---
id: "action-fund-innovation-stage-gates"
type: "action-item"
source_timestamps: ["§ How Can Organizations Pick the Best Gen AI Projects?", "1. Fund the responsible rebels."]
tags: ["funding", "innovation-management"]
related: ["concept-responsible-rebels"]
action: "Establish a stage-gated innovation fund requiring executive sponsorship and proof of economic value."
outcome: "Controlled innovation that drives productive variance without causing organizational chaos."
speakers: ["Tom Davenport", "John J. Sviokla"]
sources: ["spine"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-spine"
originDay: 1
articleStem: "hbr-cl-95-6-disciplines-genai"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2024/07/the-6-disciplines-companies-need-to-get-the-most-out-of-gen-ai"
sourceTitle: "The 6 Disciplines Companies Need to Get the Most Out of Gen AI"
---
# Fund Innovation via Stage Gates

**Action:** Establish a stage-gated innovation fund requiring executive sponsorship and proof of economic value.

**How:** Set up a dedicated innovation fund for [[concept-responsible-rebels|responsible rebels]] that releases capital incrementally through stage gates, requiring proof of economic value and executive sponsorship to proceed.

**Expected outcome:** Controlled innovation that drives *productive variance* without causing organizational chaos — the balance captured in [[contrarian-productive-variance]] and [[quote-standardization-vs-variance]].

Implements criterion #1 of [[framework-gen-ai-project-selection]].


## Related across articles
- [[concept-stage-gates]]
- [[action-implement-objective-scoring]]