Innovations at NOI Techpark: Shaping the Future

Radical innovation takes more than just a good idea. It takes a method.

Alpha Innovation is a unique, scientifically grounded innovation method powered by NOI Techpark’s knowledge base and international network. It offers a clear roadmap for organisations that want to move ahead with purpose, rather than merely responding to disruption. Through a process designed for practical implementation, we inspire new ways of thinking and acting, bring strategic options into focus and translate them into bold, robust solutions. The method follows three clear steps, is expertly facilitated and aligns strategy with day-to-day operations. Ideal for companies that want to play a leading role in shaping the markets of tomorrow.

Alpha Innovation is a unique, scientifically grounded innovation method powered by NOI Techpark’s knowledge base and …

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Intro

Our offer

Two formats, one goal: Radical solutions

Alpha Innovation Full Cycle: From perspective to decision in three steps

Together with your management and innovation team, we develop radical action plans and bring them to implementation readiness – through a structured process grounded in expert facilitation and solid decision-making. The result isn’t “just another idea”; it’s a concrete next step for your company.

Explore the Alpha Innovation Full Cycle

Alpha Innovation Retreat: Instead of business-as-usual, space to leap forward

An intensive offsite format for decision-makers and innovators ready to think differently: escape the meeting room and engage in concentrated, strategic, future-forward work. Expect a clear structure, powerful insights and results you can act on immediately.

Want to dive deeper? Find out how Alpha Innovation provides the momentum for your innovative leap forward.

The Alpha Innovation Method

Scientific backgrounds & advisory board

The Radar: Future scenarios decoded

The Alpha Innovation Method

3 steps to a clear path through the “fog of possibilities”

Radical innovation begins in the land of question marks: in the so-called Fuzzy Front End. Alpha Innovation starts precisely here and guides you systematically from uncertainty to concrete opportunities – scientifically grounded, expertly facilitated and supported by the NOI innovation ecosystem.

The key questions

We scout ahead in search of ideas, guided by three key questions – always in relation to your company:

Tech Opportunities: What possibilities do technological developments open up for your business?

Needs of People: What needs will be shaping markets in 5, 10 or more years?

Needs of Nature: What do nature and society need – and what does this mean for future-proof solutions?

What sets Alpha Innovation apart

The unique strength of the Alpha Innovation method lies in our scientific background, international network and expert innovation management team. Depending on the challenge, we also bring in targeted external specialists. This means our radical ideas arise not by chance, but from a clearly guided process: first, thinking openly and consciously, then systematically consolidating – until clear decisions are within reach.

1 DISCOVER OPPORTUNITIES – The guiding workshop

We start by defining your company’s innovation (opportunity) areas, then we search for signals. These are trends indicating that certain developments could gain momentum in the future, such as novel solutions and activities from start-ups or technology companies, patent applications or research findings. We distil these signals into innovation directions and condense them into plausible, desirable future scenarios. Finally, we capture the results in the Alpha Innovation Radar, a report that maps your business’s specific innovation landscape and reveals new strategic directions.

2 CREATE IDEAS – The ideation workshop

The CREATE IDEAS workshop is a creative springboard: your team enters a collaborative environment that sparks completely new ways of thinking and conceptualising. Depending on the challenge, we bring together specialists, start-ups and students, and add design or development expertise as needed. The space we create welcomes disruptive ideas and perspectives that enable real breakthroughs. The output is a concept validated for customer benefit, technical feasibility and integrity by the time we reach the decision workshop.

3 MAKE DECISIONS – The decision-making workshop

Our decision-making process deliberately differs from the “classic” approach because early metrics like ROI or EBITDA are often unavailable or unreliable at this stage – and we refuse to settle for hypotheses or promises. Instead, we evaluate the innovation against four criteria:

Customer value (validated through methods such as future user tests)
Technical feasibility (analysis of processes, practicality and risks)
Benefits for nature and society (integrity analysis based on your company’s sustainability strategy or the UN SDGs)
Economic viability (business model)

THE RESULT

A data-driven roadmap to your company’s leap forward, ready to guide you to informed decisions that deliver sustainable success and tangible business results.

Scientific backgrounds & advisory board

Science is our foundation and benchmark

Innovation Management backed by Science

We hold our work and our team to the same high standard as our Alpha Innovation method: we set new benchmarks. This is made possible through close collaboration with the world of research.

Scientifically, our method is rooted in Peter Koen’s Fuzzy Front End theory. According to the American economist, innovation must, by its very nature, feel vague and undefined at the outset - fuzzy, in his words. At the Fuzzy Front End, thinking in multiple directions isn’t just allowed, it’s essential. This is exactly where Alpha Innovation comes in.

Together with businesses, the Politecnico di Milano, and the Centre for Family Business Management at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, we’ve developed our unique method based on this concept. With this approach, we help your company navigate the fog of possibilities and move confidently towards real, actionable opportunities.

The Alpha Innovation Advisory Board

Who we are

Alfredo De Massis, Kurt Matzler and Jelena Spanjol are internationally leading professors and researchers in the fields of innovation, strategy and family businesses, and serve on our Alpha Innovation Board for critical and constructive reflection. They are complemented by entrepreneurial figures, currently Andreas Loacker. Silvia Sanasi, Assistant Professor of Innovation at the Free University of Bozen, supports the work of the board. She has specialised in topics including ‘Innovating for Distant Futures’ and particularly observes the impact of Alpha Innovation in her work.

Jelena Spanjol

Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Product Innovation Management
Professor and Head, Institute for Innovation Management at LMU Munich
Chair of the Board of Directors, LMU Innovation & Entrepreneurship Centre

Kurt Matzler

Professor of Strategic Management at the University of Innsbruck, Austria
Academic Director of the Executive MBA programme at MCI in Innsbruck
Partner of lMP

Alfredo De Massis

Professor of Entrepreneurship & Family Business, D'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara
Co-Director of the Observatory of Italy's Family Offices
Top 100 Family Business Influencer

Andreas Loacker

Vice Chairman of the Board and Managing Director lnnovation of Loacker AG.

SCIENTIFIC SUPPORT

Silvia Sanasi

Assistant Professor at the Free University of Bozen Bolzano, Faculty of Economics and Management
Centre for Family Business Management
Extended faculty at Polimi Graduate School of Management

Prof Kurt Matzler

I see Alpha Innovation as a transformative initiative that drives radical innovation in companies. It enables organisations to succeed in highly dynamic markets and impressively illustrates the crucial role structured innovation ecosystems play in shaping competitive advantage and sustainable growth.

Prof Alfredo De Massis

Alpha Innovation shows companies how to foster resilience, competitiveness and sustainable growth across generations. By combining cutting-edge technology with the unique strengths of family businesses, companies become adaptable and ready for change – and therefore successful.

Prof Jelena Spanjol

Alpha Innovation enables companies to engage in critical reflection, thereby driving creative and sustainable solutions. I see Alpha Innovation as a crucial resource for visionary businesses in turbulent markets.

The Radar: Future scenarios decoded

The Alpha Innovation Radar

The Radar is an innovative tool within the Alpha Innovation Method. It enables companies to identify and assess future trends, opportunities, and challenges at an early stage. It takes a holistic view of technological developments, evolving human needs, and the demands of nature.

The comprehensive Alpha Innovation Radar Report summarises the results of this process and serves as a strategic compass, helping businesses detect disruptive market changes and make informed, future-positive decisions.

To help you stay one step ahead, the Radar Report can also be prepared as a regular Pulse update.

Curious? Take a look at our Radar Teasers:

Unlike an Alpha Innovation Radar Report, which is individually prepared and tailored to a single company, our Radar Teasers provide innovation insights for specific future topics. Here are some of our Radar Teasers – let them inspire you!

Download now for free

OPEN DATA & AI

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Alpha Innovation Live

Fresh ideas. Inspiring encounters.

Experience our disruptive method in action at the Alpha Innovation Live Event. Once a year, we bring together a growing community of decision-makers, CEOs and innovators for a gathering that opens up radically new perspectives. Look forward to fresh insights, forward-thinking catalysts, dynamic discussions and valuable networking opportunities. Who knows who you might meet? We also welcome speakers: get in touch with a brief abstract on your topic.

Save the Date!

Experience Alpha Innovation Live – on 9 September 2026.