To be productive, an Innovation Management System must have an effective Assimilation Process.

GInI’sCertified Innovation Professional (CInP) Handbookoutlines the Assimilation Process within the Innovation Management System (InMS) as a critical mechanism for processing ideas into actionable inputs. This involves three specific activities: "challenging" (questioning assumptions or viability of ideas), "accumulating" (collecting and compiling ideas from various sources), and "aggregating" (grouping or synthesizing them into coherent categories or themes). These steps ensure the system filters and organizes raw creativity effectively, aligning with Stage 1 (The Innovation Funnel) and beyond. "Mocking, choosing, lumping" (A) is dismissive and imprecise. "Asking, gathering, sorting" (B) is close but lacks GInI’s emphasis on critical challenge. "Provoking, picking, clustering" (D) shifts tone and misses accumulation’s breadth. Option C matches GInI’s exact terminology, aligning with the original answer, reflecting a structured, analytical approach to idea intake—a foundational GInI process for productivity and rigor in innovation management.