Sources of innovation: a study of ten successful new products

This paper seeks to develop understanding in the area of the sources of ideas for innovative products. Ten case studies of products launched into international markets but primarily developed in the UK have been used as the basis for this study. These products were from the automotive, home improvement and telecom industries. Several sources of ideas were identified. The sources identified form the basis for developing a new perspective to classify ideas. A shift in focus is described that entails not classifying the source of the idea(s) along the lines of social group (i.e. suppliers, company department(s) etc.) but in terms of the process that idea is an output from