Building a Future-Ready Innovation Ecosystem for Business Excellence

Abstract As the Oil and Gas (O&G) industry is facing continuous challenges, including stringent environmental regulations, elevated exploration and drilling expenses, costly equipment failures and maintenance, and a concerning dropout rate of technology projects up to 70% within PETRONAS Upstream Business, there is an urgent need to foster a culture of innovation within the organization. This is crucial to enable sustained business performance and growth, particularly in an era of volatile oil prices and the need for financial returns that match stock market performance (Macleod, 2003). Addressing this requires striking a balance between accountability in experimentations, ensuring scalability and sustainability, while maintaining prudent cost management. Technological innovation has been identified as a key factor in O&G company's bottom line, not only as a tool for operational process improvement but also as a driver for the company's relational marketing (Marsala, 2008). To successfully introduce innovations and new technologies, organizations must consider three key factors: the prevailing creative energy flow, the alignment to company goals, and the effective management of interactions within the organization (Armacanqui, 2015). Often, attempts to introduce new technologies and innovations fail because factors are overlooked during the planning or execution stages. Hence, to navigate these challenges, organizations must create a supportive environment for innovation by fostering a culture of open communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing. Taking advantage of the rapid progress made in building the foundation for innovation in 2021, this paper focuses on the adaptation of the Working Backwards Methodology (WBM) and innovation framework within the Upstream business to enhance innovation capabilities, ensuring long-term success and competitiveness. The framework provides a structured approach to identify opportunities, generate ideas and validate solutions, thereby accelerating the adoption of new technologies and innovations within the organization.