**3. Conclusions**

Throughout the chapter, examples were provided of organizations that are considered to be innovative. The conclusion of the chapter focuses on specifying commonalities between innovative organizations. We believe themes emerge in the five profiles highlighting linkages between HRD, KM, and innovation. The identification of similar practices and processes may not make it easier for organizations to be innovative, but it does facilitate understanding by practitioners and researchers of some organizational antecedents necessary for innovation to flourish.

We hope this chapter also accomplishes a secondary goal to solidify and clarify where the pres‐ ence of HRD together with KM establishes conditions necessary for innovation. HRD looks to develop and unleash human expertise and creativity with its focus on career development, train‐ ing, and organizational development. HRD at these five cases contribute to facilitating a learning culture, providing a broad spectrum of learning and development (L&D) opportunities, and providing employees a broad spectrum of opportunities and encouraging diversity of thought and new ideas. On the other hand, KM focuses on the development of communities of practices, organizational knowledge sharing through lesson learned process, and the utilization of tech‐ nology to create infrastructure for storing and sharing expertise and best practices. These KM processes facilitate and sustain individual and collective activities to help manage the flow of knowledge (to acquire, create, store, share, use, and assess) throughout the organization. When and where there is expertise and creativity coupled with methods of harnessing, sharing, and growing knowledge and ideas, we believe an organizational environment or culture can exist for innovation. **Figure 1** captures the relation between HRD, KM, and innovative organization.
