BSI,
the business improvement company, today launches a BSI Kitemark™
certification scheme for innovation. This new Kitemark programme has
been designed to help organizations improve their innovation management
performance, and demonstrate the value and impact of their innovation
outcomes to internal stakeholders and customers. The first organizations
to undergo the pilot assessment to achieve Kitemark certification
globally are Costain, Gammon Construction, Polypipe and Skanska UK.
Innovation is critical to long-term resilience and sustainable
growth, in order to adapt to changing customer requirements and to
provide continuity and efficiency to operations. Many organizations
continue to strive towards becoming more innovative, through
sustainability and digital transformation practices – not least in the
built environment industry.
The new Kitemark scheme has been developed to enable innovation
programmes to be scaled within organizations, by governing and managing
innovation through a common language framework standard and formal
management system. By using a best practice approach, innovation will
help create value for organizations, stakeholders and society and enable
organizations to benchmark their innovation capabilities when they
achieve the BSI Mark of Trust.
The Kitemark for Innovation certification scheme, which is based
on the standard - ISO 56002 Innovation management — Innovation
management system — Guidance validates that an organization has
determined its innovation vision, strategy, policy, and objectives, and
established the support and processes needed to achieve the intended
innovation outcomes.
Organizations will need to demonstrate improvement through
quantitative measurement against their own strategic intent. The scheme
assesses how effective an organization's innovation management system
is, according to the following key principles:
• Context of organization: Understand the organization, its
challenges and opportunities, its culture, the needs of its stakeholders
and customers and its innovation intent
• Leadership: Demonstrate a commitment to innovation, sharing the
vision and strategy for delivery including assigning roles and
responsibilities and implementing an innovation policy
• Planning: Focus on the innovation objectives and how to achieve them including putting an effective structure in place
• Support: Ensure the organization has the right people,
resources, skills / knowledge, finance, infrastructure and this is
clearly communicated where necessary
• Operation: Planning, implementing and controlling any innovation initiatives or processes
• Performance Evaluation: Monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation
• Improvement: Consider opportunities for improvement and implement changes effectively.
Although it has been piloted by leading organizations delivering
services across the asset lifecycle for the built environment, this
Kitemark certification is relevant for any organization that wants their
innovation management system to be benchmarked through an independent
certification assessment to demonstrate its impact.
Andy Butterfield, Managing Director of Built Environment at BSI comments:
"Many companies are developing or have developed their approach
to innovation; however up until now there has been no tangible way of
benchmarking an organization's innovation capabilities. In response to
industry, we've designed this Kitemark certification scheme to help
businesses measure the impact, value and Return on Investment (ROI) of
their innovation programme to inspire trust with their stakeholders and
ensure resilience. Crucially, it will also enable innovative
organizations across the industry to collaborate on critical national
infrastructure projects.
"Huge congratulations to Costain, Gammon Construction, Polypipe
and Skanska UK for their efforts in achieving this – and being the first
organizations to do so globally."
Phil Pitman, Group innovation manager, Costain said:
"Costain has been at the leading edge of infrastructure
innovation for a number of years, shaping the future of our industry on
various critical national infrastructure programmes. The achievement of
this global Kitemark is recognition and a testament to the innovation
capacity, expertise and hard work that our people at Costain have driven
to enable this, year after year, to delight our clients."
Paul Evans, Executive Director and CTO, Gammon Construction Ltd comments:
"Gammon Construction is proud to be the first organization
outside of the UK to have achieved this Kitemark and have our innovation
management leadership, processes and initiatives recognized for their
effectiveness in delivering innovation in the construction industry.
Driving innovation with inspiring leadership, fostering an innovative
culture through recognition and upskilling, and funding value-added
initiatives are fundamental aspects to Gammon's way of working and we
are delighted to have gained this certification."
Jason Shingleton, Group Innovation Director, Polypipe said:
"Polypipe and BSI have a long association, and have worked
together on the development of a number of industry standards. The
company is delighted to be involved in the introduction of the new
innovation scheme. Polypipe has a long history of innovation, but we
also recognise the importance of having robust innovation processes to
ensure that the growth of our company can be sustained.
"The new Kitemark certification demonstrates that Polypipe has
robust innovation management systems and that they in turn will continue
to provide valuable guidance and frameworks to help our people place
innovation at the centre of our business strategy, especially at a time
when the government is looking to incentivise inward investment to
harness wider economic growth."
Felipe Manzatucci, Digitalisation Director for Skanska UK said:
"We are delighted to be one of the first companies globally to achieve the new BSI Kitemark for Innovation.
"This demonstrates our commitment to driving innovative solutions
that add value and deliver better outcomes for our customers. Our
certified Innovation Management System provides a structured framework
for innovation going forward, enabling Skanska and its customers to
benefit from the great ideas identified throughout our business."
As with all BSI Kitemark certification schemes, organizations
will be assessed on an ongoing basis to ensure they continue to meet the
necessary requirements.
