Norwegian architecture firm Snohetta has built its reputation as one of the most innovative organizations in the world. It has designed the September 11 Memorial Museum in Manhattan, a reindeer observatory in Norway, a museum of modern art in San Francisco and revived the Alexandria Library in Egypt. Some important business innovation lessons can be learnt from them such as having multi-disciplinary teams to solve problems while also gauging external experts. They follow a flat hierarchy with even physical settings at the office geared towards such ideal. The metrics designed to evaluate performances are unique allowing designers to understand the value of their work. There is creative chaos in the final designs which can be interpreted in different ways. Good news is roundly celebrated. All offices from Oslo to Adelaide are fitted with modern prototyping capabilities. There is detailed analysis on what products or services get really used up. Across all Snohetta’s designs, a sense of contrast is encouraged. Creativity is inspired by the management using a variety of ways such as happy hours, lunch presentations, informal parties or internal podcasts for corporate training purposes. Conventional notions are challenged such as a belief that “less can be more”. The target is well researched on while eliminating unnecessary aspects. Before launch of any product or service to the market, it is thoroughly tested and this process gets repeated even post launch. In order to get the ‘wow’ factor, cross-pollination of ideas globally is encouraged.

Source:http://www.forbes.com/sites/michellegreenwald/2016/12/02/17-important-innovation-lessons-from-one-of-the-worlds-great-architecture-firms/#773e3b2338af