Professional Certification
GInI's Professional Certification Program involves six unique certifications, each based on a corresponding professional examination. View the descriptions below to determine which of these best matches your education, experience, and professional needs. The six certifications are:
Certified Innovation Associate (CInA)®
The GInI Certified Innovation Associate® (CInA®) is GInI’s special recognition of university students – generally those nearing their graduation date – who have demonstrated a clear understanding of certain fundamental topics pertaining to business innovation and to serving as a contributing innovator inside the business environment.
CInA® certification affirms the student’s understanding of key, foundational innovation concepts and practices, including: how to be an effective innovator, conducting research to uncover new insights, brainstorming & the GInI Breakthrough Innovation Method, Design Thinking, executing innovation projects, developing business plans & pitching new concepts, launching & scaling new business ventures, and new venture funding mechanisms.
For university students preparing to enter into the workforce, there is no better way to stand out as a knowledgeable innovator – one with the knowledge and ability to deliver meaningful new innovation inside a business – than the GInI Certified Innovation Associate® certification.
Become an Innovative Thinker
You will come to understand what innovation is and the role it plays in driving businesses forward. You will learn how to think differently about the value and experiences you deliver to your markets. You will learn specific methods and techniques for pursuing innovation and ensuring that innovation projects make it successfully from concept to reality.
Learn to See the World with New Eyes
You will come to understand how innovation requires stepping back and looking at challenges through a different set of lenses. You will learn how to decompose challenges into new hypotheses that can be tested and verified. You will also learn how to reexamine and challenge existing orthodoxies in the hunt for new and better ways to solve wicked problems.
Become the Driving Force for New Levels of Market Connection
By learning how to drive powerful, market-led solutions to emerging challenges, you will become recognized as the driving force for constantly reconnecting businesses to their markets at increasingly higher levels. This will enable you to deliver meaningful impact on behalf of your business and secure its place as a truly innovative organization.
Become a Catalyst for “What’s Next“
You will develop a deep appetite for finding new and better ways of delivering customer value and experiences. You will learn how to be deeply attuned to your markets and how to deliver new demand-creating value in those markets. You will learn how to conceive market-winning next generation solutions and how to advocate for those with key stakeholders and investors.
Step 1- Meet the exam eligibility requirements:
To be eligible to register for the CInA exam, an individual must:
1. be registered as either a Junior or Senior in an accredited university program;
2. show proof of ownership of the GInI Innovation Associate Reference Book.
Step 2- Apply for and pass the CInA exam:
The CInA is a 90-minute exam with 90 multiple-choice questions and a passing score of 60%.
To maintain your CInA certification, you must earn 45 Innovation Development Units (IDUs) every three (3) years or retake the CInA exam.
Detailed information can be found under Maintain Your Certificate.
| Obtaining CInP Certification | GInI Member | Non-Member |
| Exam Enrollment Fee | 300 USD | 350 USD |
| IDU Application Submission Fee** every 3-year cycle | 50 USD | 100 USD |
| Innovation Associate Reference Book (InARB) – digital only | 75 USD | 125 USD |
