Innovation and Commercialisation Report - BTEC Higher National

This report, prepared by a student for a BTEC Higher National Diploma in Business, explores the concepts of innovation and commercialization within an organizational context, using F-Drones as a case study. It defines innovation and invention, highlighting their importance to organizations, and examines how organizational vision, leadership, culture, and teamwork influence innovation. The report delves into the 4 Ps of innovation (product, process, position, and paradigm) and the innovation funnel, as well as frugal innovation and its applications. It further analyzes the commercial funnel, new product development, and building an innovation business case, including funding access. Finally, it evaluates tools for developing, retaining, and protecting knowledge and intellectual property within an organization. The report provides a comprehensive overview of these critical business concepts.

Higher Nationals
AssignmentBrief – BTEC (RQF)
HigherNationalDiplomain Business
StudentName Bianca-Mihaela Dumitru ID HE09803
UnitNumberandTitle Unit 8–Innovation and Commercialisation
AcademicYear 2020-21 Cohort April 20 Block 4
UnitLeader SeethalakshmyNagarajan Assessor Jobi Jacob, Johnson Obilanade, Dr. BM
Razzak, FarihaQuddus, Dr.Rajini
AssignmentTitle Innovation and Commercialisation
IssueDate 11.01.2021
SubmissionStartDate (Formative) 05.03.2021
Submission Date (Summative) 21.03.2021
IV Name RahimaKhatoon
IV Date 25.09.2020
Learners Declaration: I certify that the work submitted for this unit is my own and the research sources are fully
acknowledged.
Learners Name: Date:
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Explain the innovation and determine its importance to organisation in comparison with
invention.................................................................................................................................1
P2 Explain how organisational vision, leadership, culture and teamwork can shape innovation
and commercialisation ...........................................................................................................3
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................4
P3 Explain the 4 P's of innovation and explain the use of innovation funnel to examine and
shape innovation ideas. ..........................................................................................................4
P4 Explain developments in frugal innovation and provide examples of how it is use in an
organisational context.............................................................................................................6
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................7
P5 Explain the importance of the commercial funnel and the application of New Product
development (NPD) processing for commercialisation of innovation...................................7
P6 Build an innovation business case for an organisation, including ways to access funding9
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................12
P7 Evaluate the different tools that organisation can use to develop, retain and protect
knowledge and intellectual property....................................................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
References:.....................................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
In a business context, innovation can be defined as the process of conversion of ideas into
reality by bringing new products and services into an organisation or making changes into the
existing offerings with the purpose of enhancing growth and profit. Business are operating in a
volatile and dynamic environment, in order to respond to these changes business comes up with a
new and innovative product or make modifications in their existing products and services.
Whereas, commercialisation is the process of bringing the innovative products and services
available to the customers. In a broader sense, innovation takes shape with the help of
commercialisation only. F-Drones laid the foundation in March, 2019 with the purpose of
providing aerial services to defence sector. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV Prox dynamics) is a
innovative drone used by militaries all over the world, including British Army. The report covers
concept and types of innovation, distinction between innovation and invention and methods used
to protect the innovative ideas.
Task 1
P1 Explain the innovation and determine its importance to organisation in comparison with
invention
Invention : Invention is a term which is used for a idea, products or services that has evolved for
the first time. Creative thinking plays a major role in a invention. Therefore, Invention is a
process where, through a continuous research and experiments, an individual creates, design and
discover a novel method, process and device. F-Drones is the perfect example of invention as
they are offering a smoothies consist of crushed fruits and juices (Özilgen, 2019).
Innovation : From the perspective of Frey, (2021), The term innovation itself describe its
meaning, i.e. to renew or modify a process, product or service. Generally organisation conduct a
innovation with the purpose of adding value to the products and services so that it could meet the
needs and wants of customers in better way. An innovation can be done by introduction of new
products, process or technology or to modify and update the existing one with extra features so
that the market needs are met better than before.
Importance of Innovation

 Creative development : Creative thinking give rise to the innovations and uniqueness. In
order to respond to the volatility of a market and for a continuous it is essential for every
business to have a certain level of creativity.
 Continuous Improvement : Business like F-Drones focus on continuous improvement
by critically responding to the external challenges and convert them into the opportunities
by transforming existing products and services (Boretti, 2020).
 Relevant business : By adopting to a changing conditions of market, companies aims to
stay relevant, competitive and profitable in a business environment. The technological era
has changes everything around us and in order to maintain its presence, business are
taking the way of Innovation.
 Differentiation : Innovation brings new ideas, process or products or modify the existing
offering to cater the needs of customers. Innovation brings changes in the life of people
which creates a unique identify of a business firm in a market.
 Growth of a business : Innovation creates a path for a company to grow and succeed. It
increase the overall performance and profitability of a business firm.
Importance of Invention
 Solving problems : Invention involves creative thinking and doing. Inventions are
related with new ideas and concepts which have not existed before. These ideas and
concepts are developed generally for the purpose of providing a unique and complete
solution to a problem available in a market. F-drones analysed the needs of ships and
offshore platforms for the delivery shipments and developed a new drone which can
weigh up to 50-100 kg to a distance of up to 100 km.
 Increase productivity : Innovations include the creative and smart work which leads to
the development of innovative products and services to address the needs and wants of
market. F-drones with the new UAV technology assisting the military workforce in
leading the tactical initiatives.
 Competitive edge : Creative thinking encourages better design and development of
products for the customers with an additional value which helps in better connect with the
customers. Additionally, innovative thinking helps the marketing managers in adopting a
right techniques for marketing for a better reach with the customers that in turn boost
competitiveness of F-drones.

Difference between Innovation and invention
Basis Innovation Invention
 Meaning Evolution of business idea,
process or method for the first
time.
Implementation of idea or process
for products and services for the
first time.
 Purpose Developing a new product. Adding value to existing product.
 Activities Limited to research and
experiments.
Takes place within an organisation.
 Relation Single product or process. Sum of all the products and services
P2 Explain how organisational vision, leadership, culture and teamwork can shape innovation
and commercialisation
Organisational vision : Each and every business in a market environment runs and operate with
a stated vision and mission (Naughton and Foss, 2019). Each business idea is created with
particular vision, and aims to have a correct organisational structure, culture, leadership and
teamwork so that the objective of a business is achieved. F- Drones laid the foundation with the
objective of delivering a shipments to ships and offshore platforms rapidly and conveniently
avoiding the transportation traffic. An effective and strong vision leads the F-drones to create
new and innovative ideas to meet the demands of market and further valuable ideas are
implemented for the commercialisation of the products.
Organisation leadership : F-drones requires a strong leadership skills and abilities so that the
efforts of workforce are directed towards the attainment of company's vision, mission and
objective. An effective leadership qualities like empathy, optimistic, intelligence, confident and
ambitious could help to achieve the objective of F-drones, to equip the military with unmanned
aerial vehicle(Gabriel, 2019). Leadership abilities and qualities drive the efforts of F-drones into
the direction of making innovations by recognising the needs to make necessary changes and
consequently guide the workforce to achieve the competitive position in market through
innovations and inventions.
Organisational culture : Organisation culture plays a significant role in success and growth of
any business organisation. F-drones organisational culture consists of combination of
expectations, experiences, values which helps in shaping the behaviour of companies workforce.

It also include company's vision, value, norms, system, language, belief and customs. Better wok
culture within a F-drones increases the productivity of an employees and they are more likely to
feel supported, valued, comfortable, satisfied and confident. Positive culture of F-drones
stimulates the team members of research and development to think out of the context and come
with a new idea that would lead the company in a right direction.
Organisational team work : F-drones aims to achieve their objective with the collective efforts
of their team members. Team work in an organisation helps to maintain a better relations with
the customers which reduces the chances of conflict and disputes. With team-oriented workforce
F-drone will able to work towards the development of pilotless drones to the military which will
aid them in surveillance and other operations. Apart from the aerial services, defence force also
uses unmanned ground vehicles to lead the tactical initiatives (Mazzarol and Reboud, 2020).
Team spirit and harmony within the skilled workforce of F-drones contribute towards the
necessary amendments in their existing products so as to deliver a more value to their customers
and fulfil the needs and wants in a way which had not been done even before. Joint efforts of
workforce further works in effective implementation of innovative ideas into a reality through
introducing their offerings to the target market.
Task 2
P3 Explain the 4 P's of innovation and explain the use of innovation funnel to examine and shape
innovation ideas.
When a business offers a new products and services to the customer, a detailed
information is gathered and analysed on the basis of four marketing P's that is, product, price,
place and promotion. In similar way innovation also include the four P's which are product,
process, position and paradigm.
 Product Innovation : The first “P” of innovation deals with the type of offering
company is giving to its customer. Whether the company want to come up with a new ,
innovative products or want to make adjustment in a existing product. F-Drones have
launched a Pro-dynamics, a military grade pilotless drone which is used by the militaries
around the world.

 Process Innovation : Process innovation focus on the way how the new and innovative
product is developed by a company or how the changes are taking place to add a more
value to it so as to deliver a value-driven quality products (Zhou, and Wang, 2020).
 Position Innovation : This “P” defines the target market segment where the innovation
is taking place. Position in innovation is delivering a new products to a new market
segment where such offering are not made since before. F-Drones has come with a
innovative idea to strengthen the defence force, by providing aid in surveillance and
offensive operations.
 Paradigm Innovation : Paradigm innovation is related with the extent to which the
company changes its products and services. Sometimes this is also referred as the “drastic
change” where company changes its offering completely. The paradigm can be broadly
explained as how, where and what changes is made in products and what impact it can
have over a market.
Steps in Innovation funnel Investigation : The broader mouth of the innovation funnel represents the collection of
relevant information regarding the development of new products and services. At this
point company expand its area of knowledge and looks out for a various number of
opportunities available for innovation through market data. Developments: After analysing the different alternatives available, companies looks out
for a best suitable business plan to meet the needs and demands of the customer (Cao,
Bryceson and Hine, 2020). The narrow bottle neck represents the screening of the ideas
generated and selecting a appropriate according to availability of companies resources.
 Shipping Product : Third and last stage consist of execution of business idea or
opportunity. Product is launched and shipped into the market for use of consumer. At
this stage company checks whether the finished product fulfils the anticipated objective
of a customer along with a company or not.

Illustration 1: Innovation Funnel 2016
(Source :Innovation Funnel,2016)
P4 Explain developments in frugal innovation and provide examples of how it is use in an
organisational context
In a current scenario of rapidly growing population around the world, It is becoming
difficult to address the needs and wants of customers with the limited number of resources
available. In a developed nations growing concern about the environment have encouraged to
deliver a best value-driven product with minimal use of natural resources. Therefore, Frugal
innovation is defined as the process of maximizing the ratio of value in respect to resources
available, so as to deliver a more value to the customer (Amadi-Echendu, 2021).
F-drones have introduced a innovative product which is a perfect example of frugal innovation.
Increasing disruption at the borders of different nation have encouraged F-drones to come up
with a drone which is helpful for a military workforce. With the declining and limited financial
resources, the needs of the defence sector is unaddressed. Furthermore, in order to strengthen
defence work force at the borders F-drones have launched a new “Prox dynamics” which is
military made unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) , which aims to help the military in surveillance
and offensive operations. The pilotless drone operate with a combination of various technologies
like, computer vision, Artificial intelligence and object avoidance tech. Apart from this military
is also equipped with under ground vehicles (UGV's) to lead the tactical initiatives.

Task 3
P5 Explain the importance of the commercial funnel and the application of New Product
development (NPD) processing for commercialisation of innovation
Sales funnel can be describe as a path or journey undertaken by a potential customer to
buy a product. Each step give a insight about purchasing decision of customer, how their
decision get influence, and what stimulates them to purchase a product. F-drones develop a
strong marketing strategies and create an effective message with an objective of creating a
customer through prospects(Cullen, Calitz and Chetty, 2020).
Stages at Sales funnel
 Awareness : At this stage prospects become aware of company's offerings by means of
Advertisement, publicity, word or mouth or by social media. Interest : Company have created inquisitiveness, by effective promotional techniques,
about the products and how they best matches the interest level of prospect (How to
build Social Media Marketing Sales Funnel, 2018). Decision : Prospects gets profound information about the product like pricing,
packaging, availability etc. This is the time where company can convert prospect into a
consumer.
 Action : This the final stage where prospect makes a final decision to make a purchase or
not. Business firms must focus on creating a strong branding campaign so as to be top
list of a prospects (Dutta and Rousseau, 2020).
Illustration 2: How to build Social Media Marketing Sales
Funnel, 2018

(Source: How to build Social Media Marketing Sales Funnel, 2018)
Importance of Sales funnel
 Sales funnel gives an deep insight of customer buying decision which helps the
marketing managers to develop a strong plans and strategies so as to grow the business of
an organisation.
 By analysing and evaluating the factors influencing the buying behaviour of customer at
each step of sales funnel encourages a business firm to be one step ahead from their
competitors and helps to generate more leads more prospects (How, and et. al., 2019).
 Indeed, by keeping track of the activities at different stages of sales funnel, increase in
the sales revenue of the company.
 Sales funnel helps the marketing managers to pick-up a right marketing tools so that the
messages are delivered to customers in a right way and on right time.
Application of New Product Development
(Source : New Product Development, 2021)
Illustration 3: New Product Development, 2021

 Idea generation : First stage of product development starts with an idea , idea to develop
a new product, change or update an existing one. F-drone have introduced unmanned
aerial vehicle for the ease and convenience of militaries across world.
 Idea screening : Ideas keeps on generate until the one doesn't find the suitable one. This
process eliminates the less productive ideas in order to save money and cost.
 Concept development and testing : After selecting a appropriate business plan, F-
drones develops a detailed and meaningful concept to generate a pilotless UAV and
further send it for a testing to the defence force.
 Market strategy or business analysis : This step defines the different marketing
strategies to be opted for defining, the price of a military made drones, how these will be
accessed to the defence force and budget for a promotional activities.
 Feasibility analysis or study : Feasibility analysis is conducted in order to check
whether the features of a product matches the interest level of market or not and the
development of product derives the best and profitable result for the company (Çengel,
2019).
 Product development : After getting desired results from feasibility analysis, F-drones
designs and start the development process of product.
 Test marketing : At this process, before offering final product to the target market, F-
drones gives a finished product to the random sample of target market to check the level
of performance and requirement to make further alterations.
 Commercialisation : Commercialisation is a process where military made UAV is
officially being introduced to a large target market group (Ng, and et. al., 2019).
P6 Build an innovation business case for an organisation, including ways to access funding
 Company overview : F-Drones laid the foundation on April 2019 with an aim to provide
world's first transition aerial services to deliver shipments to ships and offshore
platforms.
 Vision and Mission : F-drones aims at manufacturing the drones which reduces the cost,
time, workforce and carbon emission up to 80%.
 Objective : F-drones, with their unique design they are building world's first transition
drone to deliver shipments to offshore platforms.

 Problem statement : Since the company is dealing in aerial shipment services, with a
aim to grow and develop, F-drones have tapped the unaddressed needs of defence force
and decided to strengthen the military through their innovative drone facilities.
Needs for funding
Conversion of innovative ideas into a reality needs a strong financial resources. Business
organisations need financial resources in order to run and operate their operational activities,
therefore these resources are considered as life blood without which business can not
exist(Harlow, 2020). F-drones needs funding for the various purpose :
 Research activities : F-drones needs funding in order to carry out research activities to
find out the best possible way in which it can cater to the needs of defence market. F-
drone is coming with an idea to equip the military with a pilotless drone, so as to be
relevant and innovative in their approach they need additional financial resources.
 Advancements : F-drone's innovation is based on modifying its existing offering
especially to cater the needs of military force. The changes will be done in technological
aspects to make it more competitive and compatible. Apart from this F-drones aims to
reduce the cost, time, manpower and carbon emission.
Sources of funding
 Retained Earning : This concept is easy to adopt as it is concerned with selling the
existing product certainly at a high price and make profit. Gained capital can be
subsequently allocated in the future investments efficiently (Daniels and Amadi-
Echendu, 2021) .
 Debt capital : Another source of funding is borrowing money from external sources.
This could be done with the help of banks or other financial institutions and by issuing a
issuing a corporate bonds.
Cash flow
Cash is essential for any business to run and operate its business operations, cash flow
statement represents the amount of cash inflows and outflows within a company over a stipulated
period of time.
Month Pre-Start month 1 month 2