Many believe innovation is only for those who create breakthrough technologies or scientific discoveries. But innovation is for everyone. 

When nurtured well, even the smallest ideas, sparked by everyday experiences, can lead to meaningful change. Innovation is a habit, not a title. And just like any habit, it can be learned, practiced, and scaled.

Why Grassroots Innovation Matters More Than Ever 

With a legacy of 160 years and ten Nobel Prizes from Bell Labs, Nokia knows the value of top-down, high-impact innovation. But today, we see an equally important opportunity: empowering individuals at every level to innovate from the bottom up. 

Grassroots innovation is different. It doesn’t depend on big budgets or formal labs. It’s driven by creativity, agility, and people closest to the problem. It flourishes in everyday roles in the hands of engineers, designers, leaders and operations teams who spot inefficiencies, or new possibilities others may overlook. 

So why does it matter? 

• Rooted in reality – Solves problems by those closest to them. 
• Fast and frugal – Needs little time or resources to start. 
• Driven by passion – Often addresses overlooked yet meaningful issues. 
• Builds corporate culture – Encourages inclusivity and continuous improvement. 
• Scalable – Good ideas spread across teams and business units. 
• Enables collaboration – Connects diverse minds across silos. 
• Delivered results – Small changes can lead to major impact. 

And yet, in most organizations, this layer of innovation remains underdeveloped. Why? A lack of structure, support, or recognition. People may have ideas, but without a system that values and supports them, those ideas remain unspoken or lost. 

Unlocking Innovation from Within: Nokia’s Grassroots Approach 

Innovation isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a business imperative. A recent Boston Consulting Group report found that 83% of executives rank innovation among their top three priorities, yet only 3% feel fully prepared to deliver on those ambitious goals. 

At Nokia, we’re focused on closing this gap. In Mobile Networks, where we’re driving the evolution of 5G and exploring 6G, success depends on unlocking innovation at every layer, not just through formal R&D, but by empowering every employee, team, and interaction to contribute. 

That’s why we launched an initiative to foster a grassroots innovation culture in one development unit in Mobile Networks. We introduced a structured innovation framework, with internal campaigns, timed challenges, a jury process, and a central innovation hub. 

Key enablers included: 

• Dedicated time and resources for innovators 
• Recognition and rewards 
• Cross-team collaboration 
• Leadership support  

Within just one year, we achieved impressive results, from idea generation to execution, delivering strong business impact and return on investment (ROI). The ideas generated ranged from product and quality improvements to incubation opportunities for new innovations. This shows how grassroots innovation can thrive, even in large, established companies like Nokia. This effort has driven measurable ROI, not only through implemented ideas but also by strengthening the innovation culture, boosting efficiency, productivity, and team engagement within the unit.

Innovation mindset starts early 

Grassroots innovation isn’t just confined to Nokia; it extends beyond corporate walls into classrooms and communities. After all, the innovation mindset begins early. To make innovation second nature, we must start in schools and universities, where students become tomorrow’s problem-solvers. 

That’s why we’ve taken the core principles of grassroots innovation into high schools across Finland and Nepal, places where many students initially believed innovation wasn’t for them. Through our “Enabling Innovation Culture in High Schools” sessions, we helped students understand that innovation isn’t limited to scientists. It’s for anyone who sees a problem and has the courage to imagine a solution.

The survey results, as shown in the picture, reveal a clear impact from a single session held at a high school in the Tampere area: most students now view innovation as accessible and empowering, with increased motivation to create real-world impact and value. 

To go further, we’ve partnered with universities, cities, and external companies to host hackathons, game jams, innovation events and real-world innovation projects, bridging academia and industry with mutual value. Students have collaborated directly with Nokia teams to tackle real challenges as part of their coursework, gaining hands-on experience while driving tangible results. 

The lesson learned is simple: when people, regardless of age or role, are empowered to innovate, they will. And by fostering this mindset early, we’re shaping a generation of creative thinkers and doers, ready to lead and drive change.

KIIF: The Framework Behind Nokia’s Innovation Culture  

At the heart of this transformation is Karki’s Integrated Innovation Framework (KIIF). KIIF, as illustrated in Fig, synthesizes four widely recognized innovation models: Open innovation, Design Thinking, Lean Startup, and an Adapted Stage-gate Process, into a unified and flexible system for managing grassroots innovation. Instead of adopting a single methodology, KIIF integrates these approaches to support innovation across corporate and educational environments by offering both structure and adaptability. Open Innovation provides the foundation for external engagement, facilitating collaboration across organizational boundaries and encouraging the flow of ideas from diverse actors, such as students, employees, and academic partners. Design Thinking introduces a human-centered approach, emphasizing empathy, iterative prototyping, and problem framing to ensure ideas are rooted in real user needs. The Lean Startup methodology contributes agility by promoting rapid experimentation, learning from feedback, and minimizing resource expenditure during early-stage development. Finally, the Stage-Gate Process, adapted for grassroots contexts, offers a lightweight but systematic structure to move ideas through phases of evaluation, mentoring, and execution without stifling creativity. Unlike established frameworks that operate in siloed or hierarchical innovation environments, KIIF emphasizes inclusivity, feedback loops, and cross-boundary participation. Its holistic design allows for integration across varying resource levels and organizational scales, making it applicable in both multinational corporations and resource-constrained educational institutions.

This framework is actively used internally at Nokia.  

What You Can Do: A Call to Action  

Whether you’re an individual, or a team, you have a role to play. 

Small actions can lead to big changes. 

For Individuals 

• Take one minute a day to reflect: what could be improved? 
• Share your ideas; it could spark something bigger than you think. 

For Organizations 

• Make space for ideas: host open calls, hackathons, or innovation events. 
• Recognize effort, not just outcomes. 
• Build innovation into daily work, not just side projects. 

For Educators & Institutions 

• Bring real-world problems into the classroom. 
• Partner with industry. 
• Help students see themselves as inventors, creators, and problem-solvers. 

Come Invent with Nokia  

The most powerful ideas often start small. Sometimes, the idea that changes everything is already around you, just waiting for someone to believe it. 

Whether you're a student, a startup, or an independent thinker, if you have a bold idea, we want to hear about it. Visit the Nokia Ventures page to connect with our Ventures team. Even if it’s beyond our core business, we’re open to partnering through our innovation frameworks and through NGP Capital which invests in startups shaping the future.  Learn more about ways to collaborate with Nokia on our "Innovate with Nokia" page.