Top innovation consulting firms

How to compare innovation consultancies: a list of the best innovation consulting firms around the world.

Hi innovator

Looking for a leading consulting firm?

When you’re looking for the best innovation agency to help you out, it could become a huge challenge. You might want a mix of everything: The traditional design thinking mindset of IDEO, the business capability of McKinsey, but all of that combined with the entrepreneurial spirit the best startups.

There is a wide spectrum of innovation consulting services, that span from business-oriented programs – which prioritize short-term financial returns – to talent development programs – which aim instead to create long-term innovation capabilities. Let’s give you an overview of the different clusters, so you can solve your corporate innovation challenge.

Innovation agencies compared

Overview of innovation consulting services.

Some aspects to take into account when deciding which innovation agency you want to work with: team DNA of the innovation consultants, the innovation methodology they use, client portfolio & sector focus, …

Firms focussed on design thinking

IDEO compared to What if or Fjord

These type of innovation agencies have a strong background in design thinking methodologies. In their innovation teams, you can often encounter service designers, human centered designers or business innovation consultants with hands-on design skills.

Design and innovation consultancy firms like this can be found more & more. The success of Design Driven startups like AirBnB & Tesla has pushed this category to new heights! More examples in this cluster would be Jump Assocciates, Lunar, Frog or Claro.

Firms focussed on Business model innovation

Innosight versus Strategyn or Fahrenheit 212

The best business innovation consultancy firms are not specialized in just one discipline but cover a wide range of capabilities.

Strategy & innovation consulting in this category, are often more focused on business model innovation, new branding or marketing concepts. Compared to the previous group, more innovation consultants in this category have a background in innovation management, marketing or economics. Other related agencies are Happen, The Doblin Group or Continuum.

Mixed focus

Our approach at Board of Innovation

At Board of Innovation, we aim to combine the best skills from both worlds. Our innovation consultancy firm consists of experts in both business innovation as design thinking. Our experience in a wide range industries, both B2B as B2C puts us in a unique position.

I learned more from 1 day talking to customers than from the research we did over the last 6 months.
Market Research Manager, Adidas