First global companies achieve Kitemark certification for innovation
BSI, the business improvement company, today launches a BSI Kitemark™ certification scheme for innovation. This new Kitemark programme has been designed to help organizations improve their innovation management performance, and demonstrate the value and impact of their innovation outcomes to internal stakeholders and customers. The first organizations to undergo the pilot assessment to achieve Kitemark certification globally are Costain, Gammon Construction, Polypipe and Skanska UK.
Innovation is critical to long-term resilience and sustainable growth, in order to adapt to changing customer requirements and to provide continuity and efficiency to operations. Many organizations continue to strive towards becoming more innovative, through sustainability and digital transformation practices – not least in the built environment industry.
The new Kitemark scheme has been developed to enable innovation programmes to be scaled within organizations, by governing and managing innovation through a common language framework standard and formal management system. By using a best practice approach, innovation will help create value for organizations, stakeholders and society and enable organizations to benchmark their innovation capabilities when they achieve the BSI Mark of Trust.
The Kitemark for Innovation certification scheme, which is based on the standard - ISO 56002 Innovation management — Innovation management system — Guidance validates that an organization has determined its innovation vision, strategy, policy, and objectives, and established the support and processes needed to achieve the intended innovation outcomes.
Organizations will need to demonstrate improvement through quantitative measurement against their own strategic intent. The scheme assesses how effective an organization’s innovation management system is, according to the following key principles:
• Context of organization: Understand the organization, its challenges and opportunities, its culture, the needs of its stakeholders and customers and its innovation intent
• Leadership: Demonstrate a commitment to innovation, sharing the vision and strategy for delivery including assigning roles and responsibilities and implementing an innovation policy
• Planning: Focus on the innovation objectives and how to achieve them including putting an effective structure in place
• Support: Ensure the organization has the right people, resources, skills / knowledge, finance, infrastructure and this is clearly communicated where necessary
• Operation: Planning, implementing and controlling any innovation initiatives or processes
• Performance Evaluation: Monitoring, measurement, analysis and evaluation
• Improvement: Consider opportunities for improvement and implement changes effectively.
Although it has been piloted by leading organizations delivering services across the asset lifecycle for the built environment, this Kitemark certification is relevant for any organization that wants their innovation management system to be benchmarked through an independent certification assessment to demonstrate its impact.
Andy Butterfield, Managing Director of Built Environment at BSI comments:
“Many companies are developing or have developed their approach to innovation; however up until now there has been no tangible way of benchmarking an organization’s innovation capabilities. In response to industry, we’ve designed this Kitemark certification scheme to help businesses measure the impact, value and Return on Investment (ROI) of their innovation programme to inspire trust with their stakeholders and ensure resilience. Crucially, it will also enable innovative organizations across the industry to collaborate on critical national infrastructure projects.
“Huge congratulations to Costain, Gammon Construction, Polypipe and Skanska UK for their efforts in achieving this – and being the first organizations to do so globally.”
Phil Pitman, Group innovation manager, Costain said:
"Costain has been at the leading edge of infrastructure innovation for a number of years, shaping the future of our industry on various critical national infrastructure programmes. The achievement of this global Kitemark is recognition and a testament to the innovation capacity, expertise and hard work that our people at Costain have driven to enable this, year after year, to delight our clients.”
Paul Evans, Executive Director and CTO, Gammon Construction Ltd comments:
“Gammon Construction is proud to be the first organization outside of the UK to have achieved this Kitemark and have our innovation management leadership, processes and initiatives recognized for their effectiveness in delivering innovation in the construction industry. Driving innovation with inspiring leadership, fostering an innovative culture through recognition and upskilling, and funding value-added initiatives are fundamental aspects to Gammon’s way of working and we are delighted to have gained this certification.”
Jason Shingleton, Group Innovation Director, Polypipe said:
“Polypipe and BSI have a long association, and have worked together on the development of a number of industry standards. The company is delighted to be involved in the introduction of the new innovation scheme. Polypipe has a long history of innovation, but we also recognise the importance of having robust innovation processes to ensure that the growth of our company can be sustained.
“The new Kitemark certification demonstrates that Polypipe has robust innovation management systems and that they in turn will continue to provide valuable guidance and frameworks to help our people place innovation at the centre of our business strategy, especially at a time when the government is looking to incentivise inward investment to harness wider economic growth.”
Felipe Manzatucci, Digitalisation Director for Skanska UK said:
“We are delighted to be one of the first companies globally to achieve the new BSI Kitemark for Innovation.
“This demonstrates our commitment to driving innovative solutions that add value and deliver better outcomes for our customers. Our certified Innovation Management System provides a structured framework for innovation going forward, enabling Skanska and its customers to benefit from the great ideas identified throughout our business.”
As with all BSI Kitemark certification schemes, organizations will be assessed on an ongoing basis to ensure they continue to meet the necessary requirements.
