Christoph studied innovation management and marketing and started his professional career at Mindshare, where he has always driven innovation and projects alongside the core business. For more than 4 years now, he has been bringing this passion to HYVE, an innovation agency, where he manages the location in Austria.
What does innovation mean to you?
In my opinion, innovation is highly multifaceted; it is characterized by passion and joy on one hand, and often requires genuine pressure to even come to fruition on the other. Sometimes, groundbreaking ideas need to cause some serious discomfort before they emerge.
With innovations, we can sustainably improve our world and actively shape the future. Innovation provides us with the opportunity to rediscover ourselves, to experiment, and to learn. Through innovation, we have the chance to creatively solve relevant questions and problems.
What is innovation NOT?
For me, innovation is never boring, rarely easy, and not inherently a one-size-fits-all solution. Innovation requires teamwork instead of individual efforts, persistence for a shared goal with simultaneous quick sprints. Innovation is a refusal to give up; it demands ambition, continuous teamwork, and mutual pushing to go beyond boundaries. Only then can great things be achieved.
Why should a company be innovative?
The half-life of companies rapidly decreases if they cannot keep up with digitization and new technologies such as AI. The Darwinian theory of “Survival of the fittest” applies to companies as well: they must continually adapt and reinvent themselves to remain competitive in the long term. Customer-centricity and adaptability are crucial to remain relevant and successful.
What prerequisites does innovation need?
A good ecosystem! In addition to scientific criteria and hands-on methods, an engaged team and the involvement and support of decision-makers are crucial for success. Teams must be willing to accept failures and see them as opportunities for further development. From my perspective, many ideas fail at the outset due to a lack of commitment, political interests, or they get lost in day-to-day operations. Even with limited resources, much can be achieved; determination and perseverance are decisive. Teams that can question themselves, rethink problems, confidently and proactively challenge the status quo, and have the courage to fail will create sustainable changes and be ahead in innovation.
Photo: (c) private