Next to “sustainability,” a word that virtually defies meaning, the most admired term in business is innovation.

At least its definition is clear, as is its purpose. That’s why companies preach it – along with another a cliché, “people are our best resource.”

But when it comes to walking the talk on innovation, it appears companies here and in Australia are unwilling to follow through.
The evidence comes in Boston Consulting Group’s fifth global survey of executives on innovation.

Bayer New Zealand and the National Business Review have presented 60 of the country’s top achievers in innovation on these pages over the past six weeks.

Today the six category winners of the Bayer Innovators Awards, in association with NBR, are named. Judges were looking for people who were setting an example of national and international achievement. Graeme Kennedy and Fiona Robertson report.

Innovators in the ICT sector are essential to take New Zealand businesses into the future, particularly given the reliance of every workplace on this sector.

Each week 10 finalists in the featured category will be profiled in the NBR.

Finalists will be recognised for innovative excellence and outstanding achievement. In the special Bayer Innovators Awards NBR collectors’ issue the winners of each category will be revealed.

To enter applicants should communicate, in no more than 500 words, how they are making a valuable contribution to innovation in one of the six categories.