I came across a recent article in Computerworld in the US which discussed the role of the CIO as an 'innovation czar' based on an article in the Harvard Business Review. Actually, it's not so much something inherent in a change in the role of the CIO, but is more dependent on having 'broad-based individuals' as CIOs who have used their time in the role to demonstrate an ability to think and act systemically and in an integrative manner across the entire enterprise. Those that do are asked to take on additional responsibility, the main drivers of which are a desire to pursue growth and innovation initiatives alongside the focus on productivity, efficiency, and compliance.

The Computerworld article and Harvard Business Review piece discuss the setting up of two groups within the enterprise: the Distributed Innovation Group (DIG) and the Enterprise Integration Group (EIG).

DIG "acts as a centre of expertise for support of innovation and creativity, communicates and publicizes promising ideas, and provides initial funding and scarce specialized skills that may be required for the early evaluation/testing of the idea." As part of its contribution, IT provides  the tools that facilitate communication, collaboration, and monitoring.

EIG "is responsible for enterprisewide business process management and improvement, and manages the corporate portfolio of integration initiatives. It serves as a centre of excellence for skills required in process improvement and is responsible for new ideas on future-oriented enterprise architecture."

The Harvard Business Review piece says that "companies rely on IT as a catalyst, enabler, and component of the new products, services, channels, processes, and business models, as well as the way to encourage innovators to collaborate. And with its extensive experience working at the heart of major business-change initiatives of all kinds--implementing common infrastructures, shared databases, and cross-functional and enterprise systems--IT is often the corporation's de facto centre of expertise in business integration."