Audit & Certification of an IMS

ISO is currently developing ISO 17021, Part 16 for the audit and certification of an Innovation Management System. This standard, which builds on top of ISO 17021, Part 1 Requirements will provide the basis for certification bodies (CBs) to become authorized to perform ISO 56001 certifications and issue ISO certificates to their audit clients.

The standard development process is currently in the Working Draft (WD) stage, and is targeted for a mid-2027 release; however, there are several indicators that it may be officially published before the end of 2026.

NOTE: Dallas N. Bishoff, the President of PROCESS 360 is the U.S. expert assigned to help TC 279 fast track this standard. Dallas has a substantial amount of audit and certification experience across several ISO standards, which will help accelerate this initiative.

ISO Technical Committee 279 - Innovation Management

Innovation Management is increasingly recognized as an essential way of managing the innovation life cycle within organizations, establishing an innovation ecosystem, and developing professional competencies. ISO Technical Committee 279 (TC 279) oversees the collection of innovation management standards, to include the recent ISO 56001 Innovation Management System. The full listing of TC 279 standards for innovation management can be found here. Key publications include:

• ISO 56000 Innovation Management — Fundamentals and Vocabulary

• ISO 56001 Innovation Management System — Requirements

• ISO 56002 Innovation Management System — Guidance

• ISO 56003 Innovation Management — Tools and Methods for Innovation Partnership — Guidance

• ISO 56004 Innovation Management Assessment — Guidance

• ISO 56005 Innovation Management — Tools and Methods for Intellectual Property Management — Guidance

• ISO 56006 Innovation Management — Tools and Methods for Strategic Intelligence Management — Guidance

• ISO 56007 Innovation Management — Tools and Methods for Managing Opportunities and Ideas — Guidance

• ISO 56008 Innovation Management — Tools and Methods for Innovation Operation Measurements — Guidance

• ISO 56009 Innovation management — Example Implementations of Innovation Operation Measurements

• ISO 56010 Innovation Management — Illustrative Examples of ISO 56000

The ISO 56000-series is relatively new, and TC 279 has been prolific in the number of standards that have been released over the past five years. Here is a listing of additional ISO standards that are under development:

• ISO 56011 Competency Framework for Innovation Management

• ISO 56012 Innovation Management — Innovation Ecosystem Management — Guidance

• ISO 56013 Innovation Management — Innovation Portfolio Management — Guidance

NOTE: PROCESS 360 is voting member of the U.S. committee for TC 279, overseen by ANSI (ansi.org), which is the U.S. voting body and oversees all ISO standards on behalf of the United States.