Zookie · Innovation coach

Your innovation coach, in your pocket.

Zookie helps people recognise the innovation capability they already have, build it one working day at a time, and find the support available to them.

Zookie (ZOO-kee). From Dutch zoek, “search”. To zook: to have a proper look, together.

Why we built it

Most people have already innovated.

They just never called it that.

They rescued a project. They found a way round a rule that made no sense. They talked a sceptical room into trying something, and it worked. None of it went on a form, because the word innovation seemed to belong to other people: labs, start-ups, someone with a budget.

The frameworks that describe these capabilities are serious and sound. But a standard is a reference document, not a companion. It can tell you what capability looks like. It can't sit beside you on a Thursday afternoon and look at the pitch you're giving on Friday. Zookie can.

“Innovation is like a language: the more people who speak it, the more valuable it becomes for everyone.”

That's why we're opening innovation capability up to everyone. It shouldn't depend on who you work for, where you live, or what you can afford. Open access for people who need it is a founding principle of Zookie.

Read our story Why Zookie
How it helps

One coach, three ways of looking

Zookie is the one who looks with you. The eyes in the mark are all three at once.

Coaching

It peeks ahead

At what's coming: the deadline, the panel, the question you haven't thought of yet.

Capability

It looks closely

At what you can already do, and tells you honestly. Not a score handed down; a mirror held steady.

Navigation

It searches

For what's already out there to help: the voucher, the programme, the person two streets away who has done this before.

Coaching · Capability · Navigation  |  Grounded in ISO 56011

How it works

See Zookie at work

A short walk-through of the coach in action, from first question to next step.

Who it's for

Who Zookie is for

People at work, the organisations they work for, and the educators preparing the next generation.

Zookie's eyes peeking over a pocket, with a chat bubble: “Stuck on Friday's pitch? Grand. Let's have a zook at it together.”

For you

  • See the innovation you're already doing
  • Get an honest view of your strengths, and what to build next
  • Prepare for the pitch, the panel or the tricky meeting
  • Find the support that's out there for you
An example Innovation Capability Snapshot showing capability by team, beside a progress ring reading 12 of 52 competences grown

For organisations

  • Build innovation capability across your teams, one working day at a time
  • See where your people are strong, measured against 52 competences
  • Track progress with a dated Innovation Capability Snapshot
  • Works for organisations of every size and sector
A Z-shaped path through the five levels of competence: Contribute, Assist, Facilitate, Lead and Inspire

For education

  • Bring innovation into your curriculum
  • Set clear learning outcomes, mapped to 52 competences
  • Structure innovation modules around an international standard
  • Align your programmes with what employers need
In the app

Friendly, honest, and on your side

You're better at this than you think. Zookie looks with you: at the problem, at what you can already do, and at what's out there to help. No jargon, no audit, no straight lines.

Stuck on Friday's pitch? Grand. Let's zook it.

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Methodology

Built on the international standard

ISO 56011 is the emerging international standard for innovation management competence. Zookie co-founder Charlie Tuxworth leads its development as Convenor, Chair and Project Lead of the ISO working group writing it.

Zookie's framework sets out 52 innovation competences, each at five levels, cross-referenced to the draft standard. Progress is measurable, so people and organisations can see what they've grown, and funders can see the evidence.

What makes it credible
Methodology Grounded in ISO 56011

12 of 52 competences grown

Example progress badge from the app

See how Zookie could work for you

Whether you'd like early access, a pilot in your organisation, or to partner with us, we'd like to hear from you.

Get involved