About Us
There isn't one right way to innovate. It's about finding the right way for you.
For more than 50 years, we’ve helped corporations, foundations, and federal agencies solve their most complex innovation challenges. And our perspective on innovation is grounded in that history—thousands of engagements across sectors and industries—and drawn from the people we’ve worked with over the years.
Every engagement with us is customized to elevate your innovation initiatives. We root our process in a spirit of learning—asking the right questions at the right time, always prepared with the best systems to guide your project.
Our team is technical. And when you engage with us you partner with experienced engineers and scientists who understand the science behind your innovation opportunities and the business requirements to make them real.
Our Innovation Perspective
Innovation starts with people
We build your team’s capacity to innovate, and help you integrate an innovation mindset into your daily work. Through frameworks, strategy consulting, training, and mentorship, we make sure you’re prepared to communicate with all of your stakeholders, even after our work is done.
Innovation requires a learning mindset and learning cycles
We learn alongside you. Throughout your project’s duration, we stay in contact and have regular touchpoints at least every other week—no big reveals, no surprises. We meticulously capture everything we learn, sharing and embedding that knowledge within your team.
Learning cycles are driven by market, user, and technology insights
We help balance your expertise. Whether you need market, user, or technology insights—we orient your capacity and augment existing research findings. Our holistic, systematic approach to innovation helps you fill knowledge gaps and offset biases.
Organizations must be permeable to outside insights
We broaden your knowledge. And we don’t just deliver reports—we show your team how to leverage knowledge and insights from external sources, then apply them within the context of your organization’s larger ecosystem.
Innovation must align with strategy
We integrate your R&D initiatives with the strategic objectives of your organization. In addition, we continually frame and reframe your challenges, working to understand your people, business, and goals—not just the project you’ve brought us in to help with.
Innovation is driven by teams
We build aligned teams. When your innovation initiatives correlate with overarching company objectives, you create clear pathways for buy-in and engagement from your organization. And when you have the collective support you need, you can demonstrate your full value and impact.
Our History
As a business unit of RTI International (RTI) — an independent nonprofit research institute dedicated to improving the human condition—our mission is to help our clients turn insights into new products, services, and technologies that have meaningful human and business impact.
When you work with us, you tap into RTI’s vast network and resources: over 250 scientific disciplines, hundreds of industry experts and researchers, and decades of combined experience. In addition, our more than 1,000 Ph.D. researchers combined with our successful track record helping clients innovate mean we get to the facts that support data-driven decision making.