Innovation doesn't just begin in the development department.

With sophisticated technologies, a good idea alone is not enough. It must become a solution that can be manufactured, scaled, and reliably integrated into a product.

This often requires skills that no company fully possesses in-house.

I experienced this very clearly in technologically demanding projects at ZEISS. The technical solution wasn't the only crucial factor. Equally important was the skill set brought by the participating partners, where their skills needed further development, and how we could effectively combine the different competencies.

That's precisely why I don't see innovative capacity solely as an internal competency. It's also a network competency.

In many companies, the process still works like this: Development defines the solution. Purchasing is then brought in to find suitable suppliers, negotiate prices, and ensure supply.
This might work for standardized services. For strategically important technologies, it's often insufficient.

Because once the solution is fully determined, alternative technological approaches are often no longer even considered.
Perhaps a supplier knows a better method. Perhaps a specialist possesses a technology that hasn't even been discussed internally yet. Perhaps a solution can be developed more quickly or with less risk through collaboration.
A company can more easily identify such opportunities if it involves the supplier market in its development process at an early stage.

The most important question is: Which technological capabilities of our suppliers can we use for new solutions?

This changes the role of purchasing: it no longer just looks for suppliers for a fixed solution, but helps to find new solutions.

The purchasing department doesn't need to become a developer. But it should work together with development and strategy to understand what skills are needed and which partners can contribute them.

A publicly visible example of this is the long-standing collaboration between ZEISS and ASML in semiconductor technology. There, the partners jointly develop highly complex systems for semiconductor manufacturing. For me, this partnership demonstrates one thing above all: some innovations only become possible when companies acquire capabilities they don't possess themselves.

1. Include shopping earlier
The purchasing department should be involved as soon as possible technical solutions are discussed, and not only when the specification is finalized.

2. Systematically consider technological capabilities
When it comes to strategic technologies, it's also important what capabilities a partner possesses, what developments they are driving forward, and how these can be used for one's own products.

3. Rethinking supplier development
It should not only eliminate weaknesses. It can also serve to jointly build skills that a company needs for new products and technologies.

This won't turn every supplier into an innovation partner. That would be neither sensible nor economical.

Procurement doesn't develop innovation itself. But it can ensure that the company has access to the right skills.

And that, in my opinion, represents a strategic role that is still underestimated.

Because a company's innovative power doesn't end at the factory gate. It extends as far as the network whose capabilities it actually knows how to utilize.