InnoOrgaEvolution:
A cell-based model for dynamic collaboration
InnoOrgaEvolution is Bundesdruckerei GmbH’s organisational model for collaboration across its innovation function. It creates a fluid structure that combines room for creativity with the stability of an established security technology company. In autonomous cells, interdisciplinary teams take responsibility for forward-looking projects and work flexibly from the initial idea through to a validated concept or prototype.
InnoOrgaEvolution: facts and figures
Project name
InnoOrgaEvolution
In place since
September 2024
Research partner
Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO
Aim
To strengthen team autonomy, increase innovation capability and manage rapid workforce growth
Model
A fluid organisational structure based on the BetaCodex®
Structure
A network of five core cells and around 20 peripheral cells, involving a total of 65 experts
Balancing creative exploration with reliable delivery
Applied research thrives on freedom to explore. Complex customer projects, by contrast, demand reliable delivery – or exploitation in innovation-management terms. In practice, traditional multi-layered management hierarchies often make it harder to balance the two and can reinforce rigid silos.
This challenge gave rise to the central question behind InnoOrgaEvolution: how can a rapidly growing team of highly specialised people be organised so that individual units enjoy maximum autonomy while remaining aligned with shared strategic goals? The innovation function’s answer is a bespoke cell-based organisational design.
How the cell-based model is structured and how it works
Day-to-day collaboration within the innovation function is organised without a conventional top-down hierarchy. Three interlocking spheres create a fluid system that can adapt dynamically to changing project requirements. Team members also work in different cells for limited periods, allowing knowledge to flow continuously across the organisation.
Within this fluid organisational structure, leadership is understood as a dynamic responsibility for keeping the system effective rather than as a hierarchical privilege.
The cell charter: a framework for self-organisation
Autonomy only works without descending into chaos if everyone can rely on shared principles. Day-to-day collaboration is therefore governed by a binding cell charter. It sets out rights and responsibilities and covers the entire lifecycle of a cell – from its creation through to its orderly dissolution once the relevant milestone has been reached.
- Ownership rather than external control: Each cell is responsible for its own strategic direction and for achieving the milestones it has set.
- Transparency by default: To prevent silos from forming, project status, resource planning and decisions are visible across the entire innovation function.
- Task-led flexibility: There are no fixed roles and therefore no automatic power structures. The cell team agrees and allocates whatever tasks are required – from resource planning to organising meetings – and takes responsibility for them.
- Direct decision-making: Transparent, participative processes are in place for making decisions. If a team reaches an impasse, the charter provides a framework for resolving it collaboratively and builds regular feedback loops directly into the teams.
From idea to a dynamic organisation
- Before 2023: Around two dozen employees, working within informal structures.
- 2023: Rapid growth prompted a rethink. Together with Fraunhofer IAO, the team began searching for a new organisational model.
- 2023–2024: All employees worked together to develop the cell charter.
- September 2024: Go-live. Everyone signed the charter and the cell-based organisation launched.
- October 2025: Cell Charter 2.0: sharper, clearer and more closely aligned with day-to-day practice.
- November 2025: 70 per cent of work carried out in cells. More than half of employees reported an improvement in innovation activity.
- 2026: A practice report was published in the specialist journal OrganisationsEntwicklung.
Autonomous cells in practice
The cell-based model demonstrates its strengths in day-to-day delivery. In the peripheral cells, interdisciplinary teams work autonomously on key technologies such as decentralised identities, quantum technologies and synthetic data.
Direct links to the market
When a new technology trend emerges or customer requirements change, the relevant cell can respond immediately. Without lengthy hierarchical approval chains, teams can test new software architectures or prototypes directly with pilot users. Market signals therefore feed straight into development.
Support on demand, on an equal footing
The cells operate as autonomous units. If a team needs additional expertise for a project – on legal issues, coaching or strategic direction, for example – it requests that support directly from other peripheral cells or from the centre. The centre acts as an internal service provider, working with the cells as an equal partner.
Structured scaling and dissolution
Cells are not permanent departments. Once a milestone has been reached or an initiative completed, the process for orderly dissolution set out in the cell charter comes into effect. Team members then take their experience into newly created cells or other existing cells, ensuring continuous knowledge transfer across the network.
Measurable impact: what does the cell structure achieve?
Autonomous cells create tangible benefits for projects, partners and teams. Three areas in particular benefit from the decentralised structure:
Research and practice, hand in hand
Future-ready organisational structures emerge when theoretical expertise is combined with operational practice. The decentralised cell model behind InnoOrgaEvolution was therefore evaluated and refined in close collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO.
The research partnership focuses on studying agile networks in a real-world working environment. The Fraunhofer team evaluated the transformation process through ongoing employee surveys designed to measure innovation capability. The findings feed directly into the continuous refinement of the model.
FAQ: Frequently asked questions
The structure is specifically designed to foster what is known as organisational ambidexterity. Around 70 per cent of all work within the innovation function is carried out in peripheral cells to deliver specific customer projects and assignments. At the same time, the autonomous structure creates room to test new technologies with minimal overhead, outside formal project structures.
Responsibility is shared by the team as a whole and is linked to the tasks defined in the cell charter. Decisions are made locally and on the basis of relevant expertise. Where significant strategic or financial risks are involved, a clearly defined escalation path governs when higher-level decision-making bodies become involved.
The processes for orderly dissolution set out in the cell charter ensure that project outcomes are documented systematically. Once a project has been completed, team members rotate into new cells, taking the knowledge they have gained with them into other parts of the network and retaining it within the organisation.
Share knowledge and join the conversation
Organisational transformation depends on sharing experience. If you would like to learn more about the Innovation cell model, discuss how the cell charter works in practice or exchange ideas on the approach, please get in touch.
Do you have any questions or feedback about the cell model? Please get in touch.
Jörg Fischer
Fellow Innovations, Bundesdruckerei GmbH
E-Mail: joerg.fischer@bdr.de
Felix Nadolni
Innovations, Bundesdruckerei GmbH
E-Mail: felix.nadolni@bdr.de
Maika Hahne-Wiley
Innovations, Bundesdruckerei GmbH
E-Mail: maika.hahne-wiley@bdr.de