The IPACSO process model consists of the following high-level elements (themes):
• The PaCS Core Innovation Process: The PaCS Core Innovation Process consists of the various steps that an organization goes through when taking an innovation from cradle to grave. In general we can distinguish between two major themes with the Core Innovation Process – the Ideas Theme and the Product & Service Theme.
o The Ideas Theme contains all the various activities or steps that an organization can perform to correctly manage and perform innovation up to the point where the innovation is ready to be turned into an actual, commercially viable product.
o The Product (& Service) Theme refers to those steps that deal with getting a fundable idea that has been approved during the portfolio management activity to market.
• The PaCS Supporting Innovation Process: In order to be able to successfully execute the Core Innovation Process, an organization requires several supporting processes. One can distinguish between the following supporting processes:
o Process: this theme contains those activities that an organization can execute in order to assure the existence and correct application of the Core Innovation Process.
o Market: this element describes the market in which PaCS innovators have to operate. It consists of various market-level actors and influencers, such as governments, competitors, collaborators, local or international culture etc. This Theme also contains those activities that an organization can execute in order to make sure that they can accurately scan and assess their market environment.
o People: this theme contains those activities that an organization can execute in order to make sure that they are doing the right things to attract innovation-oriented people and to motivate their existing people to innovate.

The main guiding principle in the PaCS Core Innovation Process is the application of a “lean” and “agile” mind-set. The PaCS space is technologically very complex, needs a short reaction time and has an extremely high impact on society. A classical, lengthy waterfall approach, where all steps are sequentially executed one after another, is not well suited for innovation in the PaCS space.
Innovation in the PaCS domain needs a high degree of flexibility in the design process: Innovation has to respond very quickly to an ever-changing market environment. In this situation projects can even be cancelled in an early phase of the process because of changing market conditions or innovation managers can decide to skip several research steps because the market is crying for a solution to an identified problem.
The above-mentioned characteristics are the main reasons why the PaCS Core Innovation Process is not fully structured but a semi-structured innovation.