recipient is advised to consider seeking professional guidance with respect to its use of this publication.

This publication is not intended to constitute a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

Compliance with a British Standard cannot confer immunity from legal obligations.

This British Standard was published under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee on 30 September 2024.

This European Standard was approved by CEN on 1 September 2024.

CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration. Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre or to any CEN member.

This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre has the same status as the official versions.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and United Kingdom.

European foreword

This document (EN ISO 56001:2024) has been prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 279 "Innovation management" in collaboration with Technical Committee CEN/TC 389 “Innovation Management” the secretariat of which is held by UNE.

This European Standard shall be given the status of a national standard, either by publication of an identical text or by endorsement, at the latest by March 2025, and conflicting national standards shall be withdrawn at the latest by March 2025.

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent rights. CEN shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

Any feedback and questions on this document should be directed to the users’ national standards body/national committee. A complete listing of these bodies can be found on the CEN website.

According to the CEN-CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organizations of the following countries are bound to implement this European Standard: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and the United Kingdom.

Endorsement notice

The text of ISO 56001:2024 has been approved by CEN as EN ISO 56001:2024 without any modification.

Foreword

ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.

The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the different types of ISO document should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).

ISO draws attention to the possibility that the implementation of this document may involve the use of (a) patent(s). ISO takes no position concerning the evidence, validity or applicability of any claimed patent rights in respect thereof. As of the date of publication of this document, ISO had not received notice of (a) patent(s) which may be required to implement this document. However, implementers are cautioned that this may not represent the latest information, which may be obtained from the patent database available at www.iso.org/patents. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not constitute an endorsement.

For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), see www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.

This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 279, Innovation management, in collaboration with the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) Technical Committee CEN/TC 389, Innovation Management,in accordance with the Agreement on technical cooperation between ISO and CEN (Vienna Agreement).

Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.

Introduction

0.1 General

The ability of organizations to innovate is recognized as a critical factor for their viability, competitiveness, resilience and renewal, and for the sustainable development of society.

Adopting an innovation management system by an organization aims to improve its innovation performance and ability to adapt to changes. A systems approach can reduce the level of uncertainty and increase the feasibility of achieving desired results of innovation initiatives.

The benefits of implementing an innovation management system can be:

increased realization of value from new products, services, processes, models, methods, etc. for the organization and interested parties;
enhanced innovation performance through the systematic management of innovation activities under conditions of uncertainty;
sustained build-up of innovation capabilities;
enhanced reputation to attract users, customers, employees and partners;
enhanced capability to collaborate (e.g. in a value chain or an innovation ecosystem);
improved ability to attract funding;
increased resilience and ability to evolve in a dynamic and uncertain environment.

This document provides a common language and framework for organizations to establish and implement an innovation management system. It can also be used by:

collaborating organizations seeking a shared framework for innovating together;
organizations seeking confidence in the innovation capability of current and potential partners, suppliers or other interested parties;
funders, donors and investors seeking confidence in the innovation capability of a funding applicant or partner organization;
policy-makers and government authorities aiming to promote innovation activities at local, regional and national levels.

The requirements in this document are not always an effective basis for the evaluation of newly formed organizations.

0.2 Innovation management principles

This document references the eight innovation management principles, described in ISO 56000, that are the foundation of the innovation management system. The principles are as follows:

Realization of value: Value, financial or non-financial, is realized from the deployment, adoption and impact of new or changed solutions for interested parties.
Future-focused leaders: Leaders at all levels, driven by curiosity and courage, challenge the status quo by building an inspiring vision and purpose, and by continuously engaging people to achieve those aims.
Strategic direction: The direction for innovation activities is based on aligned and shared objectives and a relevant ambition level, supported by the necessary people and other resources.
Culture: Shared values, beliefs and behaviours, supporting openness to change, risk-taking and collaboration, enable the coexistence of creativity and effective execution.
Exploiting insights: A diverse range of internal and external sources are used to systematically build insightful knowledge, and to exploit stated and unstated needs.
Managing uncertainty: Uncertainties and risks are evaluated, leveraged and then managed, by learning from systematic experimentation and iterative processes, within a portfolio of opportunities.
Adaptability: Changes in the context of the organization are addressed by the timely adaptation of structures, processes, competences and value realization models to maximize innovation capabilities.
Systems approach: Innovation management is based on a systems approach with interrelated and interacting elements, and regular performance evaluation and improvements of the system.

0.3 Innovation management system

0.3.1 General

An innovation management system is a set of interrelated and interacting elements with the purpose of realizing value, both financial and non-financial. Value is realized by systematic and iterative innovation processes to identify opportunities, create and validate concepts, and develop and deploy solutions for users, customers and other interested parties. Opportunities can, for example, be based on current or future, stated or unstated needs. The system can be applied to exploring and exploiting both new and existing opportunities.

The management system elements are described under the main clauses in this document: context of the organization (see Clause 4), leadership (see Clause 5), planning (see Clause 6), support (see Clause 7), operation (see Clause 8), performance evaluation (see Clause 9) and improvement (see Clause 10), see Figure 1.

The management system elements can be gradually adopted to implement the system according to the context and maturity of the organization.

Ultimately, the effective implementation of the innovation management system relies on the leadership and commitment by top management and other leaders at all levels in the organization.

The innovation management system is founded on the concept of Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA). The PDCA model provides an iterative process for the organization to achieve continual improvement of the system.

The clauses of this document are grouped in relation to the PDCA cycle as follows: Plan (see Clause 6), Do (see Clauses 7 and 8), Check (see Clause 9) and Act (see Clause 10).

0.3.2 Managing uncertainty and risk

Innovation initiatives include different degrees of variation and uncertainty. Uncertainties can be related to, for example, user acceptance, technical feasibility, manufacturing constraints, regulatory conditions, market potential and organizational constraints.

Innovation processes are characterized by experimentation and learning. As the processes progress, new knowledge and insights are gained, and uncertainty is reduced. Innovation processes are flexible and adaptable to the types of innovations the organization seeks to achieve.

Innovation initiatives involve risk and not all initiatives will achieve successful innovations. However, discontinued initiatives are an integral part of the innovation processes and sources of learning as input to future innovation activities.

The acceptable level of risk is dependent on the innovation ambition and strategy, the organization’s capability, and the types of innovation addressed by the organization.

The management of uncertainty and risk can be addressed by different approaches (e.g. iterative processes, systematic experimentation, partnering, innovation portfolio diversification). By applying a systems approach, interdependencies and uncertainties can be better understood, measured and managed.

Organizations can also address the balance between pursuing opportunities and the related risks, including the risk of innovating versus the risk of not innovating.

0.3.3 Management levels

An innovation management system operates across strategic, tactical and operational levels.

The relationships among the different levels (see Figure 2) can be described as follows:

The innovation intent (see Clause 4) at the strategic level helps to determine the scope of the innovation management system and forms the basis for establishing the innovation strategy.
The scope (see Clause 4) sets the boundaries and applicability of the innovation management system.
The innovation policy (see Clause 5) provides a framework for setting the innovation strategy and objectives. The innovation policy can complement other management system policies in the organization.
The innovation strategy (see Clause 5), including strategic innovation objectives, is based on the innovation intent, is aligned with the innovation policy, and provides a framework for setting tactical innovation objectives and establishing innovation portfolios.
The innovation objectives (see Clause 6) at the tactical level are consistent with the innovation policy and strategy.
The innovation portfolios (see Clause 6) are aligned with the innovation strategy and objectives and consist of a set of innovation initiatives.
The innovation initiatives (see Clause 8) are established at the operational level.
The innovation processes (see Clause 8) are also established at the operational level to pursue innovation initiatives. They are flexible and adaptable to each individual initiative.

0.4 Relationship with other management system standards

Management system standards (MSS) complement each other but can also be used independently. The innovation management system can be implemented together with other management system disciplines, helping organizations to balance the exploitation of existing offerings and operations, with the exploration and introduction of new offerings and ways of working.

This document applies the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1, Consolidated ISO Supplement Annex SL, Appendix 2 harmonized structure for MSS. The harmonized structure provides identical clause numbers, clause titles, text, and common terms and core definitions to be used by all MSS within the ISO portfolio. This structure enables an organization to align or integrate its innovation management system with the requirements of other MSS.

Other standards on innovation management developed by ISO/TC 279 provide additional support and guidance for organizations. Summaries of these standards are described in Annex A.

0.5 Contents of this document

This document contains the requirements used to evaluate conformity. Conformity to this document can only be claimed when all its requirements are implemented and fulfilled by the organization.

An organization is not expected to structure its innovation management system or documented information to be aligned with the clause structure of this document.

In this document, the following terms are used:

“shall” indicates a requirement;
“consider” indicates reflecting upon possible actions before making a decision;
“can” indicates a possibility.

A “NOTE” is used for information, clarifying the associated requirement.

1 Scope

This document specifies requirements for an innovation management system that an organization can use to develop and demonstrate its innovation capability, enhance its innovation performance, and realize value for users, customers and other interested parties. The requirements in this document are generic.

This document is applicable to any organization, regardless of type or size, products and services provided, or the types of innovations and innovation approaches used.

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

4 Context of the organization

4.1 Understanding the organization and its context

4.2 Understanding the needs and expectations of interested parties

4.3 Determining the scope of the innovation management system

4.4 Innovation management system

5 Leadership

5.1 Leadership and commitment

5.2 Innovation policy

5.3 Innovation strategy

5.4 Innovation culture

5.5 Roles, responsibilities and authorities

6 Planning

6.1 Actions to address risks and opportunities

6.2 Innovation objectives and planning to achieve them

6.3 Planning of changes

6.4 Innovation portfolio

6.5 Organizational structures

6.6 Collaboration

7 Support

7.1 Resources

7.2 Competence

7.3 Awareness

7.4 Communication

7.5 Documented information

8 Operation

8.1 Operational planning and control

8.2 Innovation initiatives

8.3 Innovation processes

9 Performance evaluation

9.1 Monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation

9.2 Internal audit

9.3 Management review

10 Improvement

10.1 Continual improvement

10.2 Nonconformity and corrective action

Bibliography

BS EN ISO 56001:2024

Innovation management system. Requirements

Current

Published:

30 Sep 2024