Innovation has been widely recognized as a key for competitive advantage and success in business and requires a lot of effort and discipline. The purpose of this article is to present a new reference model which aims to assist leaders to implement innovation management systems in their companies. This model is composed of six stages that include the basic activities for the innovation practice, taking in account the internal and external firm’s environments, the interdependencies throughout its stages and the required networking for the establishment of the innovation process. This reference model uses a business accessible language and its main distinction from the other existing models is the classification of “intelligence environment” and “strategies definition” as independent stages, once these are essential activities that deserve dedicated coordination.Innovation has been widely recognized as a key for competitive advantage and success in business and requires a lot of effort and discipline. The purpose of this article is to present a new reference model which aims to assist leaders to implement innovation management systems in their companies. This model is composed of six stages that include the basic activities for the innovation practice, taking in account the internal and external firm’s environments, the interdependencies throughout its stages and the required networking for the establishment of the innovation process. This reference model uses a business accessible language and its main distinction from the other existing models is the classification of “intelligence environment” and “strategies definition” as independent stages, once these are essential activities that deserve dedicated coordination.Innovation has been widely recognized as a key for competitive advantage and success in business and requires a lot of effort and discipline. The purpose of this article is to present a new reference model which aims to assist leaders to implement innovation management systems in their companies. This model is composed of six stages that include the basic activities for the innovation practice, taking in account the internal and external firm’s environments, the interdependencies throughout its stages and the required networking for the establishment of the innovation process. This reference model uses a business accessible language and its main distinction from the other existing models is the classification of “intelligence environment” and “strategies definition” as independent stages, once these are essential activities that deserve dedicated coordination.