Making Moves in the Age of AI
The AI opportunity in innovation has influenced innovation development and de-risking strategies. Of course, leveraging AI also comes with its own set of benefits and risks. Most analysts discuss the speed of implementation as being a key factor. Move too slow, and the company risks falling behind. Move too fast, and brands may jump over safety guardrails and encounter missteps.
Striking the right balance is key. As Mastercard discusses in one of its recent reports, “That’s why process and measurement are critical. To strike the right balance, organizations must first define the purpose behind each initiative and rigorously evaluate its potential impact through structured testing and clear success metrics.”
In the Mastercard report, “Bold moves, smart bets: De-risking innovation in the age of accelerated AI,” the company looks further at how companies can properly assess risk, align initiatives with strategic goals, and build the confidence to move forward. This new environment might be different from innovation processes in the past, thanks to AI. In today’s AI-driven landscape, Mastercard notes, the most impactful initiatives deliver on three urgent imperatives: they make businesses smarter, more secure, and more personal.
- Ground innovation in strategy: Understanding the purpose of an initiative — whether it’s to keep pace, differentiate or trailblaze — is the first step in aligning innovation with business strategy. To navigate these trade-offs, organizations should assess each initiative based on cost, risk, and value. This ensures alignment with risk tolerance, resource allocation, and growth ambition.
- Focus on outcomes, not the hype: The allure of AI is undeniable. But for all its promise, AI remains a means to an end — not the end itself. Without clear goals and relevant KPIs, even the most sophisticated AI initiative can become a solution in search of a problem. Not every process benefits from automation, and not every dataset will yield game-changing insights. Identify KPI’s early: Clearly define the outcomes your business wants to achieve and the key performance indicators (KPIs) that will guide you from ambition to impact.
- Be purposeful with data and deployment: The companies seeing the most meaningful returns are building on a solid foundation of data, measuring incremental progress toward KPIs and enabling rapid activation. This helps minimize cost and risk while accelerating development. In a phased approach, phase one is to lay the foundation while phase two is to activate with agility. Selecting the right AI tool is also key to this initiative, as is making sure the right data is relevant, secure, comprehensive, and organized.Structure for measurable progress as well. As far as agility, Mastercard recommends key phases such as design with intent, rapid prototyping, and operationalizing agile development.
- Think big, test small, and optimize rollout: Before AI initiatives are ready for scale, they must prove their value in the real world. That means conducting rigorous, small-scale experiments that assess not just technical feasibility, but also scalability, ROI, and operational fit. If an initiative doesn’t scale, it won’t succeed — and if it doesn’t deliver measurable value, it won’t last.
- Build a meaningful innovation pipeline: Impactful ideas can come from anywhere within a business — on the sales floor, in the call center or from the marketing department. To surface these ideas, businesses need what Mastercard terms a testing pipeline that’s open, inclusive, and well-organized. This could entail crowdsourcing ideas, establishing a cross-functional innovation council, and prioritizing clear testing.
- Accelerate innovation with confidence: AI holds extraordinary promise — but realizing that promise requires more than ambition. It demands a structured roadmap, measured mindset and commitment to learning through action. From setting KPIs tied to business outcomes to crafting pilots that test small and scale smart, organizations can de-risk innovation without slowing their momentum.
Approaches for De-Risking Innovation
The FEI: Innovation Summit will be held October 5-6, 2026, at The Colorado Convention Center, Denver. The summit will be co-located with TMRE.
In the Quick Takes session, Jenny Gusba, Vice President, R&D Strategy at PepsiCo, will discuss, “De-Risking Innovation: How Innovation Leaders Decide What Moves Forward.”
Many organizations invest heavily in breakthrough technologies, yet struggle to translate them into real‑world impact. This case study shares a practical, real‑world example of how emerging technologies are systematically evaluated and advanced by identifying killer questions, executing proof‑of‑concepts, and comparing competing solutions. Attendees will discuss a repeatable approach for de‑risking innovation and landing execution.
Click here for more information about the FEI: Innovation Summit
Building Mindset & Momentum
In its insightful report, Mastercard has presented a contemporary approach to de-risking innovation, especially through the rapid lens of AI developments. To be sure, the guardrails and safety features of corporate innovation remain part of this newly invigorated process. But with AI, everything is accelerated, including the weight of de-risking options.
“The mandate is clear: Innovation isn’t about chasing trends — it’s about building a system that turns ambition into action,” advises Mastercard. “The organizations that will lead in the age of AI are those that can move fast while maintaining trust, scale smart without losing focus and make bold bets backed by measurable outcomes. With the right structure, mindset and momentum, innovation becomes not just possible — but inevitable.”
Video: “How to balance risk management in corporate innovation with Alice Ponti | EP 9, Faces of Innovation,” courtesy of 28th&Park.
