User-centered selection of innovative ideas and projects for incubation.

Summary A great deal of work has been done to characterize entire sets of ideation indicators as well as isolated factors of innovativeness. Nevertheless, entire sets of innovativeness indicators are essential in business innovation competitions, as well as within companies in order to select promising innovative project seeds. In this paper, a complete set of innovativeness indicators is proposed. The UNPC innovativeness model, standing for usefulness, newness, profitability and (proof of) concept, has been tested and validated over a period of 4 years within the largest European innovation cluster in the silver economy. Four authentic examples of innovation selections are analysed. They illustrate how the UNPC model is able to provide clear and efficient guidance for better decision-making in the context of innovating for the elderly. In addition, the UNPC primary diagnosis of an innovative project serves also as a map for continuous improvement or incubation of promising ideas or projects.