Business innovation involves the implementation or commercialization of new products, services or processes in companies. The key is to achieve improvements or notable differences in your company or market compared to what exists or what you use today.

Introducing a culture of innovation in a company is not an immediate, overnight process. But where to start? In many traditional companies, the motto "let it be" or "this is the way it's always been done here" tends to predominate. The key is to be open to questioning the status quo and to see change as a driver of growth and evolution, as indicated in the Innovation Notebook dedicated to this topic and produced by the Galician Innovation Agency.

5 steps for developing a culture of innovation

• Define the goal for innovation. The question is not "How can we innovate" but rather "Why do we want to innovate? Innovation should be associated with a specific value within the organization: developing a new product or service to meet the demands of the market or a specific customer niche; solving a problem that has an impact on the company's performance; optimizing an internal procedure; finding cost-effective and circular alternatives to waste in the production process, etc.
• Transforming ideas into reality. Innovation is always one step beyond the idea. Therefore, there must be commitment on the part of the management team to drive it forward and the necessary tools to implement it.
• An open approach and shared vision. The culture of innovation should not be confined to the top management or to a specific company department. All areas must be involved and the barriers that prevent new ideas from being born or thriving must be removed. This process is helped by co-creation methodologies, such as brainstorming meetings or design thinking, which take the customer's needs as a starting point.
• Trial and error. In the process of innovation, it's important to take note of the lessons learned from each innovation project, especially those that did not go well, in order to take them into account for the future.
• Adapting to the pace of the market. Agility when it comes to facing transformations in order to respond to customer needs is fundamental in today's fast-changing market. Always being aware of trends and global competition allows us to detect new opportunities.

The Galician Innovation Agency has resources to promote innovation among Galician SMEs, such as the Innovation Notebooks, which explain different techniques and tools; or the collection of success stories from innovative Galician SMEs that highlight all the potential and opportunities of our innovation ecosystem.

In addition, the Xunta de Galicia, with the aim of promoting the culture of innovation among the Galician business network, has various support programmes such as InnovaPeme and DeseñaPeme, which are aimed at increasing competitiveness through design and innovation; the Innovation Bonds, for short-term actions and those of a lesser amount; Galicia Avanza, the internationalization accelerator for innovative projects; the work of the various business factories; or the Design for Innovation and Sustainability initiative.