Intrapreneurship and corporate innovation are similar but different practices - let's explore.

With approximately 30% of the F500 having established intentional innovation functions, the distinction between intrapreneurship and corporate innovation is vague. Adding additional confusion to a functional area that is already plagued with uncertainty, anything innovation related opens up a wide array of conflicting interpretations. Even though corporate innovation has been in existence for at least 30 years, a wide set of practices agreed upon by its practitioners remains elusive.

When innovation is utilized properly and deployed optimally, it can produce amazing results. Industries, organizations, and even regions and nations have been transformed through innovation creating a better future for all who are influenced by it.

You can think of the intraprenuer as the player and corporate innovation management as the system with both adapting to the specific situations within the organization. For instance, an intrapreneur doesn't necessarily need to have innovation in their title. An accounting manager can be an intraprenuer if and when they look to evolve, improve, or transform their practices.

Let's define intrapreneur and corporate innovation.

The intrapreneur is a manager within an organization who promotes innovative product, service, and business model development. Corporate innovation, or more specifically corporate innovation management, is the structure and organization that allow a company to reliably, dependably, repeatedly produce new offers, practices, narratives, and strategies. For those who are unclear about the distinction between the intrapreneur and corporate innovation, this is a simple approach to ensure the correct language and descriptions are being used.

In the domain of innovation, more clarity and definition is better.