We audit the promises behind innovation.
Why we exist
There is no shortage of research, reporting or opinion about innovation.
Scientists examine whether technologies work. Economists study whether the numbers add up. Investors assess commercial potential. Researchers examine adoption, regulation and impact.
But these perspectives are often considered separately.
A technology can work in a laboratory without being scalable. It can be scalable without being economical. It can be economical without being widely adopted. And even a successful innovation may not ultimately deliver the impact originally promised.
The Innovation Audit brings those questions together.
Our aim is to provide a clearer picture of where an innovation actually stands, what would need to be true for its promise to become reality, and what still stands in the way.
Make innovation easier to understand
To make innovation easier to understand by examining the claims behind emerging technologies, ideas and businesses through evidence, scale, economics, adoption and impact.
We bring together perspectives that are often considered separately to provide a clearer picture of what has been demonstrated, what still depends on assumptions, and what stands between a promising idea and real-world impact.
Proof over promise
A world where innovation is judged not by the size of its promise, but by the strength of the case behind it.
We want The Innovation Audit to become a trusted reference point for people trying to understand which innovations are genuinely progressing, which remain constrained, and what would need to change for their promise to become reality.
A five-dimensional framework
Every Audit begins with a claim. We then examine the conditions that would need to hold for that claim to become reality through our five-dimensional framework:
Evidence
Does it work?
What has actually been demonstrated? How strong is the evidence behind the underlying scientific, technological or commercial claim?
Scale
Can it work beyond the demonstration?
A prototype, pilot or laboratory result may prove something is possible. Scale asks whether it can work reliably across much larger systems, markets or populations.
Economics
Can the numbers work?
Can the innovation become affordable, sustainable or competitive with what already exists?
Adoption
Will the real world use it?
Regulation, infrastructure, behaviour, incentives, institutions and existing systems can determine whether even technically impressive innovations are adopted.
Impact
Does it deliver what was promised?
If the innovation succeeds technically and commercially, does it actually solve the problem it claims to solve?
Every innovation has a bottleneck
Every innovation has a bottleneck, and identifying that bottleneck is one of the central purposes of The Innovation Audit.
Because understanding what is holding an innovation back can often tell us more about its future than understanding what it can already do.
Where the claim currently stands
Each investigation concludes with an assessment across the five dimensions.
We then identify the Critical Constraint and provide an Audit Verdict summarising where the claim currently stands.
The scores are not predictions of whether an innovation will ultimately succeed. They are a snapshot of how much of the promise is supported by what we know today.
Three lenses
- Check Audits
The Audit
Our flagship section. Where big innovation promises meet the auditing framework.
The Lab
Coming SoonSurfacing science-backed technologies worth paying attention to, alongside research and perspectives from the scientists behind them.
The Capital
Coming SoonExamining where money is moving, what is getting backed, and what investors, funders and ecosystem leaders see coming next.
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