Is your learning department innovative? Do you know what learning’s role in innovation is? To help you better understand the connection between learning and innovation, ASTD and i4cp collaborated to study the topic. The resulting report, Learning to Innovate: Exploring Learning’s Critical Role in Fostering Innovation, examines the importance of innovation and the ways learning influences it.

The learning function can and should play a critical role in developing and sustaining the innovative culture that is the hallmark of successful organizations. There is little doubt that organizations of any size or industry need to innovate to remain successful. That innovation can take many forms, whether it is an iPhone-like breakthrough or a new spin on an old idea. What matters is that companies have systems and strategies in place to encourage, develop, and sustain innovation in every role in the organization.

Leaders may have been unsure in the past what role the learning function plays in the development of an innovative culture, if any. Our research demonstrates that learning definitely influences innovation and the role it plays is perhaps bigger and more important than previously thought. What matters most, is that companies have systems and strategies in place to encourage, develop, and sustain innovation in every role in the organization.

If you would like to learn more about the topic of learning’s role in innovation, please consider purchasing this report or downloading the informative whitepaper, The full report contains deeper analysis of the data collected, as well as interviews with several learning leaders at a variety of organizations, which outline their philosophies and strategies for fostering innovation. All versions of the report are available from the ASTD store.