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Open innovation provides a vital way for corporates to break the boundaries they’ve set for themselves and draw upon a broader pool of talent and insights to solve innovation challenges. It can be as shallow as tossing a problem or product campaign out to an external group to solicit ideas, or as deep as partnering with a dynamic start-up to create new products and services. But making such partnerships work, particularly deep collaborations between corporates and start-ups, is no easy feat. The reasons for large corporate Goliaths to work with nimble entrepreneurial Davids are not obvious because these companies have so many differences. On top of facing various legal and regulatory constraints, corporates often have low risk tolerance and lack strategic focus from the management towards working with start-ups. Corporates and start-ups have very different needs when they start collaborating. For example, corporates may think that start-ups are seeking funds and expertise from the corporate reserves. In reality, most start-ups want to work with corporates to gain market access, with funding and expertise coming in a distant second and third. Similarly, start-ups might think that corporates view them as a source of innovative ideas to improve their internal operations. In reality, corporates view start-ups as a source of external knowledge to not just improve internal operations, but also to offer corporate customers new products and services. Understanding the needs of partners is the most important driver for the success of collaborations. Yet, many companies, start-ups and corporates alike may not fully achieve this understanding.

The only way to protect yourself from disruption is to disrupt yourself. While you sustain and improve your current product, be sure to challenge it from inside of your organisation. Try to build up a service or a product that has a significant advantage over the your core product. Try to push it away and weaken your product‘s market position. Be the market newcomer everyone underestimates. A dual approach is about this: have your main workforce evolve your sustaining innovation while another smaller and autonomous department develops a disruptive innovation that aims to replace the legacy product.

Today, we will examine the 5 perks of corporate venturing as a key to unlocking innovation. Corporate venturing refers to the practice of established companies investing in or collaborating with smaller, entrepreneurial firms or startups to stimulate innovation, promote growth, and achieve a competitive edge. Corporate venturing offers you five key advantages: Access To Innovation Established firms recognize the value of partnering with startups or entrepreneurial companies as a means to gain access to all-new technology, disruptive business models, and evolving market trends. These will enhance or complement your current offerings and customer experience. 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐓𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 Collaborating closely with a startup can help your business speed up innovation cycles and introduce new products or services to the market more quickly, leveraging the agility that startups offer compared to larger corporations. This partnership enables swift iterations and adaptable responses to changing market demands. 𝐃𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 Corporate venturing allows companies to broaden their business portfolios, diversify revenue streams, and tap into new markets. By investing in startups operating in related or complementary industries, your business gains the advantage of lessening reliance on established markets and capitalizing on growth opportunities in emerging sectors. 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐀𝐜𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 Startups are a valuable pool of entrepreneurial talents to attract into your business, particularly when you require new perspectives and an innovative culture. By providing ample resources, mentorship, and networking avenues, your company can foster the growth of the upcoming generation of leaders and innovators within its own ranks. 𝐑𝐢𝐬𝐤 𝐌𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 Investing in a startup allows you to avoid the need to allocate substantial internal resources or engage in major acquisitions while testing out creative concepts and pursuing fresh possibilities. Additionally, staying ahead of industry trends and emerging technologies enables you to mitigate risk and safeguard against potential disruptions. Corporate venturing serves as a guiding light for innovation in today's ever-changing business environment. It empowers you to capitalize on a startup’s inventive, flexible, and transformative nature to maximize your potential without excessive expenditure of your own resources. Which specific industries or markets could your company gain the most advantages through corporate venturing?’ PS: Besides corporate venturing, if you feel like your business could also use an innovative boost, our 1-Day Profit Model Innovation Workshop can provide the solution you are looking for. Here’s where you can get the full info and registration: https://lnkd.in/gmE7v27G

What is the secret sauce for Open Innovation & Corporate Venturing? Bad news, it doesn't exist. It´s not one-size-fits-all company requirements. In the last ten years, we´ve seen many recipes for achieving an excellent corporate venturing strategy and, of course, the opposite. Let´s face it: you need to crawl before you walk, and in Corporate, Venturing is the same. The IESE Business School mentioned several vehicles for corporate venturing in their white paper, Open Innovation, Corporate Venturing Squads: Teaming Up with Other Corporations to Better Innovate with Start-Ups. Each has different objectives and implementation complexities, from scouting missions and Hackathons (low complexity) to corporate accelerators and venture clients (high complexity). Here are some of the Vehicles for Corporate Venturing:👇🏼 🔸Scouting missions:  Undertaken by professionals from an industry in which a company is interested. 🔸Hackathon: Intense workshop in which software developers collaborate, either individually or in teams, to find technological solutions to a corporate 🔸Sharing Resources: is a simple form of collaboration between corporations and start-ups. 🔸Challenge Prize: This open competition focuses on a specific issue. It gives innovators an incentive to provide new solutions based on new opportunities. 🔸Corporate accelerator: A program that provides intensive short- or medium-term support to cohorts of rapid growth start-ups via mentoring, training, physical working space, and company-specific resources. 🔸Corporate Venture Capital: Corporations target equity investment at start-ups of strategic interest beyond a purely financial return. 🔸Venture Builder: Corporations aim to fast-track the growth of start-ups through a combination of several tools (e.g., corporate incubators, corporate accelerators) 🔸Corporate Incubator: This program provides entrepreneurs value-added mentoring services and working spaces to build viable opportunities and business models ready to market in exchange for a share of equity. 🔸Strategic partnership: Alliance between corporations and start-ups to enable them to define, develop, and pilot innovative solutions. 🔸Venture Client: Involves a specific type of strategic partnership and a highly integrated tool companies can use to purchase the first unit of a start-up’s product, service, or technology when the start-up is not yet mature enough to become a supplier. You can download the whitepaper here 👉🏽 https://bit.ly/43LmhqE Kudos to the authors of this document @mariajuliaprats Josemaria Siota Carla Bustamante Ph.D. @beatrizcamachoavila Do you know other vehicles for Open Innovation? Please leave your comments below 👇🏼 #IESE #Innovation #Impact #Corporates

Did you know that most corporate startups die at the MVP stage? If you’re a corporate leader seeking to take your company to new heights, you’ll need a perfectly oiled innovation engine to help you achieve your goals. Unfortunately, this road is typically full of challenges. Pioneers’ Head of Venture Design Michael Lunzer (former Wlaschitz) described 6 corporate practices killing innovative business ideas:  - +70% of ideas are killed before validation, often due to artificial limits - Many ideas misaligned with strategic priorities - Early ideas judged by standard project criteria despite lack of clear plans - Overtaxing existing employees on innovation projects - Teams lack expertise in validation methods/tools - No equity/upside offered for employees developing new business models Read Michael’s full post on Pioneers.io blog: https://lnkd.in/drWdrTBD Looking for a partner to guide your company in its corporate innovation efforts? Contact us today! #corporateinnovation #corporateventuring #digitaltransformation #venturebuilding 🗞️ Join our community of +15K corporate innovators! Sign up for Pioneers.io’s Corporate Innovation Newsletter: https://lnkd.in/dKe-tzrn

Thanks for sharing Innov8rs.co This conversation that I moderated between Ben Yoskovitz and Gabriel Woo touches on many of the challenges that internal innovators face within the context of large organizations. They key thing to remember, no matter what you're doing, is what is your strategy and why does what you're building matter? For more insight on how to do that check out the post.

May the 8th be with you... 😉 Here's today's [i8upd8] ✳ If innovation teams are unable to connect their activities to the business’s core strategy, they risk losing the faith of leadership and even being shut down. Here's Paige Halam-Andres & Ben Yoskovitzwith Gabriel Woo exploring how innovation teams can adapt to the changing expectations of leadership and align to corporate strategy > https://lnkd.in/dPGTyamK ✳ Financial services group Société Générale has a large footprint, with thousands of employees, millions of clients, and multiple locations around the world. They wanted to eliminate single use plastics in its French premises by 2025. Learn how an open innovation platform helped Société Générale do this > https://lnkd.in/d7EPyDc8 ✳ Successfully and consistently innovating requires unlearning a number of common behaviours and ways of thinking. Here are 9 strategies to maximize revenue returns on innovation investment > https://lnkd.in/geu_xcvV ✳ Companies have used crowdsourcing and idea competitions to involve outsiders in the innovation process, but many struggle to capitalize on these contributions. They’ve lacked an efficient way to evaluate the ideas, or to synthesize different ideas. Generative AI can help over­come those challenges > https://lnkd.in/gK3T5sqj ✳ Fostering a thriving culture for innovation within an organization requires more than buzzwords and well-intentioned initiatives. It demands a comprehensive realignment of the company's form to enable its innovation-led functional purpose effectively, suggests Cris Beswick > https://lnkd.in/d3W48tit ✳ It is normal for corporate investors to sit on the boards of startups they invest in. But who is best place to take that board seat? Should it be a member of the CVC or someone from the relevant unit at the parent company? https://lnkd.in/g7rWdbD4 ✳ Startup entrepreneurs and corporate venture builders share a lot in common. They are also fundamentally different. Understanding this can help corporations be better at spotting their potential innovation leaders and give them the opportunity to generate new value before they leave, says Andrew Binns > https://lnkd.in/dkc5REYs ✳ Samuel West and Susan Lindner explore the many layers of failure—from its inevitability in pursuing innovation to its potential as a catalyst for significant breakthroughs. They discuss how rebranding failures as experiments can change our perspective and lessen the sting of setbacks, making innovation less agonizing and more fruitful > https://lnkd.in/dc8QWv48

Innovation Insights: 10 Steps to Circular Startup Pivot Engaging with circular start-ups embarking on transformative journeys is a part of our expertise at Material Mastery. Today, we were sought after to provide strategic guidance for a pivotal shift. In a recent case, a startup found itself surpassed by large and established innovative competitors, losing its Unique Selling Proposition (USP). While quitting was an option, was it the only one? Together, we explored three alternative strategic options, paving the way for a new direction." Navigating the intricate terrain of circular innovation requires not just a rational pivot but also an emotionally resonant direction. Founders often tread a solitary path, and our role is to guide them towards both the pragmatic and heartfelt pivot.   For circular start-ups seeking guidance in their pivot, we're delighted to unveil our comprehensive 10-step approach.   How we navigate this journey:   1) Understand the Why: Delve into the reasons necessitating the pivot – be it shifts in the market, evolving customer demands, profitability concerns, partnership dynamics, or the emergence of new players. This understanding forms the foundation for a tailored pivot plan. 2) Market Mapping: Chart your current market landscape and extend your exploration to neighboring markets that share commonalities. 3) Opportunity + Threats Analysis: Conduct a meticulous analysis of opportunities and threats across these neighboring markets. 4) Self-Reflection: Undertake an honest evaluation of your startup's strengths and weaknesses. 5) Define Your Professional Space: Envision your ideal professional environment. What energizes you? What company culture resonates with you? What tasks do you excel at and enjoy? 6) Strategic Options: Based on these insights, craft strategic options outlining your offer, target market, and critical success factors for excellence. 7) Narrow Down to 3 Options: Identify a maximum of three options and allow them to marinate in your thoughts overnight. 8) Validate Assumptions: Step away from your desk to scrutinize all assumptions tied to each of the three options. 9) Refine and Build: Fine-tune your strategic option and commence strategy building. Strip away the misconceptions about strategy; it boils down to answering two pivotal questions – Where to play? How to win? 10) Relationship Building and Validation: Initiate the process of building relationships and verify the viability of your strategy – and there you have it. Are we overlooking anything?   At Material Mastery, we specialize in propelling ambitious circular companies to leadership status. Our expertise lies in crafting winning strategies and overcoming material-related challenges with deep material knowledge, systems thinking, and extra creativity. Yes, we do both! Feel free to request references if you need assurance about our capabilities. #circulareconomy #circularstartups #howtopivot

Strategy and Innovation, a short morning reading One of many things I love about studying in formal school is that I can free my imagination about a topic, that is so refreshing. Given that formal school is a luxurious for me currently, reading can be a good option, however, reading a full book also takes time. The choice then falls to articles form prominent publisher or higher education. That is a good escape for me. To get some refreshment for my mind, to avoid being trapped in stiff and narrow perspective resulted from doing routine repeatedly. Some says that oversimplification found in many short articles, they don’t consider many things. However, I take that, isn't that type of reading we need, to bring simplicity in viewing things we often see with sophisticated lens. After months dwelling in the economic, geopolitical, business news, I decided to read one HBR article this morning, a very short one, not the best I’ve ever read but the result is so unexpectedly good. It reminds me again to what I believe in my entire career that innovation shall be embedded in strategy. The articles stated that in many companies, innovation teams allowed to pursue their own agenda and imagine itself to be a separate island from the rest of the company. The results are always disappointing: a lot of creative ideas, but a failure to deliver meaningful growth. The root problem is the disconnect between strategy and innovation. It’s true that there are no crystal balls in innovation. The author offers five steps to help embed strategy into the innovation process. 1.     Define Strategic Priorities and Set strategy at different levels. 2.     Share strategy with all employees. 3.     Greenlight projects based on strategic fit. 4.     Rapidly validate through experimentation. 5.     Scale up the few that work and quickly shutter the majority that don’t. A simple conclusion is that just like a VC firm investing in startups, we won’t know in advance which new ventures will work. This is why innovation depends on portfolio investing, experimentation, and iterative funding. But for corporate innovation, one more thing is essential: Every venture must start from an idea that fits the strengths and strategy of the corporate parent. The articles suggest that companies must learn to link every innovation effort to two pillars of strategy: a clear set of growth priorities, and an understanding of the firm’s unique advantages. 

The Desire to Win - Aligning Innovation with Corporate Priorities In a corporate landscape dominated by the pursuit of innovation, many organizations find themselves grappling with a crucial question: “How do we win in innovation?” which can be split into 3 aspects: 1. Do we have the Right to Win 2. Desire to Win, and 3. the Path to Win? This article, written by Stefan Jacob, is a part of a three-part series in collaboration with EDB's Corporate Venture Launchpad program, delves into the heart of corporate innovation, focusing on the second question: The Desire to Win. --- In the race for successful innovation, it's not merely about wanting to innovate but instilling a genuine Desire to Win. For innovation to thrive, it must be intricately woven into a company's business strategy, entwined with success metrics. The Wright Partners approach addresses this from the outset, employing a lightweight, outcomes-driven model that strategically aligns with the four key pillars: Strategic alignment, Relevant metrics, Formal & informal governance, and Nurturing optionality. Dive deeper into the topic by reading more here: https://lnkd.in/gKWg6-P7 This article unfolds the second question of corporate innovation, exploring strategic alignment, the importance of relevant metrics, the role of formal and informal governance, and the necessity of nurturing optionality. --- Are your innovation initiatives aligned with your corporate strategy? Are you measuring impact with the right metrics vs focusing on vanity metrics? In the pursuit of successful innovation, answering these questions becomes a collective responsibility. We are happy to support you to shift your Desire to Win from a mere aspiration to a tangible reality. Together, let's shape a future of impactful and transformative innovation. Reach out to us at contact@wright.partners to explore how we can collaborate on building a Desire to Win within your organization. --- This article is written as part of Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB)'s Corporate Venture Launchpad 2.0 programme — an expanded S$20m programme by EDB New Ventures, designed to enable companies to incubate and launch a new venture from Singapore, supported by venture studios experienced in corporate venture building. #venturesmadepossible