Franke and Dömötör publish new book on drivers of innovation success

Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Franke and Dr. Rudolf Dömötör have published their new book, "Innovation Is No Accident: Insights from 10,000 Company Analyses." Recent CEO surveys, including the PwC Global CEO Survey 2026, reveal a paradox: innovation ranks among companies' highest strategic priorities, yet many executives see significant gaps in their organization's ability to successfully develop and establish new products, services, and business models. The book draws on more than 10,000 company analyses from the TOP 100 innovation competition, likely the world's most extensive database on corporate innovation capability.

The authors' central finding is that innovation is no accident. Innovation capability is the result of a system of four interlocking elements: top management and leadership, organization and processes, culture and climate, and external orientation and open innovation. The TOP 100 companies analyzed generate around half their revenue and profit from innovations introduced within the past three years, roughly six times as much as average companies. They grow faster, survive more often, and achieve long-term performance more than 300 percent above average.

The book is a practice-oriented management guide for entrepreneurs, executives, and innovation and strategy leaders. It combines scientifically grounded findings with concrete recommendations for practice. Forty case studies of innovative companies show how the principles are put into practice, benchmarking data reveal what innovation leaders do differently, and checklists help organizations systematically develop their own innovation capability. Nikolaus Franke is founder and head of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at WU Vienna and served as scientific director of the TOP 100 innovation competition. Rudolf Dömötör is director of the WU Entrepreneurship Center and managing director of WU Ignite Ventures. More information is available at www.innovationistkeinzufall.com.

Book review:
Innovation is not magic, and it is not luck. Franke and Dömötör show how companies can systematically build the capabilities that make innovation happen again and again. Grounded in an extraordinary dataset of more than 10,000 company analyses and filled with fascinating real-world examples, this is a brilliantly useful book for anyone who wants to understand — and manage — innovation.”

Eric von Hippel, MIT Sloan School of Management