22. Disrupting Communication: Innovation Communications in the Digital Age

For nearly 170 years, the foundation of Siemens’ success has been innovations that do not simply offer new ideas but instead disrupt the market in the form of new products, technologies, or services. Innovations ensure growth and competitiveness. The underlying ideas begin in the minds of individuals and are then advanced within Siemens in open development processes that follow the “Open Innovation” paradigm. Development is not everything, however: These ideas also have to be communicated. Therefore, a targeted communications strategy is crucial for success. The case study in this chapter shows how Siemens’ newly aligned Innovation Communications meets this challenge. The chapter follows the path from communications concept and its interdepartmental implementation to subsequent evaluation of the actions performed.