Case Study: Nokia achieves a company-wide, industrialized innovation ecosystem with HYPE Innovation

Nokia Building an innovation ecosystem

Nokia, a global leader in telecommunications with ~114,000 employees and €23B revenue (2015), faced the challenge of turning scattered, department-level idea activity into a repeatable, strategic innovation capability. The company needed to replace ad-hoc Excel-based tracking, align innovation with business goals, change culture so ideas could be sourced broadly across the organization, and scale decision-making and implementation beyond R&D.

Nokia partnered with HYPE to industrialize innovation via a centralized platform, codified methods (NABC, design thinking, Business Model Canvas), formal trainings and a network of 120 volunteer innovation managers plus 300 experts. Campaigns, open innovation and governance tools (evaluation wizards, InnoPoints) drove adoption: users grew into the thousands, idea implementation rose from under 1% to ~40%, campaigns delivered hundreds of millions in new revenue (e.g., €170M breakthrough) and led to major projects like the Nokia UAV Control Center, while securing executive buy‑in and a stronger innovation culture.

Nokia

Fabian Schlage

Head of Idea and Innovation Management