Innovation Endorsement (InE®)

Endorsement of an innovation by GInI is GInI’s recognition of a specific, individual innovation that a business has conceived and implemented, as measured by that innovation’s value and actual business impact. Endorsement thus serves as a means of validating the business’ efforts and outcomes without requiring it to reveal confidential details to the public. Endorsement of an innovation by GInI signifies that the innovation has not only satisfied the qualification requirements set by GInI, but just as importantly, has demonstrated its true merit as an innovation on the basis of its actual adoption, usage, and business impact, delivering value where none existed previously. Thus irrespective of whatever acclaim, recognition, and/or financial success it might have otherwise achieved, the innovation is recognized for its real business impact. Since not every purported “innovation” meets GInI’s strict qualifications, having one’s innovation endorsed by GInI is an honorable achievement. GInI offers three tiers of endorsement based on the type of innovation and the scope of effort associated with executing it. These are: • Tier 1: Internal Process Innovations – innovations internal to the business; these do not result in new market offerings. • Tier 2: Value Capture Innovations – extensions of current offerings to enable the business to capture greater market share. • Tier 3: Value Creation Innovations – delivery of completely new offerings to grow the business beyond its current core. In general, higher tier innovations by their very nature require more effort and more investment to achieve than do lower tier innovations. These higher tier innovations also represent the greatest risk/reward profile. They are therefore rarer and thus more prestigious. In order for a business’ innovation to be endorsed by GInI, it must: 1. Represent a solution to a problem that is truly novel relative to existing solutions. 2. Be legitimately conceived, defined, developed, and implemented by the business. 3. Be used exclusively by the business and/or licensed to another business for exclusive use. 4. Have been in use for a minimum of six (6) months and thus able to demonstrate a positive impact on the business and the intended customers. If an innovation can meet these four qualifications, then it is eligible for endorsement. GInI Innovation Endorsements are valid for the life of the innovation and never expire. Endorsement also offers the opportunity for the organization to have those individuals who contributed to the realization of the new innovation officially recognized by GInI as Recognized Innovators, there is an optional fee of 100 USD per individual to have GInI officially recognize the contributors to the innovation as official GInI recognized innovators – which includes GInI issuing a corresponding Recognized Innovator Certificate to each such individual.