Strategy & innovation research: a crash course

Signs you might be obsessed with research: you're doing research … about research. 😂

A bit meta, I’ll admit. But hear me out: 

No business is successful without talking to their audience about who they are, what they care about, and what they do.

And our audience happens to do, well, research.

So why did we do this research-on-research?

Whether you’re a researcher, innovator, strategist, marketer, or otherwise, 4 things are true for today’s professional:

1. There are endless data sources we can leverage to get information about our customers, category, competitors, and market:

2. We’re only more and more pressed for time at work, and yet have a bigger need than ever for more, better information:

3. There’s a lot of change happening in the space, including a plethora of AI-powered tools hitting the scene to accelerate (and also complicate) research:

4. Research and insights are essential to EVERY stage of the “innovation pipeline” and therefore non-negotiable parts of every core business function.

So we are not exempt: 

Understanding what today’s researchers – across strategy, innovation, product, UX, product marketing and everything in between – are grappling with is not only smart business, it’s essential for ensuring we’re meeting real needs and solving real challenges.

Curious what we’ve been learning?

Check out a sampling in this crash course, covering:

  • the current state of research in strategy and innovation in 2024,

  • the latest on how AI is changing research,

  • how to get the most out of AI, and

  • how one new solution is leveraging the best of AI and humans to super-power desk research.

To more, better research! 
Victoria

P.S. You can find the slides here, and a deep-dive into the various frameworks and findings here.