In an age of disruption, innovation matters — a claim repeatedly affirmed in each annual iteration of Accenture’s Middle East Innovation Maturity Index, which debuted in 2018. Companies that fall on the winning side of disruption take a deliberate approach to mastering innovation.  

The Innovation Maturity Index comprises an exclusive framework designed to measure the innovation maturity capability of enterprises across industries. It is composed of two pillars: ‘Innovate by Design’ shows how to deliberately build the innovation structures—innovation strategy, architecture, and a culture that sets companies up to innovate; while ‘Innovation Practices’ measures businesses’ adoption of the key innovation practices that innovation leaders apply, such as being technology and data-driven, hyper-relevant, and talent-rich. 

This year, we didn’t witness a large uptake in adopting these two pillars as we might have expected, given the urgency the Covid-19 pandemic triggered to embrace new ways of working and doing business. However, we found that 14 percent of companies surveyed, this year’s Innovation Champions, have embedded the innovation framework within their businesses and also adhere to a set of 12 innovation habits that govern their innovation, allowing them to intensify their innovation investments. The benefits are significant.

Between 2014 and 2019 this group of companies experienced both higher employee productivity and higher profitability than companies that have adopted less than six of these habits. And they have a very positive business outlook. By 2025, Champions expect to more than double their profitability over the Rest, and we believe they will experience even higher employee productivity by continuing to practice extensive innovation governance.

This iteration of the Innovation Maturity Index outlines  an approach for companies to intensify their innovation and make greater strides in their business transformation by adopting these 12 innovation habits.