So, the autumn has started with me working on a lot of writing projects, getting things submitted, talking with various writers and publishers, and also trying to figure out how not to get too fragmented. I've not always succeeded. That said, the books (yes, plural) are coming along, and I'm looking forward to showing more from them as time passes (and the books get further). Today, though, a little bit of a special. About a year and a bit ago I took part in a program where business thinkers were giving free webinars as part of a collaboration between Thinkers50 and the leading Ukrainian business school, to support Ukraine in their war effort against an aggressor. It was a nice project to be part of, I gave a talk on some ideas I was mulling at the time, and then rapidly forgot about it all. Imagine my surprise when I come across an article a week or so ago, in a Spanish-language business magazine, built on said webinar and presenting my thoughts on innovation architectures! It's a notion I've been playing around with, and may develop once the books I'm doing now are ready, but I liked the article enough to translate it, write it up a little, and now share it with you! There is something to architecture that has always fascinated me, in particular the way good architecture deals with both very simple and everyday things (there needs to be enough toilets, in easy to reach places) and very grandiose ones (such as how a building can be a gesture in a cityscape). I tried to take these ideas into the world of innovation, and although this is quite superficial, I hope you can see where I'm trying to take it. Oh, and I even threw in a link to the full webinar below, for the truly masochistic among you! Enjoy, and until we speak again: Stay classy!

Alf Rehn: The Architecture of Innovation

TL; DR: Innovation is in trouble. It’s drowning in clichés that exhaust people and breed organizational cynicism. Rather than repeating slogans, Professor Alf Rehn argues for a true innovation architecture: a system designed like a well-built structure with foundations, infrastructure, connections, and a clear purpose. Foundations aren’t products or processes; they’re the culture and capabilities that let people feel heard, valued, and free to experiment. Without that, everything collapses. Next comes infrastructure: the systems, resources, and tools that must interlock, not fragment, so ideas can travel from experiment to execution. Layer on purpose—the “architectural gesture” that gives meaning and attracts talent. Innovation shouldn’t be fashionable; it should improve lives, strengthen sustainability, and solve real problems.

The Innovator as Architect

Professor Alf Rehn of the University of Southern Denmark treats innovation as a living, shared, deeply human practice. His “architecture of innovation” borrows Louis Kahn’s line that “architecture is the thoughtful making of space.” Even simple buildings require more than good materials; they require a concept of the whole.

Rehn knows the expectation: praise innovation and tell everyone to “just do it.” Reality is less romantic. Innovation has delivered real progress, but it is also in crisis—not only because of pandemics or wars, but because of its empty narrative. More than 1,200 new books on creativity and innovation appear each year. Has that made organizations more innovative? Unlikely. The tidal wave of slogans like “innovate or die” and “think outside the box” fuels skepticism, not action. Instead, hype creates stress. What once energized people now draws eye-rolls: “Another pointless brainstorming session.” That’s innovation fatigue. The field needs a discourse that is respectful, meaningful, and relevant to everyone, not just executives or consultants.

Quick fixes won’t cut it. Trendy “innovation rooms” and perfunctory “psychological safety” workshops often box creativity into a corner while the rest of the organization carries on unchanged. Innovation needs an architecture, not props; you need an integrated plan that goes beyond isolated initiatives to create something greater than the sum of its parts. And you start with the basics: foundations.

1. Solid Foundations: A real innovation architecture starts with foundations. As with any building, without a stable base—culture, purpose, and capabilities—nothing endures. Leaders often focus on processes, products, and services, but these are outcomes, not foundations. The base is the culture and the competencies that make ideas possible. Without them, even brilliant concepts crumble. Every organization has ideas – Rehn has seen this everywhere. The bottleneck isn’t ideation but culture: do people feel entitled and encouraged to share, shape, and test ideas? There’s little point in paying for a glossy innovation strategy if no one believes their ideas matter. The CEO’s first question should be: Do we have a culture that genuinely respects and nurtures ideas, whoever brings them? If not, the foundation is weak, and the rest is noise.
2. Infrastructure and Connections: With culture in place, build the infrastructure: processes, systems, resources, and tools. Poorly connected infrastructure is like elegant plumbing with fixtures in the wrong rooms. Many firms excel at such fragmentation. Rehn notes a global company with funding for tiny pilots and for projects over €10M, but nothing in between. That’s having large rooms with no doors. Ideas started but could not scale. Innovation needs an architectural mind, a person in place to ensures processes connect, handoffs are clear, and ideas can progress from seed to venture without falling into gaps.
3. Purpose as the “Architectural Gesture”: Even with culture and infrastructure, innovation can feel hollow without purpose. In architecture, the gesture expresses what the building is about. In innovation, that gesture is purpose: why do we innovate? Rehn cites a German chemicals company with solid culture and systems but weak appeal to young talent. Partnering with the UN, it repurposed cleaning chemistry into water purification tablets for refugee camps. The narrative shifted to “We’re saving lives.” Talent followed. Purpose gave the architecture meaning.

Stress-Test Your Innovation Architecture

Rehn proposes three simple tests:

1.    Listening in meetings: Observe who gets airtime. If a few voices dominate, your cultural foundation is shaky. Innovative organizations listen across hierarchy, gender, and background.

2.   Access to resources for experiments: Ask a junior colleague: “If you had a promising idea, would you know how to get small funds to test it?” Ask middle managers the same for larger sums. If answers are vague, your infrastructure has gaps.

3.   Shared purpose: Ask senior leaders: “Why do we innovate?” If the answer is “innovate or die,” you have rhetoric, not purpose. Real purpose connects daily work to human outcomes: saving lives, advancing sustainability, improving society.

These tests won’t solve everything, but they start the right conversation: why we innovate, how ideas are tested, and who gets heard. Too many ideas die because the messenger doesn’t fit the mold. Durable innovation rests on cultural foundations, clear purpose, and the courage to let uncomfortable ideas live. Every breakthrough was once mocked.

The Horizon of Augmented Innovation

The next decade will transform how we innovate. AI, machine learning, VR/AR, IoT, richer data, and quantum technologies will reshape exploration and testing. Skepticism is healthy in the short term; in the long term, we likely underestimate the shift. AI began with derivative outputs, then moved into process and design variation at scale. Imagine a plant mirrored as a digital twin so you can test thousands of variables without physical runs. That alters product development, pharma, and efficiency. The innovation leader becomes an augmented professional with expanded creative and analytical capacity.

Testing today is often costly, slow, and destructive. With AI and high-fidelity simulations, you can test perfect copies under extreme conditions, reducing cost and time while multiplying options. Architects can model buildings with novel materials and let clients “walk” them before a brick is laid. Innovation is becoming a hybrid practice of humans and intelligent tools. That does not sideline people; it elevates their role. Machines generate possibilities; humans supply judgment, ethics, and meaning.

Augmented innovation amplifies humanity. The task is to build organizations that exploit new tools while staying grounded in cultural foundations and human purpose. That’s the future: systems that listen, architectures that connect, and purposes that inspire—places where anyone can say, “I can create,” and be taken seriously.

Reflections & Practical Advice

Schumpeter’s favorite definition of innovation – reducing costs or increasing revenue – is useful but narrow. Rehn prefers a novel idea that is executed and accepted in a market, where “market” includes social, cultural, and public-service contexts as much as economic ones. Resist the urge to label everything “innovation.” Treat it with humility and seriousness. Not everything needs changing. Some practices endure for centuries because they deliver excellence. Innovation is also knowing when to listen, when to adapt, and when to sustain what works.

Listening is fundamental. Seniority can tempt anyone to default to certainty, but innovation is built by the collective, not the ego. Rehn recalls a large company flooded with projects whose CEO imposed a six-month moratorium on new initiatives. Shock gave way to clarity. Teams regrouped, refined, and returned with stronger proposals. The reset came not from a magic pill, but from acknowledging tension and using it to strengthen cultural steel.

Innovation must also dare. Test ideas that feel awkward or naïve. Many world-changers sounded absurd at first. Agriculture, often seen as traditional, keeps reinventing itself: in Denmark, some farms now lead globally in medicinal cannabis because they dared to diversify. Some of Alf's students recently built an AI-enabled camera system that detects impending pig births and alerts farmers. It reduced piglet mortality (historically around one in eight) and improved margins. Practical, frugal, creative: that’s innovation.

The future won’t be built by slogans or sticky-note rooms. It will be built by cultures that listen, architectures that connect, and purposes that matter. By courage to challenge norms, experiment wisely, and blend technology with values. And by systems where anyone, regardless of origin, can raise a hand and say: “I too can create.” That is innovation that lives – shared, sustainable, and profoundly human.