What Organizations Can Learn from an Innovation Model Inside the Bundeswehr

A few weeks ago, I found myself in a room with four soldiers. They were sitting around a table, discussing their current projects. In front of them were sketches, notes, and early prototypes. The conversation moved naturally between topics: new approaches to drone surveillance, several improvements to daily operations, and a grappling hook system designed to simplify certain tasks.

**This image is AI-generated. I intentionally do not share real images or details from my work with the Bundeswehr.**

One of them mentioned a local blacksmith who had helped redesign the hook. Another gave an update on the drone project.

What struck me was not the content itself, but the setting. This wasn’t an official innovation workshop, no offsite, no structured format. It was simply a conversation about problems – and how to solve them.

And that is exactly what made it interesting.

Rethinking Where Innovation Actually Happens

In most organizations, innovation is something we try to organize. We build innovation labs, launch transformation programs, and create dedicated teams to work on future topics. While these approaches can be valuable, they often create a distance from where real problems actually occur.

The people dealing with systems, processes, and inefficiencies every day are rarely part of these environments — even though they understand the challenges best.

“Innovation cannot be centrally planned. But organizations can create the conditions in which it emerges.”

From Control to Empowerment

This is where an idea we are currently working on with the Bundeswehr becomes particularly relevant. As a framework partner, we are supporting the development of so-called Spark Cells — small, decentralized innovation units embedded directly within operational teams.

The concept, originally developed in the U.S. Air Force through the AFWERX program, aims to strengthen innovation capabilities where work actually happens.

What makes this approach interesting is not just the structure, but what it enables. Instead of centralizing innovation, Spark Cells create a space in which people can identify problems, develop ideas, and test solutions in their everyday environment. It shifts innovation from a specialized function to a shared capability.

I believe this is where innovation is heading – away from top-down structures and toward empowering people on the ground to take ownership and drive change.

“Innovation does not scale through structure alone. It scales through people who take ownership.”

Unlocking the People Inside the System

In almost every organization, there is a significant and often overlooked resource: people who question how things work, who see inefficiencies, and who have ideas for improvement.

Yet in day-to-day operations, these ideas rarely turn into action. Processes, responsibilities, and routines leave little room to experiment or take ownership.

Spark Cells change that dynamic. They create an environment where people don’t just report problems — they start solving them.

Employees become what I would describe as part-time intrapreneurs. Alongside their core responsibilities, they take initiative, test ideas, and push improvements forward. In many cases, this happens out of intrinsic motivation. People care about improving the way their work gets done.

“Most organizations don’t lack ideas. They lack the conditions for people to act on them.”

Culture Follows Structure

This is why the impact goes beyond innovation. It touches culture.

Many organizations talk about transformation, agility, or entrepreneurial thinking. But culture rarely changes through programs or communication alone. It changes when structures enable people to behave differently.

Spark Cells provide such a structure. They create a space where ideas are not only discussed but tested, where problems are not only escalated but addressed, and where responsibility is not only assigned but taken.

“Culture is not what organizations say. It is what people are able to do.”

“The real shift is not technological. It is behavioral.”

Innovation That Continues

Looking back at that initial conversation with the soldiers, what stood out even more was what happened afterward.

The grappling hook system — developed together with the local blacksmith — went through several test runs and is now in daily use. The drone project secured funding, and the first test flight is about to take place.

And most importantly, the conversation didn’t stop.

They kept meeting, discussing new ideas, and building on what they had started.

Innovation did not end with a project.

It continued.

A Lesson for Organizations

For many organizations, this offers an interesting perspective. While significant resources are invested in innovation programs, tools, and external input, a large part of the potential may already exist internally.

Inside the organization.

With the people who deal with the challenges every day.

The real question might not be how to organize innovation, but how to create the conditions for people to solve problems themselves.

“Innovation is not a function. It is a behavior.”

Because sometimes innovation starts in a very simple way: with a conversation, a problem, and someone willing to take action.

And perhaps it begins when organizations start trusting their own people again.

That might be the real transformation.

Learn more

If you want to learn more about Spark Cells or explore how a similar approach could work in your organization, feel free to reach out.