Tapping internal resources
An often overlooked area where innovative ideas reside is the rank and file of the company. These are the people with a stake in the success of the company and have the deepest knowledge on the top customer concerns and how to get things done. Furthermore, by involving your own employees in innovation, they just might take more ownership of the work and be more productive.
Tools and policies
The most famous example is Google's Innovation Time Off where engineers are encourage to spend up to 20% of their time on a project that they feel passionate about. According to Marissa Mayer of Google, half of their new products in 2005, such as Gmail, can be traced the 20% time off.
Taking a different tact, Intuit, a finance/accounting software company, has built a product called Brainstorm as a way to foster, track, and guide employee innovation across the globe. I have talked with the team leader who built the product. Interestingly, part of its genesis came out of the desire to support and collaborate amongst team members for their own innovation ideas.
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