Innovation follows a pattern.  If you know the pattern it can help you identify innovation occurring in your own company, it can also help you manage an innovate project.  First of all, you identify the different phases of innovation and have knowledge on how to respond to difficult situations.  It will also set your expectations correctly in regard to starting and running an innovative product development program.

The ideas behind the pattern of innovation are found in academic research published by Andrew Van de Ven in The Innovation Journey.  Through long running study of numerous innovative product development cycles, Van de Ven and team have amassed a great deal of knowledge around how innovation works and how to manage it.

I recently gave a talk on the pattern of innovation at Ricon2012.  You can see the full video here: