Chief innovation officers · the role
What does a chief innovation officer do?
The short answer · updated
A chief innovation officer (CINO) is the executive who leads how a company finds, tests and scales new products, services and business models. The CINO sets the innovation strategy and portfolio, runs the process that turns ideas into funded experiments, decides what to scale and what to stop, and usually reports to the chief executive.
What is a chief innovation officer?
A chief innovation officer is the member of the executive team accountable for growth that the current business will not produce on its own: new offers, new customers, new ways of making money.
Most of the company is organised to run today’s products well; the chief innovation officer is responsible for tomorrow’s.
The usual abbreviation is CINO, because CIO already means chief information officer, the executive who runs technology and information systems.
Job boards mix the two, so read the job description.
For the information seat, see what a CIO does.
The role is most common in companies that must keep reinventing their offer: consumer goods, financial services, healthcare, media, manufacturing and technology.
In a smaller company the same remit often sits with the founder, the chief technology officer or a head of product.
What a chief innovation officer is responsible for
The remit differs between companies, because it depends on how far from the core business the company wants to look.
The common core is below.
- Innovation strategy. Deciding where the company will look for growth, in line with the business strategy, and what it will not pursue.
- The portfolio. Balancing improvements to the core business against new ventures, and holding each bet to a stage and a budget.
- The process. Running the route from idea to test to launch: who can propose, how experiments are funded, and the evidence that earns the next stage.
- Partnerships. Working with start-ups, universities, suppliers and customers, and with funders where public money applies.
- Intellectual property. Making sure what the company invents is protected and can be commercialised.
- Culture. Making it safe to test ideas and stop the ones that fail, without disrupting the business that pays for them.
- Measures. Reporting to the board on what the innovation spend has produced, not only on activity.
The standards, funding and rules a CINO works with
There is no licence for the role, but there is a standard.
ISO 56001 sets requirements and guidance for an innovation management system, a structured way to manage innovation that fits alongside a company’s other ISO management systems.
A chief innovation officer may use it as the backbone of the process, whether or not the company seeks certification.
Funding and tax shape the portfolio.
Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, offers funding, expert support and connections to innovative businesses.
HMRC’s R&D tax relief applies to projects that seek an advance in science or technology; working out which projects qualify is usually shared between the chief innovation officer and the finance team.
Ownership matters once something works.
The Intellectual Property Office is the government body for patents, designs, trade marks and copyright, and the Patent Box lets a company that elects in apply a lower rate of Corporation Tax to profits from its patented inventions.
Chief innovation officer vs CTO vs chief digital officer vs head of product
A chief innovation officer owns the search for new sources of growth and the process for testing them.
A chief technology officer owns the technology the company builds and runs; see what a CTO does.
Where both exist, the CINO decides what to explore and the CTO decides how it is built.
A chief digital officer leads the change of an existing business onto digital channels and ways of working; see what a chief digital officer does.
A head of product owns the products already on sale and their roadmap; see what a head of product does.
Titles vary, so compare the remit, the budget and the reporting line rather than the title.
Fractional, interim and permanent chief innovation officers
A permanent chief innovation officer suits a company that has decided innovation is a standing capability, with a budget and a team.
An interim chief innovation officer works full-time for a fixed period: setting up an innovation unit, running a venture programme, or covering a gap.
A fractional chief innovation officer works part of the week, often for a company testing whether a structured innovation function pays before it commits to a full-time executive.
See fractional CINO jobs.
A fractional or interim chief innovation officer working through their own company may fall within the off-payroll working rules (IR35).
Status turns on how the engagement runs in practice, and a medium or large client makes the determination.
Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.
How to hire a chief innovation officer
Write down what the role owns that product, technology and strategy do not, and how much budget and authority to stop projects it will hold.
Agree with the chief executive what the first year should produce: a portfolio in place, a process running, a first venture tested on real customers.
Test candidates on a decision they took to stop a project, not only on launches, and take references from the operating teams they worked beside.
We recruit fractional, interim, part-time, temporary and permanent executives, and non-executive directors.
For an innovation brief we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after our five-stage vetting.
To hire a chief innovation officer for part of the week, start with our fractional CINO page.
Questions people ask
What does CINO stand for?
Chief innovation officer.
The longer abbreviation avoids confusion with CIO, which usually means chief information officer.
Who does a chief innovation officer report to?
Usually the chief executive.
In some companies the role reports to the chief strategy officer or the chief technology officer.
What is the difference between a chief innovation officer and a CTO?
A chief innovation officer owns the search for new sources of growth and the process for testing them; a CTO owns the technology the company builds and runs.
See what a CTO does.
What qualifications does a chief innovation officer need?
None is required by law.
Most come from product, strategy, technology or venture backgrounds; some build the function on the ISO 56001 innovation management standard.
Can a chief innovation officer work part-time?
Yes.
A fractional chief innovation officer works part of the week, often to set up the process and portfolio before a company commits to a full-time role.
See fractional CINO jobs.
How do I hire a chief innovation officer?
Define the remit against product, technology and strategy, agree the budget and the authority to stop projects, and test candidates on what they stopped as well as what they launched.
We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
