There are no hard and fast rules to innovation. Some of the greatest inventions of our time have been created as a result of a happy accident. But it is possible to cultivate a culture of innovation in your business rather than relying solely on ‘innovation by accident’. To aid this cultivation process the upcoming FESPA 2010 show is providing a roadmap for innovation, encouraging wide-format entrepreneurs to embrace it as part of a wider strategy for future business growth.

At the heart of these efforts is a series of easy-to-follow steps that business owners can put in place to encourage innovation within their own companies.

These steps are:

1. Prepare for innovation

2. Be creative

3. Consider your customer

4. Make the effort

5. Take the risk

6. Leadership

7. Accept feedback

8. Communication is everything

The steps pretty much speak for themselves but for those wishing to gain further insight into how to implement them they’re spelt out in greater detail in a surf-themed pocket guide that will be given away free to visitors of the FESPA 2010 show. FESPA sales and marketing director Marcus Timson says that the ‘Eight Steps to Innovation’ guide is a compact way of making a serious point. “Innovation can be intimidating for entrepreneurs, especially when they are steering their businesses out of an economic downturn, with the inevitable focus on efficiency and cost- and cash-management that brings,” explains Timson.

But Timson argues that innovation is the fuel that drives the economy and is integral to business growth. This is borne out by figures from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), which show that their is a direct relationship between successful innovation and stock market performance – globally, on an annual basis, innovators outperformed industry peers by 430 basis points over a three year period.

The BCG research also found that due to the current economic climate the focus on innovation efforts has shifted with companies driving innovation that is aimed at lowering production costs rather than creating new products and services for their customers.

James Andrew, senior partner at BCG, acknowledges that innovation is fair game due to the economic pressures that are making companies rethink all aspects of their business but his advice to business owners is to be opportunistic and make offensive moves now to ensure that they’re ahead of competitors when the recovery is in full swing. “The true innovation leaders are currently asking themselves ‘how can we use this opportunity to win,’ instead of ‘how can we survive?’” believes Andrew.

So what are you waiting for? Pick up a copy of FESPA’s guide and get set to surf the wave of innovation.