Five Ways KM Supports Innovation

A year ago, the quest for innovation was on top of many CEOs' agendas. Now, efficiency has replaced innovation as the corporate rallying cry. In November, participants in APQC's knowledge management community call endorsed a focus on results, making 2009 "the year of KM payoff" (you can read more highlights from the call in my last blog post.)

But let's not forget innovation. I think we can leverage knowledge management to make us more efficient now while, at the same time, setting the stage for innovation when the economy rebounds. KM is all about reuse, with a focus on lessons learned, transfer of best practices, and avoiding costly mistakes.  Does good KM today also set the stage for future innovation?

Here are a few slides on the relationship between knowledge management and innovation. I'd love to get our readers' thoughts on this as well.