Business schools and companies need to create more internships dedicated to innovation. Most MBA internships continue to focus on traditional core functions like marketing, finance, and strategy. A few schools have innovation internships, but they focus on the technical and design points-of-view. The mainstream, non-technical B-School programs are missing an opportunity.
Innovation internships are a great way to infuse an organization with innovation process and techniques. The best internships allow the intern to learn from the company and the company to learn from the intern. The key success factors are: Selection, Sponsorship, and Structure.