July 28, 2025

551: Make innovation work using ISO 56001 – with Magnus Karlsson, PhD

38 minutes

Why product managers need a systematic framework to de-risk innovation

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TLDR

This episode dives deep into the new ISO 56001 standard for innovation management with Dr. Magnus Karlsson, a global leader in the field and a key contributor to the standard. Learn why systematic innovation matters, how ISO 56001 can help organizations move beyond ad hoc creativity to reliable business results, and what practical steps product managers and leaders can take to build innovation capabilities—plus resources for making the standard actionable in your organization.

Introduction

Are your innovation efforts consistently delivering results, or do they feel more like a series of random experiments? We’re diving into systematic innovation management with one of the foremost experts in the field. This isn’t just about being more creative – it’s about transforming how your organization turns ideas into market success, reliably and repeatedly. Every product leader faces the challenge of delivering value that drives business growth while managing risk. Without a systematic approach, you’re essentially gambling with your innovation resources. In this episode, you’ll discover exactly how to implement a systematic innovation management approach based on the recently published ISO 56001 framework.

Our guest is Dr. Magnus Karlsson, Adjunct Professor in Innovation Management at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Magnus has over a decade of experience as Director of New Business Development and Innovation at Ericsson, where he developed approaches to collaborative innovation. He built on that experience and for nearly 20 years has been instrumental in developing international innovation management standards with the Swedish Institute for Standards, a key contributor to ISO standards. Magnus is also a partner at Amplify, a Sweden company that helps organizations across the world to innovate.

While your competitors might still be relying on inspiration and luck, you could be implementing a proven system that delivers consistent innovation results.

Summary of Concepts Discussed for Product Managers

Systematic vs. Random Innovation:
Most organizations still treat innovation as a series of random experiments. ISO 56001 offers a holistic management system, making consistent innovation possible.

The Need for Standards:
Despite abundant research on what drives innovation, companies struggle to apply best practices at scale, and some organizations risk losing their innovative capability. The ISO 56001 standard codifies proven methods for innovation into a plug-and-play framework.

Origins & Purpose of ISO 56001:
Developed out of real-world challenges at companies like Ericsson, the standard helps organizations measure, sustain, and grow their innovation capability with clear, certifiable requirements.

Framework Overview:
Core elements include:

Context Analysis: Understand new technologies and opportunities.

Innovation Intent: Consider why you need to innovate and what you must achieve.

Leadership Involvement: Engage top management in innovation, including defining innovation strategy and promoting innovation culture.

Five Building Blocks of the Innovation Process:

Identifying opportunities

Generating ideas

Validating concepts (hypothesis-driven, low-cost experiments)

Development

Deployment

Continuous Improvement:
The standard emphasizes ongoing assessment, maturity modeling, and the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle to adapt and grow innovation practices.

Roles in Innovation:
While no fixed roles are prescribed, clear assignment and development of competencies (with a forthcoming competency framework) are critical for success. Senior leadership engagement is vital, with product managers well-positioned to drive bottom-up and top-down adoption.

How Product Managers Can Use ISO 56001:
Product managers can consider how their current practices may already be aligned to the ISO 56001 framework and how they could improve their practices, then fill any gaps.

Certification & Practical Adoption:
Adoption of ISO 56001 not only improves internal capability but also bolsters branding, customer trust, and talent attraction. While certification is new, interest is growing, especially among organizations wanting to benchmark or externally validate their innovation maturity.

Useful Links

Connect with Magnus on LinkedIn

Check out Amplify for more resources about ISO 56001

Innovation Quote

“Spend a little to learn a lot.” – Vijay Govindarajan

Application Questions

How would your organization’s approach to innovation change if you adopted a systematic, standard-based framework like ISO 56001?

What are the biggest cultural and leadership barriers to consistent innovation in your workplace, and how could a formal management system help address them?

In your product management practice, which of the five process building blocks (identify, generate, validate, develop, deploy) tends to be weakest—and why?

How might certification in innovation management (like ISO 56001) impact your organization’s external reputation and internal alignment?

What steps can product managers take right now to begin closing the gap between innovation aspirations and a repeatable innovation capability?

Bio

Dr. Magnus Karlsson is a senior innovation management expert at Amplify, adjunct professor at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, contributor to international standardization at ISO, CEN, and SIS Swedish Institute for Standards, and has a background in group-wide innovation management at Ericsson HQ in Stockholm.

Thanks!

Thank you for taking the journey to product mastery and learning with me from the successes and failures of product innovators, managers, and developers. If you enjoyed the discussion, help out a fellow product manager by sharing it using the social media buttons you see below.

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