Helping Organizations Unlock Innovation, Upskill Teams, and Drive Project Success
I help organizations turn employees into effective intrapreneurs, so they can move from ideas to investable plans to executed projects. The result is stronger portfolios, faster learning, better execution, and a more competitive business.
As a trainer and consultant, I specialize in intrapreneurship, innovation, and project and portfolio management. My work bridges the gap between opportunity identification, business planning, and execution, helping organizations make better decisions earlier and reduce the risk of pursuing weak or poorly supported initiatives.
With over 30 years of experience in life sciences, technology commercialization, venture capital, and project leadership, I help organizations build internal innovation capability, improve decision-making, and execute complex projects more effectively. Through corporate training, executive workshops, and hands-on consulting, I equip leaders and teams with the tools, frameworks, and behaviours needed to assess opportunities, develop credible plans, and advance high-value initiatives.
Through Hexagon Innovating, I help organizations with:
I bring a rare combination of industry experience, academic expertise, venture finance perspective, and practical execution discipline. Whether an organization wants to strengthen its innovation pipeline, upskill its workforce, or improve strategic decision-making, I provide practical methods that help teams move from possibility to evidence, from evidence to commitment, and from commitment to execution.
As a trainer and consultant, I specialize in intrapreneurship, innovation, and project and portfolio management. My work bridges the gap between opportunity identification, business planning, and execution, helping organizations make better decisions earlier and reduce the risk of pursuing weak or poorly supported initiatives.
With over 30 years of experience in life sciences, technology commercialization, venture capital, and project leadership, I help organizations build internal innovation capability, improve decision-making, and execute complex projects more effectively. Through corporate training, executive workshops, and hands-on consulting, I equip leaders and teams with the tools, frameworks, and behaviours needed to assess opportunities, develop credible plans, and advance high-value initiatives.
Through Hexagon Innovating, I help organizations with:
- Innovation Strategy and Execution — Identifying, assessing, and advancing new product, service, and business model opportunities.
- Intrapreneurship and Leadership Development — Helping employees think and act more entrepreneurially inside established organizations.
- Project and Portfolio Management — Helping companies select, prioritize, plan, and manage high-impact initiatives.
- Technology and Market Intelligence — Supporting better decisions through research, competitive analysis, due diligence, and opportunity assessment.
I bring a rare combination of industry experience, academic expertise, venture finance perspective, and practical execution discipline. Whether an organization wants to strengthen its innovation pipeline, upskill its workforce, or improve strategic decision-making, I provide practical methods that help teams move from possibility to evidence, from evidence to commitment, and from commitment to execution.
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“Innovation is the sine qua non of economic and social progress. It is the predominant source of new or improved products, processes, and methods of marketing and organization that drive the competitiveness of our business sector; generate the income that sustains our standard of living; alter the way we interact with each other and the natural world; and solve (and sometimes create) the technical and social problems we face.”
Council of Canadian Academies, 2013 |
“It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more dangerous to conduct, nor more doubtful in its success, than an attempt to introduce innovations. For the leader in the introduction of changes will have for his enemies all those who are well off under the existing order of things, and only lukewarm supporters in those who might be better off under the new.”
Niccolò Machiavelli, 1513 |
Why:
Innovation efforts are critical to revenue growth, profitability, and long-term competitiveness. However, identifying a business opportunity with real commercial potential—and then guiding it successfully through the innovation process—is difficult, uncertain, and risky. Our purpose is to help firms, teams, and entrepreneurial clients improve their odds of success by making better decisions earlier.
How:
We use a structured six-step process to challenge assumptions, investigate evidence, and uncover the most important problems and the opportunities attached to them. This work identifies the critical gaps, risks, and decision points that determine whether an innovation effort is worth pursuing. Based on that diagnosis, we recommend the most useful next steps, which may include senior-management workshops, team-based innovation sessions, or targeted training in areas such as opportunity assessment, intrapreneurship, business-case development, or project execution.
For the full slideshow see:
Enhancing Your Strategic Innovation Efforts
What:
We help clients identify, assess, and advance innovation opportunities with stronger evidence, sharper strategy, and better execution planning.
Activities include:
Domains:
We work primarily in innovation-driven and technology-intensive settings, including:
Engagement model:
Our work can begin with a focused diagnostic and then expand into a deeper engagement if there is a strong fit.
Innovation efforts are critical to revenue growth, profitability, and long-term competitiveness. However, identifying a business opportunity with real commercial potential—and then guiding it successfully through the innovation process—is difficult, uncertain, and risky. Our purpose is to help firms, teams, and entrepreneurial clients improve their odds of success by making better decisions earlier.
How:
We use a structured six-step process to challenge assumptions, investigate evidence, and uncover the most important problems and the opportunities attached to them. This work identifies the critical gaps, risks, and decision points that determine whether an innovation effort is worth pursuing. Based on that diagnosis, we recommend the most useful next steps, which may include senior-management workshops, team-based innovation sessions, or targeted training in areas such as opportunity assessment, intrapreneurship, business-case development, or project execution.
For the full slideshow see:
Enhancing Your Strategic Innovation Efforts
What:
We help clients identify, assess, and advance innovation opportunities with stronger evidence, sharper strategy, and better execution planning.
Activities include:
- Opportunity discovery and sourcing: identifying new product, service, licensing, partnering, or development opportunities.
- Technical and IP assessment: reviewing the technical rationale, intellectual property position, development risks, and freedom-to-operate considerations.
- Market and competitive analysis: assessing customer need, market attractiveness, competitive positioning, adoption barriers, and commercial potential.
- Business model and strategy development: developing business models, strategic options, business plans, and investment-ready recommendations.
- Financial and risk analysis: building financial models, identifying key uncertainties, and assessing technical, commercial, operational, and strategic risks.
- Due diligence and partnering support: supporting diligence, partner evaluation, fundraising preparation, and transaction-readiness.
- Project and portfolio planning: helping teams translate strategy into prioritized projects, milestones, decision gates, and execution plans.
- Creative opportunity exploration: helping teams expand the solution space before prematurely committing to a single answer.
Domains:
We work primarily in innovation-driven and technology-intensive settings, including:
- Intrapreneurship and internal innovation
- Early-stage entrepreneurship
- Biotechnology, life sciences, and medical devices
- Engineering technologies, platforms, and processes
- Technology transfer, intellectual property, and venture capital
- Education, training, and pedagogy
Engagement model:
Our work can begin with a focused diagnostic and then expand into a deeper engagement if there is a strong fit.
- Initial diagnostic: a one-day, $800 review with a written report and money-back guarantee.
- Full engagement: a value-based, negotiated project with agreed scope, interim reporting, and a final written report or deliverable.
- Post-engagement review: a no-cost one-day follow-up review and written report, conducted 6 or 12 months after completion to assess progress, learning, and next steps.
For more information or to book a consultation:
contact duncanjones (at) hexagon-innovating.com
or text/ call 416 301-6700
contact duncanjones (at) hexagon-innovating.com
or text/ call 416 301-6700
