Innovation in the built environment has taken giant leaps in the past decade. To manage digital transformation, new innovation leaders have risen to the forefront of industry development. Based on a global survey of 176 innovation leaders, and seven interviews with the survey respondents, this report is a comprehensive study of the roles of innovation leaders in the industry.

The report is structured around five themes and recommendation for organizing digital transformation in the built environment: 1: The survey results show that cultural barriers prevent a broader acceptance of innovations in the industry. Therefore, we see that cultural change should be identified as a key objective in strategy. Our first recommendation is to make cultural change a priority in transformation work. This has major implications for how the roles of innovators should be seen in the industry.

2: The survey results show that innovation is a part-time role in the sector, and that innovation work suffers from resource scarcity. As innovation is a challenging task that requires expertise, time and other resources, our second recommendation to innovation leaders is that you should demand that your role has a full-time focus on innovation. Effective digital transformation and cultural change are only possible with sufficient resources and commitment.

3: The survey results show that innovation work is gaining maturity and recognition, which could be further improved by harmonizing the innovator role titles and descriptions. Our third recommendation to innovation leaders is that the nature of your team and your job title should sit within the “change” or “transformation” mandate. These descriptors would establish that the aim of digital transformation is about the wider mentality change and acceptance of innovations within the industry.

4: The survey results show that the role of innovation leaders should be about change and digital transformation, rather than technologies as such. Furthermore, role differentiation may prevent commoditization of the knowledge related to the role of innovators, which may lead to higher salaries. Our fourth recommendation is that innovation leaders should take the role of strategists and orchestrators of digital transformation, or be sidelined.

5: The survey results show that innovation leaders are key personnel for their firms today and that they are on a track to advance to top management positions in the future. Also, experience in digital transformation will increasingly be needed in the senior leadership in the future. Therefore, our fifth recommendation for innovation leaders is to be prepared to become leaders in the built environment sector more broadly, beyond digital transformation.