Two-minute brief
ISO 56001 requirements explained: video brief
A two-minute brief on how ISO 56001:2024 places innovation content inside the shared management system structure.
Key takeaways
- ISO 56001 follows clauses 4 to 10 and integrates with ISO 9001 or ISO/IEC 27001.
- The innovation intent shapes the scope.
- Leadership covers value realisation, strategy and culture.
- Seven resources include people, time and intellectual property.
- Five innovation processes take initiatives from opportunity to deployment.
Innovation content in a familiar structure
ISO 56001 uses the harmonised structure of the ISO management system standards, clauses 4 to 10, so it can share a context, documents, an audit programme and a management review with ISO 9001 or ISO/IEC 27001. The innovation content sits inside it, and a system need not follow the clause numbering. This short film walks through the content.
Context asks the organisation to determine the internal and external issues and the interested parties relevant to innovation, to set the innovation intent and to define the scope of the system. Leadership duties cover value realisation, change, policy, strategy and culture, so that top management makes innovation possible rather than only expected. Planning brings an innovation portfolio, the structures that support innovation and collaboration with others.
Resources and processes
Support names seven resources, from people and time to intellectual property, along with competence, awareness and communication. Operation sets out five innovation processes that take an initiative from identifying opportunities through creating and validating concepts to developing and deploying solutions. Performance evaluation monitors innovation performance and reviews the portfolio, and improvement acts on what those reviews show.
ISO 56001:2024, the first edition, was published in September 2024 with no amendment or revision in progress. It applies to any organisation, whatever its type, size, offer or kind of innovation: companies, public bodies, universities and research organisations. An independent certification body audits and decides; accreditation for ISO 56001 is offered in some countries and still being introduced in others.
ISO 56002 is the guidance companion: it recommends rather than requires, so it is not the basis for certification, while ISO 56001 contains the requirements against which conformity is evaluated. Intellectual property is one of the seven resources the standard names in clause 7.1, alongside people, time, finance, infrastructure, knowledge, and tools and methods. A record of breakthrough launches is not needed: the standard treats discontinued initiatives as part of the innovation processes and a source of learning, and the auditor needs to see the system at work. A start-up or small company can adopt the standard gradually, and its harmonised structure lets it share context, document control, internal audit and management review with ISO 9001 or ISO/IEC 27001.
ISO 56001 at a glance
- Purpose
- Innovation management: developing and demonstrating innovation capability, improving innovation performance and realising value for users, customers and other interested parties
- Relevant to
- Any organisation, whatever its type, size, offer or kind of innovation: companies, public bodies, universities and research organisations
- Edition
- ISO 56001:2024, the first edition, published in September 2024; no amendment or revision in progress
- Certification
- An independent certification body audits and decides; accreditation for ISO 56001 is offered in some countries and still being introduced in others
- Sterling's role
- Implementation with your team, from intent and strategy to the first portfolio review, with Effivity, training, internal audit and certification readiness, then Sustain™
- Cost and timing
- Total investment for an ISO 56001 innovation management system depends on the current maturity of your processes, the scope, locations and number of employees. The process typically takes 6 to 12 months
ISO 56001: questions people ask
Is ISO 56001 certification mandatory?
No. Like other ISO standards it is voluntary, though a partner, funder or programme can make it a condition. Demand comes from partners, investors and public bodies seeking confidence in innovation capability, and from leaders who want innovation run with the same discipline as the rest of the business.
What is the difference between ISO 56001 and ISO 56002?
ISO 56002:2019 is guidance: it recommends rather than requires, so it is not the basis for certification. ISO 56001:2024 contains the requirements used to evaluate conformity, and a certification body audits against it. ISO 56002, now being revised, remains a useful companion on how to implement.
Is accredited ISO 56001 certification available?
In some countries; each accreditation body decides when to open accreditation for a new standard. ACCREDIA, Italy's accreditation body, announced in March 2025 that certification bodies could apply for ISO 56001 accreditation, and accredited certification there followed in 2026; UKAS invited certification bodies into an ISO 56001 pilot accreditation project in January 2025. In the UAE and the Philippines, the national accreditation body did not list ISO 56001 among its management system schemes as of September 2026; there, check whether the certification body holds ISO 56001 accreditation from elsewhere or will certify without it, and whether that matters to whoever asked.
Does Sterling issue the ISO 56001 certificate?
No. Sterling consults, trains and prepares; the certification audit and the decision belong to an independent certification body. If one provider offers to deliver both the system and the certificate, the independence that gives a certificate its value is missing.
Can a start-up or small company be certified to ISO 56001?
Size is no barrier: the standard applies to any organisation, whatever its type or size, and its elements can be adopted gradually. Its introduction notes that the requirements are not always an effective basis for evaluating newly formed organisations, so a very young company may do better to build the practices first and certify later. The ISO committee is also developing guidance for start-ups and SMEs.
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