How best to measure innovation has bedeviled the business community for years. But with the discipline garnering increased attention—and investments—creating an accepted system of metrics to evaluate its impact has become top priority. Now the U.S. Commerce Dept. wants in. On Apr. 13, it issued a Federal Register notice asking for public comment on a series of innovation measurements it might use to drive public economic and innovation policy.

In the most widely recognized analysis of sustainability performance, the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, companies such as BMW, Samsung, Novartis, Unilever, P&G, M&S, Intel, BT, TNT and Adidas have all come top in their individual sectors in 2006. While all of these companies should be applauded for their achievements, how does this attention to sustainability translate into business growth? Innovaro’s Innovation Leaders analysis and a KPMG International survey may provide some clues.