Alpha Innovation is not an abstract method. We transform innovation into a structured, results-driven process. Powered by the latest scientific insights, profound expertise and a global network of authorities – our approach ensures that your business can spot opportunities in the realm of the unknown and take bold steps towards radical innovation.
We guide you through the fog of possibilities: our scientifically validated and continuously refined method sets your business on a successful course. Alpha Innovation is a targeted three-step model that leverages insights from leading experts in research, technology and entrepreneurship. The unique strength of our approach lies in the fusion of a robust scientific background, an international network and a skilled innovation management team. This synergy enables ideas to be swiftly and effectively transformed into tangible results – and could be the decisive impulse for your business to radically surpass its existing innovation potential.
Alpha Innovation is designed for businesses with 20 or more employees that wish – or need – to embrace radical innovation. From C-level executives and strategists to decision-makers and creative minds, you assemble a team of 3 to 8 employees for the workshops, depending on the circumstances. Additionally, we offer our method in various formats: from Single Steps and the Full Cycle to Retreats and Live Events. If you'd like more advice on this, just let us know.
In our guiding workshop, DISCOVER OPPORTUNITIES, we analyse trends and identify emerging opportunities. We define tailor-made innovation fields by aligning the challenges, needs and potential of your business – and revealing new strategic directions. The result is a comprehensive Alpha Innovation Radar – a report that maps out the innovation landscape specifically for your business.
During our ideation workshop, CREATE IDEAS, your team immerses itself in a collaborative environment that fosters entirely new approaches to reflection and conceptualisation. With diverse expertise, we spark disruptive thinking – challenging the status quo and unveiling previously unthinkable solutions. Ultimately, a concept is developed, which is then validated in the decision workshop in terms of customer benefit, technical feasibility and integrity.
In our MAKE DECISIONS session, we convert creative concepts into actionable strategies. Our detailed analysis and data-driven roadmap guide you to well-informed choices that secure sustainable success and measurable business outcomes.
At the end of the process, your business will be capable of turning innovation into tangible, measurable success.
Complete the cycle with all three steps of our transformative method, leading to true innovation.
The Full Cycle is the most comprehensive expression of Alpha Innovation – delivering radical outcomes. Depending on your requirements, the three-step process can span from just a few months up to a year.
First, we get to know you, your company, and your challenges and goals. We tailor our processes precisely to these parameters and then immediately begin the substantive preparations. For this, we rely on the following three key questions:
Tech Opportunities: What possibilities do technological developments open up for your business?
Needs of People: What needs will people have in five, ten, or more years?
Needs of Nature: What does nature require to secure the survival of our planet?
DISCOVER OPPORTUNITIES – The Guide
In the first workshop, we capture your company’s innovation profile. Based on challenges, needs, and potential, we define bespoke innovation fields. We search for relevant signals from which we derive the most important innovation directions for your business. These are reviewed and assessed: wherever tangible potential is identified, we develop plausible scenarios. All insights are compiled in a report – the Alpha Innovation Radar.
CTA: View our public Radar Reports
CREATE IDEAS – The Idea Springboard
As part of an Alpha Innovation Challenge, your innovation team develops one or more ideas tailored to selected scenarios and personas. We define the thematic field, set the format, identify potential partners or experts for collaboration, and organise the schedules. We craft proposals and ideas. Think outside the box. Evaluate, discard, and rethink – radically. We select the best ideas and develop them further until our draft concept is ready, which we then concretise and scrutinise in the third step of our method.
MAKE DECISIONS – The Decision Incubator
In the final step of the Alpha Innovation Method, it’s all about making mature, sustainable decisions. First, we assess whether the proposed innovation (1) offers clear added value for future users. Next, we examine (2) the technical feasibility and analyse manufacturing processes, practical viability, and risks. Another central focus is (3) whether the innovation benefits nature and society, and (4) if it is economically viable. Has your concept met all four decision criteria? Excellent. The path to radical innovation is now open, and implementation can begin. To ensure a proper start, we then develop a roadmap together with clear steps and responsibilities.
Experience an exclusive innovation retreat in our lab in Bolzano – South Tyrol and create groundbreaking momentum.
Our Alpha Innovation Retreats are perfect for companies looking to generate radically new outcomes through a deep dive.
Each retreat represents an essential step in the Alpha Innovation Method – the perfect impulse for a sustainable push forward. Most often, you and your team will spend three consecutive days in an intensive format – right in the Alpha Innovation Lab in Bolzano. This opportunity allows you to immerse yourself in this strategic, trailblazing innovation process – an off-site event that generates momentum.
Tailored to your team and your company’s specific challenges and goals, the retreat combines intensive workshops with culinary and transformative experiences across South Tyrol, as well as private encounters with pioneering minds – all designed to sharpen your vision and spark true innovation.
In two intensive sessions of three days each – including comprehensive preparation, interim research and follow-up phases – you and your team will delve deeply into a strategic innovation process, taking your company to the next level.
What? A deep dive into our Alpha Innovation Method.
Where? At NOI Techpark and our exclusive Alpha Innovation Lab in Bolzano, Italy.
When? The timeframe is tailored to your needs – flexible and available throughout the year.
Who? This retreat is aimed at CEOs, strategists, innovators, creative minds and decision-makers from businesses with more than 20 employees.
Group size: The number of participants is deliberately limited to 3 to 8, ensuring intensive, personal interactions and radical solutions.
Leverage individual steps to tackle specific challenges or seize opportunities.
DISCOVER OPPORTUNITIES, CREATE IDEAS or MAKE DECISIONS – every step of the Alpha Innovation Method can also be booked individually. This is ideal if you have a very specific need for your business or if you wish to start with a first step and test the waters. The perfect introduction is a condensed and personalised version of our first step, DISCOVER OPPORTUNITIES.
Here, you will be introduced to the world of Alpha Innovation through a workshop and subsequently receive a Radar Report tailored to your topic and business.
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. As a result, the Radar serves as a strategic compass, helping businesses detect disruptive market changes and make informed, future-positive decisions.
Here are some of our public Radar Reports:
“Digital Technologies for Nature”
Unlike the bespoke Radar Reports we create for individual companies, these publications provide innovation insights relevant to a broad range of businesses.
Download now for free
Connect with leading experts and like-minded pioneers at our annual event.
We created the Alpha Innovation Live Event to showcase our disruptive method in an immersive and dynamic environment. Once a year, we unite a growing community of decision-makers, CEOs, and innovators for a gathering that unlocks radically new perspectives.
This event offers the perfect platform to gain fresh insights, spark inspiration, and take your own ideas to the next level. In an exclusive setting, you can look forward to visionary impulses, engaging discussions, and valuable networking opportunities. Who knows whom you might meet? If you’d like to participate as a speaker, feel free to reach out with a brief proposal for your topic.
Exchange with innovation experts and the Alpha Innovation Community
Inspiring talks and discussions on cutting-edge trends and future topics
Networking opportunities with innovators and decision-makers across industries
Coming up
Be part of it and secure your spot at the next event on 18 September 2025 – the perfect opportunity to expand your network and develop radically new ideas.
Experience Alpha Innovation live – on 18 September 2025
Register now
Science is our foundation and benchmark
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.
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, 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, and Academic Director of the Executive MBA programme at MCI in Innsbruck, as well as a partner of lMP
Alfredo De Massis
Professor of Entrepreneurship & Family Business, D'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara and MD / 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.
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
