The Holy Grail for most companies is innovation. Those that manage to successfully invent, and thus grow organically, are generally the most productive and highly valued of enterprises. So how do they do it?

I have spent more than 25 years observing organisations, trying to ascertain which are the most dynamic and creative. While there is no rigid formula, there are I believe certain characteristics which give the winning institutions an edge. Very few possess all these traits or use every technique. Culture really matters when innovating and inventing — and only a minority of companies are any good at it. Below I itemise some of the specific attitudes and features I have noticed at the more impressive centres of innovation:

?Serendipity: new ideas do not always happen through the relentless application of grand plans and pure logic. Often chance plays a major part in the making of new discoveries. In 1856, an 18-year-old chemist called William Perkin was trying to manufacture the malaria drug quinine, and instead produced the colour mauve — thereby pioneering the use of synthetic dyes.