Inclusive Innovation: Definition, Importance & Examples

Did you know that inclusive company cultures are six times more likely to be innovative?

After all, when people who’ve lived the problem get a chance to solve it, they’re eager to achieve results that are smarter, fairer, and far more impactful.

And that’s what inclusive innovation is all about: creating opportunities for people to innovate and building solutions that make life better for everyone.

To see what that looks like in action, this article dives into what inclusive innovation really means, why it’s becoming a driving force in modern innovation ecosystems, and how organizations can foster it intentionally. 

Key takeaways

• Inclusive innovation is innovation that involves and benefits everyone.
  It moves beyond designing for marginalized groups to designing with them, ensuring that people who experience real-world challenges have a voice in creating the solutions. 

• It’s guided by four core principles.
  True inclusion in innovation starts with participation and co-creation, expands through equity and fair access, ensures accessibility and affordability, and sustains impact through empowerment and local agency. 

• Inclusive innovation delivers better outcomes for everyone.
  When people with diverse perspectives contribute to solving problems, solutions become smarter, fairer, and more sustainable. The results show up at every level, from stronger economies and greener growth to reduced inequality and greater trust in innovation itself.

• Real-world examples prove its value.
  From M-PESA’s financial inclusion for millions to LEGO’s Braille Bricks fostering early literacy, inclusive innovation improves lives while expanding opportunity. Some innovations are built to serve underrepresented communities; others are created by them; both reshape what progress looks like.

• rready helps organizations make inclusion part of their innovation DNA.
  With tools like Idea Management, KICKBOX Intrapreneurship, and Innovation Management, rready empowers every employee to participate, test, and grow ideas that matter.

What is inclusive innovation?

Inclusive innovation is innovation with and for everyone, not just those who’ve always had access. 

Innovation has long revolved around a narrow prototype of the “ideal” user: younger, affluent, able-bodied, and digitally connected. 

As a result, there’s been a wave of products, services, and policies that work beautifully for some, but barely at all for people who’ve been historically excluded from the innovation process, including people from different ethnic and racial backgrounds, women, and people with disabilities.

But here’s the thing: inclusive innovation doesn’t stop at making things for these underrepresented groups. It invites them to design with you. 

In other words, inclusive innovation is co-creation. It’s recognizing that people closest to the problem often have the clearest insights into how to solve it.

That’s why people from diverse backgrounds should be part of every stage of the innovation process, from ideation to implementation. 

By democratizing both the creation and the impact, inclusive innovation transforms innovation itself, from something exclusive and top-down to something collaborative, equitable, and built to last.

The 4 key principles of inclusive innovation

What makes innovation truly inclusive? It all comes down to a few core principles that ensure ideas reach diverse people and include them from the start.

1. Participation and co-creation

Inclusive innovation starts with who’s in the room, whether that room is a corporate boardroom, a government task force, or a grassroots innovation lab.

But simply being in the room isn’t enough.

True participation in inclusive innovation means having a real voice: shaping ideas, challenging assumptions, and co-creating solutions that reflect lived experience, not just abstract data points.

Pro tip

You don’t have to be physically in the room to make your voice heard.

With rready’s Idea Management platform, anyone across your organization can share ideas quickly, intuitively, and at scale. The platform removes barriers to participation, giving every employee, no matter their role or background, an equal chance to contribute.

Thanks to features like instant feedback by experts, comments, and reactions, rready doesn’t just capture these ideas; it helps them grow through collaboration.

2. Equity and fair distribution

Giving diverse people a platform is just the beginning.

The next step is ensuring they have equal access to the same resources, opportunities, and outcomes as everyone else. Without that, inclusion is only surface-deep.

After opening the door to inclusive innovation, you can level the playing field for those who go through it by giving them access to:

• Funding - to turn promising ideas into tangible solutions

• Mentorship - to help innovators navigate the system and scale their impact

• Training and upskilling - to build the confidence and capability needed to compete on an equal footing

• Networks and partnerships - to connect innovators with the right people and platforms

Intentionally distributing these benefits and opportunities ensures no group is systematically left behind.

3. Accessibility and affordability

Innovative products, services, and technologies only matter if people can actually use them. 

That’s why inclusive innovation prioritizes accessibility, making its solutions usable, affordable, and available to everyone, regardless of income, location, or ability. 

However, it’s equally as important to make the innovation process itself accessible. This way, people of all backgrounds can contribute their perspectives, influence the direction of new solutions, and ensure the outcomes genuinely reflect the needs of the communities they’re meant to serve.

4. Empowerment and local agency

Inclusive innovation might be a team sport, but the goal isn’t uniformity. It’s giving every player the freedom to run their own play and the chance to become the MVP.

Innovation thrives when people see themselves as owners of the process, not just participants in it. But to achieve this, they need the tools, trust, and confidence to take initiative. They need to be able to test, build, and grow their ideas with real autonomy. 

Pro tip

rready’s KICKBOX Intrapreneurship Program builds a true innovation culture where everyone can share ideas and shape the company’s future. 

It gives employees the resources, time, and structure to work on projects that are meaningful to them, while sending a powerful message from the leadership: “We believe in your creativity, and we trust you to drive it.”

Why inclusive innovation matters

“Inclusive innovation can change the world.”

That’s what Dr. Robyn Klingler-Vidra of the King’s Business School argues.

While this statement sounds bold, it reflects what research keeps proving: diversity and inclusion are innovation multipliers. 

Here’s why inclusive innovation matters for businesses, communities, and society as a whole.

It fuels stronger economies

Sixteen trillion dollars.

That’s how much the U.S. economy could’ve gained if a marginalized group, Black Americans, had equal access to wages, education, and investment over the past two decades. And that’s just one group.

Add women to the mix in the earliest stages of innovation, and the potential grows by another $640 billion in GDP.

That’s the kind of ripple effect inclusive innovation creates: it changes what entire economies are capable of.

It unlocks smarter solutions

The next big idea usually comes from someone thinking differently.

That’s why companies that build inclusion into their DNA are 1.7 times more likely to lead innovation in their industries. 

When people with diverse experiences build together, they spot blind spots faster, design with more creativity, and deliver solutions that reach further. It’s those varied perspectives that help teams solve real-world problems, such as making healthcare more accessible, cities more livable, and technology more inclusive for people of all ages and abilities.

It narrows divides and reduces inequality

Traditional innovation tends to reward the already-advantaged, concentrating progress, investment, and access where it has always been.

Inclusive innovation flips that script.

Instead of widening the existing gaps, it aims to bridge them by making innovation accessible to those who’ve been traditionally left out.

In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, rising mobile phone access has directly contributed to poverty reduction, giving millions the tools to learn, bank, and connect for the first time.

That’s the power of inclusion. When innovation reaches more people, inequality shrinks and opportunity grows.

It strengthens resilience and sustainability 

By aligning progress with social and environmental goals, inclusive innovation builds solutions that are sustainable, community-driven, and resilient to change.

Take green innovation as an example.

Research shows that countries with a higher level of inclusive innovation reduce carbon emissions and foster long-term green growth. They do so by broadening access to cleaner technologies and efficiency-improving solutions across the whole economy.

This makes inclusive innovation beneficial for the planet, too, as it expands the reach of environmental solutions and supports an economy-wide transition to green growth.

It builds trust in innovation itself

Inclusive innovation strengthens trust from the inside out, showing employees that their ideas matter and that innovation isn’t reserved for the select few.

At LGT Private Banking, this approach reshaped a century-old institution. 

By giving every employee, regardless of the role in the company or seniority, access to resources and expert support through rready's KICKBOX Intrapreneurship Program, LGT turned curiosity into ownership.

Within a year, more than 750 employees worldwide were actively shaping new solutions, from streamlining internal processes to piloting new client services.

The outcome of this approach is clear: trust gets back at the heart of innovation, leading to a “palpable” intrapreneurial spirit, as LGT’s innovation manager put it.

5 real-world examples of inclusive innovation

When inclusion drives innovation, everyone benefits. Here are five examples that prove this:

Some of these products and services were created to serve underrepresented communities, while others were created by them. Still, both have shown what innovation can look like.

How to foster inclusive innovation in your organization

Whether you’re a startup or a global enterprise, building inclusion into the way you innovate makes your organization more resilient, creative, and future-ready.

Here’s how to get started:

• Raise awareness and build capacity: Educate teams on the value of inclusive innovation, and apply the knowledge through workshops, learning labs, and design sprints.

• Align policy with purpose: Integrate inclusivity into innovation KPIs, strategies, and governance as a measurable objective tied to business outcomes.

• Provide easy access: Secure funding, resources, and mentorship to underrepresented innovators, and invest in platforms that make participation easier for everyone.

• Gather and share evidence: Track progress using both qualitative and quantitative measures, from empowerment and participation to social and environmental impact.

Inclusive innovation at scale with rready

At rready, inclusivity is built into the foundation of each of the three flagship products:

• Idea Management gives every employee a voice in innovation by making idea submission, validation, and collaboration effortless. With scalable access, transparent evaluation, and AI-supported insights, no idea or innovator goes unnoticed.

• KICKBOX Intrapreneurship program democratizes execution by giving employees everything they need to test their ideas, building a culture where innovation belongs to everyone.

• Innovation Management brings it all together, connecting strategy, people, and processes into a single end-to-end system that makes innovation happen.

Rready to make innovation truly inclusive? Book your free demo and see how rready helps every innovator reach their full potential.

FAQ

Can innovation be inclusive?

Absolutely. Innovation is at its strongest when it includes diverse voices, perspectives, and experiences. 

What does inclusive innovation mean?

Inclusive innovation means designing with people, not just for them. It’s about creating solutions that are accessible, equitable, and meaningful for all, especially those who’ve been excluded from traditional innovation systems.