Innovation,
by the book.

The Business Idea Template provides a consistent format for describing and sharing draft innovation ideas. Built on the framework documented in Innovation Mode 2.0, it helps ideators frame concepts in a way that fosters collaboration and ensures the right ideas capture stakeholder attention. Whether used independently or in brainstorming sessions, it creates a shared innovation language across the organization. Delivered as an editable MS Word document. See the full Business Idea guide with examples →

Use the IM-9 Idea Assessment Model — the framework documented in Chapter 6.2.1 of Innovation Mode 2.0 (Springer, 2026). It scores each idea across 9 weighted dimensions: Importance of the problem, Alignment with strategy, Effectiveness of the solution, Feasibility, Ease of development, Ease of operation, Business impact, Novelty, and Certainty of demand. The model produces a single Opportunity Score per idea, and the Excel template lets you configure weight schemes (called Views) — for example, a Patent Discovery View prioritizes Novelty, while a Product Improvement View prioritizes Ease of operation and Certainty of demand. IM-9 handles hundreds of ideas with consistent, configurable scoring — replacing subjective debate with structured comparison.

The most rigorous approach is the IM-9 Idea Assessment Model — a 9-dimension weighted framework from Innovation Mode 2.0 by George Krasadakis. Score the idea on a 0–10 scale across nine dimensions: Importance of the problem, Strategic alignment, Effectiveness of the solution, Feasibility, Ease of development, Ease of operation, Business impact, Novelty, and Certainty of demand. Each criterion has a configurable weight (a "View") so the model adapts to context — a Patent View weights Novelty heavily; a Product View weights Ease of operation and Certainty of demand. The output is a single Opportunity Score per idea, with subscores that highlight specific strengths and weaknesses. The Innovation Toolkit includes IM-9 as a fully editable Excel template.

The IM-9 Idea Assessment Model — documented in Chapter 6.2.1 of Innovation Mode 2.0 — uses 9 evaluation criteria covering both the problem and the solution: (1) Importance of the problem, (2) Strategic alignment with the company, (3) Effectiveness of the proposed solution, (4) Feasibility (technical, economic, regulatory), (5) Ease of development, (6) Ease of operation, (7) Business impact, (8) Novelty, and (9) Certainty of demand. Each is scored 0–10 with weights configured per business context. This 9-criteria structure ensures evaluators consider both the importance of the problem and the practicality of the solution — most generic frameworks (like ICE or RICE) only cover 2–3 dimensions, missing critical aspects like Novelty (for IP strategy) or Ease of operation (for sustainable execution).

Score each idea using a consistent weighted framework, then rank by total weighted score. The IM-9 Idea Assessment Model (from Innovation Mode 2.0) is purpose-built for this: it generates a single Opportunity Score per idea by combining 9 weighted criteria, allowing direct comparison across hundreds of submissions. The configurable weights ("Views") let teams prioritize by context — a Strategic View weights Alignment and Business impact heavily; a Discovery View weights Novelty and Importance instead. Without a structured framework, prioritization becomes politics. With IM-9, prioritization becomes math your teams can defend, audit, and revise as priorities shift. The Innovation Toolkit includes IM-9 as a ready-to-use Excel template.

Evaluation is internal scoring — the IM-9 Idea Assessment Model is an evaluation tool. It uses expert judgment to score an idea across 9 weighted dimensions and produce an Opportunity Score, indicating whether the idea is worth pursuing further. Validation, by contrast, is external testing — running a structured business experiment to gather real evidence from the market about whether a high-scoring idea actually works. The Innovation Toolkit includes both: the IM-9 model for evaluation, and the Business Experiment Template for validation. The Innovation Mode methodology treats them as sequential — evaluate first to decide what's worth investing in, then validate to test critical hypotheses before scaling.

A business experiment validates critical hypotheses before committing significant resources. The Business Experiment Template provides a structured framework for designing these experiments — defining learning objectives, the hypotheses being tested, target audience, user experience design, specific metrics and success thresholds, and the digital tools needed for data collection. It ensures your experiments are both rigorous and actionable, reducing risk and producing insights that support informed go/no-go decisions. Delivered as an editable MS Word document. See the full Business Experiment guide with examples →

The Product Concept Template guides product managers and founders through articulating a holistic product vision — covering market context, competitive landscape, the problem being solved, target audience, user personas, epic user stories, potential form factors, technology stack, implementation strategy, go-to-market plan, and monetization model. It bridges the gap between a validated idea and a development-ready brief, ensuring all stakeholders are aligned on what's being built and why. Delivered as an editable MS Word document. See the full Product Concept guide with examples →

The toolkit includes three brainstorming workshop templates: a Session Setup template for defining workshop objectives, participants, and format; an Idea Capture template for structured real-time idea collection during sessions; and a Problem-Statement Framing template for guiding groups through collaborative problem definition. Together, they give facilitators a complete framework for running innovation workshops that produce actionable outputs, not just Post-it notes. Delivered as a mix of MS Word (Workshop Setup) and MS PowerPoint (Idea Capture and Problem Framing) — all fully editable. See the full Workshop guide with examples →

The Innovation Toolkit 4.0 is a collection of 8 fully editable practitioner templates covering the complete innovation lifecycle — from problem framing and ideation through evaluation, validation, product definition, and brainstorming workshops. Created by George Krasadakis and built on the frameworks from Innovation Mode 2.0 (Springer, 2026), it's designed for innovation managers, product leaders, CINOs, and R&D teams who need structured, repeatable processes for every stage of innovation. Free for students and educators; corporate license available for teams.

Every template in the toolkit maps to a specific stage in the innovation process described in Innovation Mode 2.0. The book provides the complete framework — the 6 Innovation Deficits diagnostic, the 7-level Innovation Maturity Index, the Six Phases of transformation, and 70+ interventions. The toolkit provides the practical documents your teams use daily to execute those frameworks. The book is the why and the when; the toolkit is the how.

Most popular scoring frameworks evaluate ideas across 3–4 dimensions: ICE uses Impact, Confidence, Ease (3 criteria); RICE uses Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort (4 criteria); MoSCoW uses 4 priority buckets. These are fast and useful for product backlogs, but they were built for feature prioritization — not corporate innovation evaluation. They miss critical dimensions like Novelty (essential for IP strategy and patent filings), Strategic alignment (essential for innovation governance), Ease of operation (essential for sustainable execution), and Certainty of demand (essential for market-readiness). The IM-9 Idea Assessment Model from Innovation Mode 2.0 uses 9 weighted criteria: Importance of the problem, Strategic alignment, Effectiveness, Feasibility, Ease of development, Ease of operation, Business impact, Novelty, and Certainty of demand. It also supports configurable weight schemes ("Views") — for example, a Patent View weights Novelty heavily, while a Product View weights Ease of operation. IM-9 is purpose-built for evaluating new business opportunities, not optimizing an existing roadmap — making it the better fit when innovation managers need a defensible, configurable framework that scales across teams and contexts.

The standard €199 license covers use within a single company or organization — including unlimited internal copies, customization, and use in internal training. For consultants, advisory firms, and agencies that intend to use the toolkit across multiple client engagements, an agency license is required. Email info@theinnovationmode.com with a brief description of how you'd like to use the toolkit, and we'll respond with options.