ISO 56001 Innovation Management: What the Standard Is, Who It Is For, and How to Get Certified

For years, organisations wanting to prove they were serious about innovation settled for an award or an annual event. In 2024 the International Organization for Standardization published ISO 56001, the first requirements standard for an innovation management system — and therefore the first one an organisation can be certified against, exactly as it is certified to ISO 9001 for quality.

What is the difference between ISO 56001 and ISO 56002?

This is the question we hear most. ISO 56002, published in 2019, is guidance: it explains how an innovation management system can be built, but it imposes no requirements, so no certificate is issued against it. ISO 56001 is a requirements standard, written in the language of “shall”, and an accredited certification body can audit an organisation against it and certify it. Anyone who has worked to ISO 56002 has covered part of the ground, but must review their system clause by clause against the new standard's requirements.

What does the standard require?

ISO 56001 follows the harmonised structure of management system standards, the same structure quality teams know from ISO 9001. The organisation is required to build a complete system, not to run one successful innovation event:

• Context of the organisation: understanding the internal and external environment and interested parties, and defining the scope of the innovation system.
• Leadership: top management commitment, an approved innovation policy, and clear roles and responsibilities.
• Planning: innovation opportunities and risks, measurable objectives, and a plan to achieve them.
• Support: resources, competence, awareness, communication and documented information.
• Operation: the innovation processes, from identifying opportunities to developing and deploying solutions.
• Performance evaluation: monitoring, measurement, internal audit and management review.
• Improvement: handling nonconformities and continually improving the system itself.

Who is it for?

The standard applies to any organisation of any size or sector. In our experience, three groups benefit most: government entities that take part in excellence and innovation awards and want to present a documented innovation system rather than scattered initiatives; companies that want independent proof for their customers and partners; and organisations that have plenty of ideas but no path that turns an idea into a delivered project.

The steps to certification

1. 1Gap analysis: comparing what exists in the organisation with the standard's clauses, and issuing a numbered gap report with clear priorities.
2. 2Building the system: the innovation policy, roles, innovation processes from receiving an idea to delivering it, and measurement indicators.
3. 3Documentation: the documented information the standard requires, as much as serves the work and no more.
4. 4Implementation and training: running the system for long enough to produce genuine records, and training the teams involved.
5. 5Internal audit and management review: with auditors independent of the activities they audit, and findings dealt with before the certification body's visit.
6. 6Certification audit: usually in two stages, a document review then the on-site audit, after which the certificate is issued.

We prepare organisations; we do not certify them. We build the system with you and ready you for the audit, while the certificate is issued by an accredited, independent certification body that we help you choose and coordinate with.

How long does it take?

For a medium-sized organisation with some innovation practices already in place, 4 to 8 months from the start of the project to the certification audit. The part that cannot be shortened is the implementation period: the auditor looks for records of ideas that were actually received, evaluated and delivered, and those take time to accumulate.