How innovative is your organization — really? Most leaders have a sense that their organization
could do more with innovation, but lack a structured way to measure where they are and what’s
holding them back.
This free 50-question Innovation Maturity Assessment (also called the Innovation
Audit) was developed by Braden Kelley and introduced in his bestselling book
Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire.
It evaluates your organization across the key dimensions of innovation capability, surfaces your
biggest barriers, and scores you against a five-level Innovation Maturity Model.
Complete the assessment online and receive your personalized score, scoring key, and
Innovation Maturity Model by email — free.
What Is Innovation Maturity?
Innovation maturity describes how systematically and sustainably an organization generates, develops, and commercializes new ideas. An immature innovation capability relies on heroic individuals and random luck — a few passionate people creating sporadic sparks. A mature innovation capability is a continuous, infrastructure-backed engine that reliably produces value across the organization.
Most organizations sit somewhere between these extremes, unaware of exactly which barriers are costing them the most. That’s what this assessment measures. It is most powerful as a baseline — taken once to understand where you are today, then repeated annually to measure your progress.
The Five Innovation Maturity Levels
Point totals from the 50-question assessment (maximum 200 points) map to one of five maturity levels:
Level 1
Reactive
0–100 points
Level 2
Structured
101–130 points
Level 3
In Control
131–150 points
Level 4
Internalized
151–180 points
Level 5
Continuously Improving
181–200 points
Innovation Maturity Model — adapted from Innovation Tournaments by Terwiesch & Ulrich
How to Take the Innovation Maturity Assessment
The assessment takes approximately 10–15 minutes to complete. For each of the 50 statements, rate how much you agree using the scale below, then submit the form to receive your results by email.
- Read each statement and select the rating (0–4) that best reflects your organization today.
- Submit the form — your total score is calculated automatically.
- Check your email for your score, scoring key, and Innovation Maturity Model image.
- Save the result as your baseline and retake annually to measure your progress.
(Your score, maturity model, and scoring key will be sent to you by email.)
🔍 Want Deeper Insight? The Innovation Diagnostic Service
The Innovation Maturity Assessment is most powerful when responses are gathered across multiple levels, functions, and locations of your organization — not just one person’s perspective. The gap between how leadership scores innovation maturity and how frontline employees score it is often the most revealing data of all.
Innovation Diagnostic Service — $499.99
Braden will personally set up and administer a multi-group, multi-site assessment study for your organization, then analyze the data to deliver:
- A baseline innovation maturity score across your organization
- Comparative analysis by level, function, or site
- Preliminary innovation diagnostics identifying your highest-priority barriers
- A written report with actionable recommendations
- A debrief call to walk through the findings
Purchase the Innovation Diagnostic Service →
Already taken the free assessment and want to discuss what your score means?
Contact Braden directly.
Go Deeper: Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire
This Innovation Maturity Assessment was created as a companion to Braden Kelley’s bestselling book. If your score reveals barriers to innovation — and it almost certainly will — the book gives you the roadmap to address them.
Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire
A Roadmap to a Sustainable Culture of Ingenuity and Purpose
Braden Kelley — Published by John Wiley & Sons
The book that arms organizations with the case studies, tools, and insights needed to move from random spark to a sustainable culture of innovation — including the Nine Innovation Roles, the Human-Centered Innovation Toolkit, and the full framework behind this assessment.
Download Option: Excel Workbook
Prefer to work offline or share with your team?
Download the Innovation Maturity Assessment as a Microsoft Excel workbook — ideal for team discussions or capturing responses from multiple colleagues before aggregating scores.
↧ Download Excel Workbook (English)
↧ Download Excel Workbook (Portuguese)
Portuguese translation by Mario Coseglio. For multi-site or multi-group deployments, see the Innovation Diagnostic Service.
Explore More Innovation Tools & Frameworks
The Innovation Maturity Assessment is one of several interconnected tools Braden has developed to help organizations build a continuous innovation capability. If your score reveals gaps in specific areas, these tools can help you address them directly.
🆕 Nine Innovation Roles
Introduced in Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire, this framework helps organizations identify the nine distinct roles people play in innovation — and put the right people in the right roles to maximize innovation speed and output.
🛠 Human-Centered Innovation Toolkit
A suite of practical tools introduced in Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire and expanded since, designed to help teams apply human-centered thinking to their innovation process from opportunity identification through to launch.
🔮 FutureHacking™
Once you understand your current innovation maturity, the next question is: where does the future need you to go? FutureHacking™ is the art and science of getting to the future first — a structured foresight methodology with tools to scan signals and shape your strategy.
📈 Human-Centered Change
Improving innovation maturity almost always requires organizational change. Braden’s Human-Centered Change™ methodology — and his book Charting Change — gives teams a visual, collaborative toolkit for planning and executing change that sticks.
About Braden Kelley
Braden Kelley is a bestselling author, LinkedIn Top Voice, innovation keynote speaker, and futurist who helps organizations master human-centered change and build sustainable innovation cultures. He is the creator of the Human-Centered Change™ methodology, the FutureHacking™ framework, and the Innovation Maturity Assessment.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an Innovation Maturity Assessment?
An Innovation Maturity Assessment is a structured diagnostic tool that measures how systematically and sustainably an organization generates and develops new ideas. It evaluates your organization across the key dimensions of innovation capability and scores your results against a maturity model — giving you a baseline and a roadmap for improvement.
How long does the Innovation Maturity Assessment take?
The 50-question assessment typically takes 10–15 minutes to complete. Each question asks you to rate a statement about your organization on a scale of 0 (None) to 4 (Fully).
What do I receive after completing the assessment?
After submitting the assessment you will receive an email containing your total score, the full Innovation Maturity Assessment scoring key showing what each score range means, and the Innovation Maturity Model image showing your position across the five levels.
Is the Innovation Maturity Assessment really free?
Yes — the 50-question online assessment and the Excel download are completely free. The paid option is the Innovation Diagnostic Service ($499.99), which involves Braden personally administering the assessment across multiple groups or sites in your organization and delivering a written analysis and debrief.
What book is the Innovation Maturity Assessment based on?
The assessment was developed by Braden Kelley and introduced in his bestselling book Stoking Your Innovation Bonfire: A Roadmap to a Sustainable Culture of Ingenuity and Purpose, published by John Wiley & Sons. The book provides the full framework, case studies, and tools needed to act on your assessment results.
How often should we take the Innovation Maturity Assessment?
Braden recommends taking the assessment once to establish a baseline, then repeating it annually to track your organization’s progress. For best results, gather responses from multiple levels and functions — not just senior leadership. The Innovation Diagnostic Service can help you structure this process.
Can the assessment be used across multiple teams or locations?
Yes, and doing so dramatically increases its value. Comparing scores across business units, levels, or geographies often reveals where innovation barriers are most acute and where pockets of strength exist. The Innovation Diagnostic Service is specifically designed for this use case — Braden will administer, aggregate, and analyze results across your organization for $499.99.