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Are you looking for a fast-paced working environment with creativity, fun and excitment?

Our staff includes seasoned and creative talent from a wide range of backgrounds: consumer goods, education, fashion, information technology, art, psychology, engineering, international business and others.

Because of the broad range of industries we work with, this kind of internal diversity is beneficial.

IF is always looking for qualified candidates to add to the team, and we are always accepting applications. Positions require creativity, fun, flexibility, and extensive travel to client locations.

Open Positions:
For futher information or to submit a resume, please contact:

Privacy Policy

Innovation Focus is committed to safeguarding your privacy online. Please read the following policy to understand how your personal information will be treated as you contact us. This policy may change from time to time so please check back periodically.

- We will create a personal database of e-mails, names and contact information of everyone who uses our contact and employment forms.

- We promise not to share, sell or use the information in any way except for personal correspondence with you or your company in order to do business transactions with http://www.innovationfocus.com.

Terms & Conditions

1. ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS


1.1 Your access to and use of innovationfocus.com ("the Website") and any Services referred to in Clause 2, is subject exclusively to these Terms and Conditions.  You will not use the Website/Services for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these Terms and Conditions.  By using the Website/Services you are fully accepting the terms, conditions and disclaimers contained in this notice.  If you do not accept these Terms and Conditions you must immediately stop using the Website/Services.


1.2 We reserve the right to update or amend these Terms and Conditions at any time and your continued use of the Website/Services following any changes shall be deemed to be your acceptance of such change.  It is therefore your responsibility to check the Terms and Conditions regularly for any changes.


2. THE SERVICES


The Website may provide communication tools such as email, bulletin boards, chat areas, news groups, forums and/or other message or communication facilities ("the Services") designed to enable you to communicate with others. Unless stated otherwise the Services are for your personal and non-commercial use only.


3. CHILD SUPERVISION


We are concerned about the safety and privacy of our users, particularly children.  Parents who wish to allow their children access to and use of the Website/Services should supervise such access and use.  By allowing your child access to the Services you are allowing your child access to all of the Services, including email, bulletin boards, chat areas, news groups, forums and/or other message or communication facilities.  It is therefore your responsibility to determine which Services are appropriate for your child.  Always use caution when revealing personally identifiable information about yourself or your children via any of the Services.


4. USER ACCOUNT, PASSWORD AND SECURITY


If a particular Service requires you to open an account you will be required to complete the registration process by providing certain information and registering a username and password for use with that Service.  You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the username and password and also for all activities which take place under your account.  You agree to immediately notify us of any unauthorised use of your password or account or any other breach of security.  In no event will Innovation Focus be liable for any indirect or consequential loss or damage whatsoever resulting from the disclosure of your username and/or password.  You may not use another person’s account at any time, without the express permission of the account holder.


5. ACCEPTABLE USE


5.1 You acknowledge that all information, text, graphics, logos, photographs, images, moving images, sound, illustrations and other materials ("the Content"), whether posted publicly or transmitted privately, are the sole responsibility of the person from whom such Content originated.  We do not control or endorse the Content and cannot guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of such Content and you acknowledge that by using the Services you may be exposed to Content that is offensive and/or indecent.  Innovation Focus will not be liable in any way for any Content or for any loss or damage of any kind resulting from the use of any Content transmitted via the Services and you agree to bear all risks associated with the use of any Content, including any reliance on the accuracy or completeness of such Content.


5.2 In using the Website/Services you agree not to:


5.2.1 use the Services to send junk email, spam, chain letters, pyramid schemes or any other unsolicited messages, commercial or otherwise;


5.2.2 post, publish, distribute or disseminate material or information that is defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent, threatening, abusive, harassing or unlawful;


5.2.3 post, publish, distribute or disseminate material or information that incites discrimination, hate or violence towards any person or group on account of their race, religion, disability, nationality or otherwise;


5.2.4 threaten, abuse, disrupt, stalk or otherwise violate the legal rights (including rights of privacy and publicity) of others;


5.2.5 use any information or material in any manner that infringes any copyright, trademark, patent or other proprietary right of any party;


5.2.5 make available or upload files that contain a virus, worm, trojan or corrupt data that may damage the operation of the computer or property of another;


5.2.7 collect or store personal information about others, including email addresses;


5.2.8 advertise or offer to buy or sell goods or services for any commercial purpose, unless such communication facility specifically allows such messages;


5.2.9 impersonate any person or entity for the purpose of misleading others;


5.2.10 violate any applicable laws or regulations;


5.2.11 use the Website/Services in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden or impair the Website/Services or interfere with any other party’s use and enjoyment of the Website/Services;


5.2.11 post, publish, distribute or disseminate material or information that you do not have a right to transmit under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as inside information or confidential information disclosed in the course of employment or under a confidentiality agreement);


5.2.13 attempt to gain unauthorised access to any of the Services, other accounts, computer systems or networks connected to the Website/Services through hacking, password mining or any other means.


5.3 We have no obligation to monitor the Services but shall be entitled to review materials posted to a communications facility and, at our sole discretion, to remove any material that breaches these Terms and Conditions or is otherwise objectionable.


6. TERMINATION


We have the right to terminate your access to any or all of the Services at any time, without notice, for any reason, including without limitation, breach of these Terms and Conditions.  We may also at any time, at our sole discretion, discontinue the Website/Services or any part thereof without prior notice and you agree that we shall not be liable to you or any third party for any termination of your access to the Website/Services.


7. LINKS TO THIRD PARTY WEBSITES


The Website/Services may include links to third party websites that are controlled and maintained by others.  Any link to other websites is not an endorsement of such websites and you acknowledge and agree that Innovation Focus is not responsible for the content or availability of any such sites.


8. INTERNATIONAL USE


You agree to comply with all applicable laws regarding the transmission of technical data exported from the United Kingdom or the country in which you reside (if different) and with all local laws and rules regarding acceptable use of and conduct on the Internet.


9. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS


9.1 The Website and its content (including without limitation the Website design, text, graphics and all software and source codes connected with the Website and the Services) are protected by copyright, trade marks, patents and other intellectual property rights and laws.  In accessing the Website you agree that you will access the contents solely for your personal, non-commercial use.  None of the content may be downloaded, copied, reproduced, transmitted, stored, sold or distributed without the prior written consent of the copyright holder.  This excludes the downloading, copying and/or printing of pages of the Website for personal, non-commercial home use only.


9.2 Innovation Focus does not claim ownership of any materials you post, upload or submit to any publicly accessible area of the Services. However, by doing so you are granting us a world-wide, royalty free, non-exclusive licence to copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce, publicly display, edit, translate or publish such Content for as long as you elect to display such Content via the Services.  The licence shall be terminated when such Content is deleted from the Services.


10. INDEMNITY


You agree to indemnify and hold Innovation Focus harmless from and against any breach by you of these Terms and Conditions and any claim or demand brought against Innovation Focus by any third party arising out of your use of the Services and/or any Content submitted, posted or transmitted through the Services, including without limitation, all claims, actions, proceedings, losses, liabilities, damages, costs, expenses (including reasonable legal costs and expenses) howsoever suffered or incurred by Innovation Focus in consequence of your breach of these Terms and Conditions.


11. DISCLAIMERS AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY


11.1 Use of the Website/Services is at your own risk.  The Website/Services are provided on an "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" basis without any representation or endorsement made and without warranty of any kind whether express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, compatibility, security and accuracy.


11.2 To the extent permitted by law, Innovation Focus will not be liable for any indirect or consequential loss or damage whatsoever (including without limitation loss of business, opportunity, data, profits) arising out of or in connection with the use of the Website/Services.


11.3 Innovation Focus makes no warranty that the Website/Services will meet your requirements, that Content will be accurate or reliable, that the functionality of the Website/Services will be uninterrupted or error free, that defects will be corrected or that the Website/Services or the server that makes them available are free of viruses or anything else which may be harmful or destructive.


11.4 Nothing in these Terms and Conditions shall be construed so as to exclude or limit the liability of Innovation Focus for death or personal injury as a result of the negligence of Innovation Focus.


11.5 Nothing in these Terms and Conditions shall affect your statutory rights as a consumer.


12. SEVERANCE


If any of these Terms and Conditions should be determined to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable for any reason by any court of competent jurisdiction then such Term or Condition shall be severed and the remaining Terms and Conditions shall survive and remain in full force and effect and continue to be binding and enforceable.


13. GOVERNING LAW


These Terms and Conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of the United States, and you hereby submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States courts.



Training Matters

Innovation Focus offers real time team training related to specific project needs and also for innovation competency development and enhancement. Our training is always customized for your needs. Currently, Innovation Focus is offering training in six areas:


We understand adult learning theory and ensure that our training is highly interactive and capitalizes on all the knowledge, skills and frames of reference among the trainees. We also understand that each individual has a learning style preference and we design our training programs to respect to all those preferences.

The Creative U


The Creative U program can be offered in its entirety and in selected modules based on your training need assessment. The modules offered in this training program include:
  • Understanding creativity

  • Creating a climate for creativity

  • Uncovering your creativity style

  • Understanding your creativity style

  • Uncovering your thinking profile for creative problem solving

  • Applying your thinking profile to team work

  • Enhancing unstructured (individual) creativity

  • Enhancing structured (team) creativity

A training manual accompanies the Innovation Focus facilitated training

Creating the Customer Connection


Innovation Focus offers its Creating the Customer Connection as a half-day and as a full-day or two-day interactive workshop. The longer amount of time enables the trainees to prepare and debrief actual field experience. The modules offered in this training program include:
  • What you need to know before you begin – preparing your mental stance, observational skills, interviewing skills, recording skills, memory skills, communication skills for field work

  • Designing a research plan – problem definition, research design, data collection and reporting tools and techniques

  • Going into the field – the actual experience of putting the classroom training into practice

  • Transforming data into insights - data analysis and synthesis methods, methods, tools and techniques for reporting and communicating, ways to stimulate innovation using customer insights

A training manual accompanies the Innovation Focus facilitated training.

Creative Problem-solving Processes


The Focused Innovation TechniqueTM is our contribution to creative problem solving. Innovation Focus has developed a three-day training program on the plan, do, review model.
The first day is theory presented interactively and experiential to assure understanding and skills building and to prepare for every trainee to facilitate a creative problem solving session on day two. Each practice session is followed by a significant debrief. The third day focuses on expanding the facilitators’ tool box. Modules offered in this training include:
  • Facilitator basics

  • Steps of the Focused Innovation TechniqueTM

  • Enhancing the facilitators’ toolbox

A training manual accompanies the Innovation Focus facilitated training.

Developing New Product Concepts


Innovation Focus offers its Developing New Product Concepts as a half-day and as a full-day interactive workshop. The modules offered in this training program include:
  • Workflow for invention – from mental preparation to basic steps in ideation

  • Getting started – task definition and analysis

  • Idea generation – tools and techniques for generating breakthrough ideas

  • Making choices – selecting not eliminating

  • Concept writing – turning a seed idea into a beginning concept

  • Decision making – selection of filters appropriate at this stage of product development

  • Moving forward – action planning

A training manual accompanies the Innovation Focus facilitated training.
The training is based on the Innovation Focus co-authored chapter in PDMA Toolbook 2.

Finding New Business Opportunities: Hunting for Hunting Grounds


Innovation Focus offers its Developing New Business Opportunities as a half-day and as a full-day interactive workshop. The modules offered in this training program include:
  • What is Hunting for Hunting Grounds

  • Getting started – step by step training in charter building, scouting tools and techniques

  • Identifying big areas of opportunity - model building

  • Path building – turning opportunity into strategy and tactics

  • A training manual accompanies the Innovation Focus facilitated training.

The training is based on the Innovation Focus authored chapter in PDMA Toolbook 1.

NPDP Certification Training


The Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) has established the New Product Development Professional Certification Program (NPDP) to “confirm mastery of new product development principles and best practices, enabling continual improvement in job performance and helping corporations identify those individuals with the knowledge and experience to move into leadership positions in the area of new product development.” More and more companies are using NPDP Certification as a way of measuring and improving the quality of their new product development capability.

Review Workshop:

Innovation Focus – Rochester, LLC, as a PDMA Certified Education Provider, is certified to offer PDMA’s standard one-day NPDP Certification Exam Preparation Review Workshop. This workshop is a guide to the exam and reviews key points and principles related to the exam’s coverage areas: Strategy, Portfolio Management, New Products Process, Tools and Metrics, Market Research, and Teams, People and Organizational Issues. It does not, however, go into significant detail in teaching the concepts. Its purpose is to show individuals what will be covered and point out areas where further study would increase their likelihood of passing the exam. This workshop is designed for people who are well prepared for the exam and will work offline to enhance their skills in those areas highlighted through the review as needing further study.

Instructional Workshop:

This two-day workshop uses the Review Workshop as a framework, and provides additional coverage in Strategy, Portfolio Management, and Processes. In addition, the workshop covers material not included in the exam such as lean concepts as applied to new product development and radical innovation. Finally, it allows time for discussion among attendees allowing for more discussion of “real world” experience in the topics covered by the exam, with extra time built in for individual questions.

Proven, Recognized Techniques Full

Proven, Recognized Techniques


Innovation Focus’s proven techniques have been recognized by the Product Development and Management Association, and featured in PDMA’s toolbooks for product developers.

PDMA Toolbook 1


This first PDMA Toolbook for New Product Development was published in 2002. It contains juried chapters written by product development experts that explain tools in such a way that you can use them immediately. In part 1, chapter 2, Chris Miller has written about Hunting for Hunting Grounds – a method for improving your front end of innovation process for new business development. Chris works you through, in detail, the four step process for creating a series of high-probability, new-revenue-stream business opportunities.

PDMA Toolbook 2


The second in the PDMA Toolbook series for New Product Development was published in 2004. It contains juried chapters written by product development experts that explain tools in such a way that you can use them immediately by applying the information provided. In part 2, chapter 8, Chris Miller and his co-authors Barbara Perry and Cara L. Woodland provide a clear process to apply anthropological and ethnographic tools to the discovery process for the purpose of uncovering deep consumer insights that you can use to develop meaningfully differentiated products.

PDMA Toolbook 3


The third in the PDMA Toolbook series for New Product Development was published in 2007. It contains juried articles written by product development experts that explain tools in such a way that you can use them immediately by applying the information provided. In part 2, chapter 4, Anne Orban and Chris Miller describe, in detail, the two-stage Slingshot group process for developing breakthrough ideas. The Slingshot group process also defines a new role- that of ‘prosumer’ as expert consumer, skilled idea generator and impartial challenger.

Featured in the PDMA Handbook

Featured in the PDMA Handbook


The PDMA Handbook was first published in 1996. The goal of this book, filled with juried chapters, is to help practitioners make improved decisions when making their way through the difficult landscape typical of new product development. more>>In the second edition, published in 2005, core chapters are updated with current knowledge and new chapters added to cover many changes in new product development over almost a decade. In part 3, chapter 17, Chris Miller details a structured, aggressive and intellectually demanding idea generating process specifically for new product developers with the reward of a well-populated product concept portfolio and the excitement necessary to drive it forward.

For our Focused Innovation Technique™ Training, click here.