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The purpose of this paper is to construct an empirical model of innovation as a competence of individuals and validate it. The model takes into consideration the multidimensional characteristics of individuals and the parameters of surrounding ecosystem and establishes their associations with the innovation as a competence.

The model is built based on an extensive review of literature relating to innovation. A diagnostic study is conducted in a large information technology (IT) company to validate the model. The experiment is conducted over a sample of 442 individuals and uses appropriate reliability measures and chi square analysis as a validation technique.

The study establishes association of various measures of innovation competency with individual characteristics and ecosystem parameters. Some of the salient findings are that individuals having a high degree of self‐belief, and an ecosystem where the habits of celebrating success and competitive market are found, do better on innovation as a competence.

This study has significant implications and its findings can facilitate individuals and ecosystem managers to undertake progressive actions. Although the findings are limited to the IT industry, the implications can spread over to formulating competence development strategy in any organizational setting. However, the scope exists to make the research broad based, including factors such as geography, culture, business area of operation, size of organization, etc.

Innovation as a competence of an individual is pivotal to an organization's competitive advantage. This study can facilitate competency management, such as competency planning, deployment, development, utilization and ecosystem up‐gradation.

The model is empirical in nature and has been tested in a large Indian IT firm and the managers have found this model pragmatic and practical.