Rewarding and stimulating creativity and innovation in technology companies

The author presents survey results regarding the current use of reward systems for creativity and innovation in technology companies. The survey also investigated various company culture attributes affecting innovation and creativity. The survey's findings and the literature showed that companies use visibility through recognition and awards most frequently as rewards of creativity. The survey also found that many companies encourage autonomous idea teams and provide access to resources to pursue new ideas. However, internal funding of ideas (entrepreneurship) has not been broadly adopted or implemented. Internal funding is seen as the way of the future, since it allows innovative employees the time and money required to come up with and implement truly innovative ideas.<>