Many clients choose to establish an Innovation Hub as part of their total innovation strategy. An Innovation Hub creates a permanent infrastructure for developing new ideas that can lead to both sustaining and breakthrough innovations. Think of it as the R&D center for your campus. It is the vehicle for collaboration that brings together individuals with diverse backgrounds to combine their knowledge and experience to design innovative solutions to important problems.

Much of its work is conducted through special teams chartered to focus on specific Innovation Domains™ that are affecting academic affairs, student affairs and central administration. These domains, especially when understood in combination, offer fertile areas for idea generation. Some domains are well known such as changing student demographics. Others are more difficult to quantify such as the changing world of work or students’ search for identity, meaning and purpose. Domain Teams are tasked with bringing knowledge of current trends to stakeholders doing innovation work. Innovation Hub Domain Teams become experts in emerging areas where innovation opportunities can be found.

While every school is different, there is a cycle that describes the process of building an organization capable of continuous innovation and change. No leader has all the answers but every leader can mobilize the campus community to turn innovation into action.