The innovation is a powerful means of growth creation and differentiation. A company’s capacity to innovate has significant consequences on its strategy and its performance. Today, innovation is no longer limited to product design features. Innovation relates to the products, but equally to services as well, to customer relationship management, processes, design and manufacture methods…
Moreover, the level of innovation is not only measured with technical criteria but also according to market perception. Thus, in the consumer goods industry, one year after launch, 30% of products are no longer present, and a mere 15% have achieved success. Increasingly vital for many companies, innovation has become increasingly complex to organize and manage.

The Innovation Center of Competence intervenes in:

		The definition of innovation policy and the definition of the organizational structure that is best suited to this policy (structure, means, partnership);
		The search for growth areas, and evaluation of the potential of possible innovation projects;
		The optimization of R&D projects and the steering system of these projects;
		The optimization of the partnership policy of the company and its external collaborations (universities, units of research, suppliers, start-up...);
		The development of synergies between the R&D, marketing and production teams;
		The increase in the creative capacity of the company and the implementation of a real culture of innovation.

Moreover, the increasing importance technology transfers for R&D led Metapoles to create a specialized entity: Optima Innovation. This entity intervenes in the following types of Technology Transfers:

		Transfer-out projects: the identification of new applications for technologies in other industries, and the negotiation of licensing agreements with target companies;
		Transfer-in projects: the identification of technologies and possible partners that respond to the specific innovation needs of our clients.