Innovation Mode 2.0
Designing Innovative Companies in the Era of Artificial Intelligence
At a Glance
While most companies are still figuring out how to use AI, Innovation Mode 2.0 presents a solid corporate innovation architecture powered by AI agents. The author has been defining this space—filing patents on AI agents and autonomous innovation systems years before ChatGPT existed. In 2016, George Krasadakis patented a series of AI-powered systems and intelligent agents, followed by a patent of a voice-driven brainstorming AI agent (2018). Through his 60 Leaders series, he brought together 120+ global executives to explore the future of innovation and AI. In 2019, he predicted AI would transform corporate innovation. That prediction is now reality, and most companies are dangerously unprepared: BCG's 2024 innovation study indicates that 83% of companies rank innovation as a top priority—yet just 3% are ready to deliver. As AI compresses innovation cycles from months to days, companies face growing confusion about the optimal architecture for this new era. Innovation Mode 2.0 addresses exactly that: a 7-level innovation maturity index, an organizational design spanning opportunity discovery, validation, and realization, and a roadmap of 70+ interventions mapped to innovation readiness. The book describes a model where innovation becomes continuous and autonomous—part of the operating system of the modern corporation. This isn't theory—Krasadakis built Ainna.ai, an autonomous innovation agent embodying these principles.
The ultimate Innovation Architecture in the era of AI
Innovation Disrupts Itself
Innovation cycles are collapsing. What took months now takes days. What took days will soon take hours. When AI can generate hundreds of ideas and entire product concepts before your team finishes just one meeting, the rules of corporate innovation change entirely. The companies that thrive won't be those with the best ideas—they'll be those with the architecture to systematically discover, validate, and test promising concepts using real-world evidence. That architecture doesn't exist in most organizations. This book provides it.
What separates winners from losers is no longer ideas and ability to execute—it's the ability to systematically spot promising opportunities, validate them with real-world data, and bring them to market at scale and speed.
Innovation Mode 2.0 is the practitioner's guide for designing and running innovative companies in the AI era—essential reading for any Chief Innovation Officer navigating this transformation.
The book starts with diagnosis—the 6 Innovation Deficits framework pinpoints exactly why innovation programs fail, from leadership blind spots to venture building gaps. It then provides the cure: a comprehensive treatment of innovation culture, the values that enable it, the organizational structures that support it, and the cross-functional teams and roles required to sustain it—including how the Chief Innovation Officer role must evolve in an AI-powered landscape.
Beyond culture, the book details the complete AI capability stack for modern innovation: market intelligence, opportunity discovery, validation, realization, and portfolio management. It covers how AI transforms traditional innovation practices—from brainstorming sessions to design sprints to hackathons—compressing what took weeks into hours.
And it introduces the first published architecture for autonomous opportunity discovery: AI agents that scan markets continuously, generate concepts, and stress-test them through simulated customer, investor, and expert panels—before human review.
Most innovation books offer theory. This one offers solutions.
George Krasadakis - the founder of Innovation Mode Limited and author of the book - is the architect of Ainna.ai — the world's first AI Innovation Agent. Ainna embodies the principles of Innovation Mode 2.0: an autonomous system that discovers opportunities, validates concepts, and generates execution-ready documentation. It's proof that AI-powered innovation isn't speculative—it's already here.
"Innovation Mode 2.0. Not just a book, but a blueprint for what it really takes to build innovative companies in today's world—companies that don't just talk about innovation, but live it in their culture, in their systems, and in their everyday decisions"— Alex Adamopoulos | CEO, Emergn | Forbes Contributor
"An excellent overview and reference point about people, culture, and capabilities as the key pillars of innovation and practical ways to discover, validate, and realize opportunities on the road to innovation."— Dr. Mathew Hughes | Professor of Innovation & Entrepreneurship, University of Leicester
The first edition (Springer, 2020) established a practitioner framework for corporate innovation—covering innovation culture, prototyping, design sprints, hackathons, MVP development, and measuring innovation. The second edition refines that foundation for a world where AI changes everything, adding 75%+ new content built from scratch for the AI era.
What's New in 2.0
- → The 6 Innovation Deficits diagnostic
- → Innovation Maturity Index (7 levels)
- → Opportunity Discovery powered by AI
- → Opportunity Validation using RWE
- → Opportunity Realization - powered by AI
- → Masterplan of 70+ interventions
- → AI-optimized Innovation Workshops
- → AI-powered Innovation Framework
What Sets This Book Apart
- → Diagnostic-first — starts with why innovation fails
- → Ready-to-deploy — scorecards, metrics, structures
- → AI-native — woven throughout, not bolted on
- → Original thinking — novel frameworks
- → Future-facing — how AI reshapes roles & careers
- → Insider realism — the stuff other books skip
The 6 Innovation Deficits
After 25 years building innovation labs, centers, venture teams, and programs from scratch across 20+ global organizations and markets—as innovator, inventor, innovation leader, and innovation architect—the author has seen corporate innovation fail from every angle. He grouped dozens of failure factors and blockers into a system of six primary deficits that explain why innovation stalls—even when resources and intentions are aligned.
Leadership Deficit
Executive blind spots, symbolic commitments, leadership that delegates innovation without participating.
Organizational Design
Silos, hierarchy, ambiguous ownership that trap ideas between departments.
Capabilities Deficit
Missing infrastructure to move from concept to prototype to scale.
Real-World Connection
Disconnection from customers and markets; innovation built on assumptions.
Talent & Culture
Missing skills plus cultures that penalize experimentation.
Venture Building
The commercialization gap where validated concepts never reach market.
The Innovation Masterplan
Most innovation frameworks hand you a checklist. This book hands you a sequenced roadmap—70+ interventions mapped to your actual maturity level, each with the why, when, and how. The wrong intervention at the wrong stage doesn't just fail; it sets you back.
The Innovation Maturity Index positions your organization against seven named innovation levels—from Innovation-Inactive to Innovation-Native. It enables leaders to assess where they actually stand (not where they think they are), envision the next level, and develop a concrete strategy for getting there.
Each level builds on the previous. The destination is Innovation-Native (Level 7)—where innovation techniques, methods, and processes are fully embedded into the organization's operational core. At this stage, innovation is no longer a distinguishable function; it's seamlessly integrated into essential business processes, powered by AI systems that provide market intelligence, contribute ideas, and validate opportunities autonomously.
Where does your organization stand? The Innovation Maturity Index diagnoses your current state—and prescribes the interventions to reach the next level. At Levels 1–3, there's no systematic process; leadership talks innovation but doesn't resource it. Levels 4–5 bring dedicated leadership, active communities, and measurement—most companies stop here. At Levels 6–7, innovation becomes AI-powered and embedded in core operations. At Level 7, it's no longer a function—it's how the company operates.
From Innovation-Inactive to Innovation-Native. A diagnostic framework that unveils blind spots and lays the groundwork for strategic improvement.
Specific, actionable recommendations—each mapped to the appropriate maturity level. The right action at the right time.
Level 7: Innovation-Native. AI-powered discovery integrated into business processes. Innovation as an organic capability, not a separate function.
The AI Innovation Architecture
The first published architecture for autonomous corporate innovation: three AI-powered capabilities working in concert—from market sensing to validated, investment-ready concepts.
Autonomous Opportunity Discovery
AI agents that scan markets 24/7, detect weak signals, identify emerging trends, and generate business concepts—without human prompting. Environmental sensing meets multi-agent ideation.
AI-Powered Validation
Concepts evaluated through simulated panels of AI personas—representing customers, investors, domain experts, and critics—before human review. Rapid, scalable assessment that surfaces the most promising ideas.
Accelerated Realization
From validated concept to working prototype in hours, not months. AI-assisted product definition, technical architecture, and execution-ready documentation—compressing the path from idea to market.
Ainna.ai — the author's current venture — is the working proof of this architecture. An autonomous innovation agent that discovers opportunities, validates them through AI expert panels, and generates complete venture documentation. Not theory. Implementation.
Quotable Lines
Ready-to-use quotes from the book. Click any quote to copy with attribution.
"Innovation disrupts itself."
Copied!"AI will soon evolve from a thought partner to a chief innovator."
Copied!"Corporate innovation shifts from nice-to-have to existential capability."
Copied!"It is not AI that needs regulation; it is businesses and their leadership."
Copied!"Hours to prototype, days to product, weeks to market."
Copied!"Innovation and adaptability are not just competitive advantages but survival traits."
Copied!All quotes from Innovation Mode 2.0 by George Krasadakis (Springer, January 2026) · View on Springer · Hardcover ISBN 978-3-032-00834-3 · eBook ISBN 978-3-032-00835-0
Article Angles
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The AI Innovation Architecture: Three Capabilities Every Company Needs
AI-powered innovation isn't about tools—it's about architecture and processes. Three autonomous capabilities that work together: Opportunity Discovery (AI agents discovering potential opportunities 24/7), Validation (sophisticated assessment and simulated panels of AI personas), and Realization (in-market experiments and assets). Most companies have none. Leaders will have all three.
Innovation Maturity Index: Where Does Your Company Stand?
Most companies claim to be innovative. Few can objectively assess their actual capability. The Innovation Maturity Index provides a structured diagnostic across seven levels—from Innovation-Inactive to Innovation-Native. This sets the basis for a thorough transformation program—with 70+ interventions designed to take the organization to the next level and eventually to the Innovation Mode.
The Innovation Engine That Never Sleeps
What if your company discovered opportunities 24/7 without human intervention? The author has built exactly this—Ainna.ai, an autonomous system that scans markets, generates concepts, and evaluates them through AI personas representing customers, investors, and experts. Not a thought experiment. A working system. A look inside the architecture of autonomous innovation.
The Existential Crisis Coming for Your Innovation Team
When AI generates remarkable ideas in seconds and functional prototypes in minutes, human innovators question their ability to contribute. This isn't just process disruption—it's a threat to identity, self-esteem, and psychological wellbeing. The author explores how organizations can navigate the culture shock of AI-powered innovation without losing their best people.
From Innovator to Intrapreneur: The Career Path That Survives AI
Traditional innovation roles are fading away and some dying. The future belongs to autonomous, entrepreneurial individuals who make wise investment decisions and drive adoption. This piece explores how to redefine innovation careers before AI makes them obsolete, and why the intrapreneur profile becomes essential in the era of AI.
It's Not AI That Needs Regulation—It's Leadership
A contrarian take on AI governance. The author argues we're focused on the wrong problem: the technology isn't the risk, the humans deploying it are. What this means for innovation ethics, transparent governance, and why organizational accountability matters more than algorithmic constraints.
The Metrics That Kill Innovation (And What to Measure Instead)
ROI calculations destroy innovation programs. So do patent counts, idea submissions, and "innovation revenue." These metrics optimize for the wrong behaviors. The author proposes a measurement framework that drives accountability without crushing experimentation—including leading indicators that predict success before products ship.
Stop Hiring "Creative" People for Your Innovation Team
Counterintuitive but true: the most effective innovation teams aren't built around "creative types." They're built around executors who ship—fast. The author shares what 80+ delivered projects taught him about team composition, the specific roles that matter, and why your innovation hiring criteria probably need rethinking.
About the Author
Senior innovation leadership at Microsoft, Accenture, GSK, and ResMed. Architected four corporate innovation centers. 80+ technology projects delivered from concept to launch. 5x entrepreneur with successful exits—including Datamine, which pioneered data-driven decision systems for 20+ multinationals.
Throughout his career, George witnessed the same pattern: brilliant ideas abandoned to politics and inertia. Innovation programs that produced impressive labs but no market outcomes—what he calls "innovation theater." The problem was never a lack of ideas. It was the absence of a system. That observation became the foundation of this book.
Sole inventor of 20+ patents—AI-powered systems, voice-driven brainstorming agents, intelligent negotiation agents—filed years before the current AI wave. He holds an MSc in Computational Statistics from the University of Bath. Currently building Ainna.ai, the autonomous innovation agent that proves AI-powered innovation isn't theory—it's here.
"A practical guide for how to tap your organization's creative energy, and transform it into an innovation-driven pace-setter."— Bart Manning, Head of Sales & Business Development, Unity
"An inspiring and must-read book for every organization that doesn't wish to sit on the sidelines while someone else steals their share of the market."— Sue McGill, SVP, ATB Ventures
"A must-read for any innovation leader looking to reflect and refine existing innovation activities or to set them up completely new."— Erik Schumb, Founder & CXO, Agile Sprints
"The Innovation Mode is a must-read for innovation managers, top-level corporate executives, and entrepreneurs!"— A. Tzoumas, CTO, SciFY.org
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