In today's business, innovation cannot be an individual effort, it must become a systematized, continuous, and strategically framed capability. In this interview, we speak with Dr. Michael Durst, ITONICS' Founder and Chairman, concerning how their Innovation Operating System enables some of the world's leading organisations, from Adidas to Mondelez to turn foresight into action and ideas into impact.
Mike shares his own journey from being a corporate executive to innovation entrepreneur, outlines ITONICS' end-to-end approach, and outlines why AI will transform business innovation. He also indicates what makes the partnership between Bluemorrow and ITONICS so strong and where innovation management is headed over the next decade.
The origin of ITONICS
Mike, can you explain what your company ITONICS is all about?
Mike Durst: After many years in the corporate world I realized that most companies are managing growth and innovation with Excel sheets and Powerpoint slide decks. To me, a solid growth dynamic and constant innovation is the guarantee for a sustainable and successful business. Therefore, I came up with an end-to-end innovation model and in 2009 decided to leave the corporate world and build a software as a service that helps organizations manage their innovation pipeline.
Today, we are 150 individuals in offices around the globe building and running the #1 Innovation Operating System. Clients like Adidas, Johnson & Johnson, Mondelez, Siemens, Roche or Toyota use our software to manage, optimize and govern their innovation activities.
Can you elaborate on your end-to-end innovation approach? Could you walk us through the key steps?
Mike Durst: We see three main questions one needs to answer in innovation: Where to play? How to win? What and when to execute? Many publications and innovation models start with ideas, we recommend starting with emerging technologies and trends. Trends reflect the market pull, emerging technologies, the so-called technology push. The market pull is all about what your customers want, what their needs are or could be, upcoming legal requirements, societal changes, political challenges and opportunities, or market dynamics today and in the future. The technology push is the enabling layer driving new products, services, and business models. Bringing both together in the context of an organization surfaces opportunities for future business, enabled by technologies, and driven by trends.
With the opportunities identified, qualified, and prioritized, challenges emerge towards defining the roadmap to market. Can we develop a competitive product or solution? Shall we better partner with a startup, or invest in a portfolio of startups or acquire certain aspects of the new product? Do we launch under our brand, or try to establish a new brand? Can we market through our existing channels, or do we need to establish new ones? How high is the investment and the risk of failure? These and many more questions need to be investigated systematically. With that, the “How to win” phase starts. Ideas, potential solutions and partners (startups, suppliers, channel partners), competitor approaches, and inspirations are researched. This can be done by dedicated teams, or using a crowdsourcing approach. The results are aggregated, evaluated, prioritized and discussed to identify the potential way forward.
With that, the “What and when to execute” phase starts. R&D programs and their milestones are planned, budgeted, and distributed within the organization. These programs are broken down to projects, including detailed project plans, dependencies, resources allocated etc. Limited resources and external factors define the timing of R&D programs. Is there a growing demand on the horizon, legal requirements, government subsidies? Are we as an organization ready now or later?
All of the mentioned activities and decisions happen continuously or within planning cycles. There are more decentralized organizations, and more centralized approaches, depending on the specifics of a business.
Turning complexity into clarity: how the ITONICS platform supports innovation
How does your software support these activities? What are the benefits?
Mike Durst: Specifically large organizations face inherent complexity that can slow down innovation in multiple business units and departments, dispersed teams, fragmented data, and volatile priorities.
The ITONICS Innovation Operating System addresses these challenges by centralizing and structuring all innovation efforts mentioned before. It brings transparency to trends, emerging technologies, and opportunities, fosters cross-functional collaboration in solution discovery, and systematically prioritizes projects and resources. ITONICS also enables strategic foresight, making it easier to detect disruptions early, adapt faster, and sustain competitive advantage.
In short, ITONICS transforms innovation from a sporadic activity into a scalable, measurable, and strategically-aligned process, essential for thriving in dynamic markets.
What changes in innovation with AI?
Mike Durst: AI fundamentally transforms innovation management and the innovation process itself by enhancing decision-making, accelerating insights, and unlocking new opportunities. It accelerates the detection and evaluation of trends and emerging technologies, enabling companies to spot disruptions earlier and adapt quickly.
AI enhances ideation as a companion for creativity and supports idea management by efficiently filtering and prioritizing the most impactful approaches. It supports smarter decisions by offering real-time, data-driven insights into markets and customers, optimizing resource allocation for better ROI. Additionally, AI automates routine tasks, freeing innovation teams for strategic creativity and cross-functional collaboration.
Ultimately, AI makes innovation management faster, smarter, and more scalable. At ITONICS, we offer AI-support in the creation of so-called Trend and Emerging Technology Radars, as creative co-innovator in the ideation process, as expert in idea evaluation, and as real-time trend monitoring assistant. Many more AI-agents are in the making and will be launched at the end of September 2025.
Real-world impact: How leading companies use ITONICS
Could you share a few client examples where your approach has proven particularly effective?
Mike Durst: Sure! Mondelez for example has a strong focus on dada-driven foresight, using it to drive innovation, strategic decision-making, and overall business performance. They use ITONICS as collaborative trend intelligence tool and single source of truth to manage trends, identify opportunities, and assess threats, all contributing to their strategic planning process. This approach allows them to anticipate future market changes and adapt proactively in the fast-moving consumer goods industry.
A global technology leader providing advanced solutions in aerospace, defense, and digital security is using ITONICS to manage, steer, and govern their R&D roadmaps on a business unit and global level. With this, synergies are identified and decisions on every level are coordinated and synchronized. Elia Group, a key player in electricity transmission, is even publishing their Tech Radar within their Open Innovation strategy.
Another example is KPMG, operating their global Open Innovation activities on ITONICS. They run everything from local innovation challenges, to global initiatives with their KPMG Illuminate platform (based on ITONICS). With AI-driven market insights & crowdsourcing features, KPMG accelerates the development of new ideas & solutions across their global, distributed ecosystem.
A powerful partnership: Bluemorrow x ITONICS
What makes the partnership between Bluemorrow and ITONICS special?
Mike Durst: Bluemorrow is the perfect partner for ITONICS because they bridge strategic foresight, growth strategies, and venture building. Their strengths in identifying growth opportunities, transforming ideas into scalable ventures, and enhancing innovation capabilities perfectly complement ITONICS’ Innovation OS. Together, we deliver end-to-end innovation from insight to impact, driving strategic agility and future-readiness for organizations.
Finally, Mike, how do you see innovation management evolving in the next decade?
Mike Durst: I believe that innovation management will become increasingly data-driven, agile, and integrated across organizations. AI and predictive analytics will play a pivotal role in identifying trends earlier and refining decision-making processes. We'll see deeper collaboration ecosystems, seamlessly linking internal teams with external partners and startups.
Innovation management will evolve from a reactive process into a proactive, fully embedded capability that continuously anticipates and shapes the future of any organization.
Conclusion
As innovation gets more complex, the need for structure, foresight, and speed is greater than ever. ITONICS provides more than just software; it promotes a mindset change. This shift moves organizations from reacting to a system that continuously transforms signals into strategy and ideas into real-world impact.
Together with the strategic foresight and venture knowledge of Bluemorrow, this partnership helps organizations stay ahead of the curve and lead the next wave of innovation.
Ready to systematize your innovation efforts and explore how foresight and AI can drive your next growth opportunity? Let’s talk.
