Thoughts from Eindhoven – Corporate Venturing Leadership Forum

The key theme that emerged in Eindhoven was that of TIME.

What a treat to go to the HighTech Campus in Eindhoven: an outstanding ecosystem brought together through the collaboration of the corporates, academia, government and visionaries. A hardware slant was a nice change too.

To get the visit off to a (very) warm start we were welcomed to traditional Dutch hospitality a De LeemerHoef with a roaring fire and some great food. One of my treats at these events is the opportunity to connect and hear from local delegates who can give a different perspective to our normal bubbles.

After dinner we were treated to a talk by Jolan Hulscher and Prof Georges Romme – introducing the Eindhoven ecosystems and the differences in mindset between Eindhoven, Cambridge and Munich. Importantly how areas without an innovative / entrepreneurial mindset will find it increasingly difficult to compete

Next day we had an early start on the HighTech Campus itself. To settle us into our seats overlooking the lake (skateable the previous week.) we were given a historical perspective on the area and how it grew up into the place that it was today. It is amazing to see the impact of history on today’s ecosystems.

Our first case study was from Benno (Philips). He shared how they manage their intrapreneurship and external accelerator programmes and how this fits in with their Corporate Investment funds. Echoing previous meetings, he highlighted the importance of strategic focus in the areas you wanted to encourage innovations. In addition, he highlighted the importance of having a timetable for events – having a drip feed of non-focussed ideas is no good.

A key takeaway was they look for more than one founder in any start-up they work with. This tallies with previous research work I have done, highlighting the importance of more than one (ideally in different age groups) in high growth companies, but it is the first time I have seen it implemented as a hard rule.

This was followed by the energetic Guus (Hightech XL), the on-site accelerator who spoke about how they work with local corporates to build accelerators and increasingly work with internal accelerators. Key messages included:

  • Time – it has taken 5 years to get to the success they now are, the first 2 years were fairly flat and it was touch and go, a lot of lessons were learned.
  • Success rate is running at an impressive 75% of starting companies: being very careful about who you pick means you save money overall
  • They have a strategic plan – it’s called DOING THINGS!

Mark (Abbvie) then spoke about how he had managed a change in culture at Abbvie to make it a more innovative culture. The impact and change really kicked in after 3 years.

After all that excitement, we were glad to stretch our legs and walk to NXP labs for lunch and the afternoon session. We kicked-off by launching our joint member project based on Prof. Erkko’s previous suggestions to help members understand how to get more generativity.

Clara (NXP) then gave us a wonderful insight into the ever-changing world of semiconductors, updating her definition of Moore’s law to computational power. We also looked at cost and time of innovation in an expensive hardware environment. As well as the importance of Understanding Systems / Ecosystems.

A quick quiz on % R&D spend being purely disruptive was also enlightening!! How much do you do?

Another young talent led our final session, Lulu (NXP) demonstrating some of the latest developments including kissing chameleons, drones communications and automatic truck platooning – the importance of timing, in this case, was in milliseconds, not years!….

NEXT STOP BARCELONA – 17th – 18th May 2018

This blog first appeared on the Centre for Business Innovation Blog

 

Image by Steven Lek (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Thoughts from London – Corporate Venturing Leadership Forum

Another fantastic event – the Biggest Surprise was how many people in the room were Estonian e-residents!  What a cutting-edge group of geeks we are 😉

It was a dual centre format and this allowed us to see some new faces – and two amazing venues

Thoughts from Geovation

We were treated to a number of short (in most cases) presentations at Geovation interspersing some insights into the latest innovations with some lighter stories about London.

Key take-outs for me were:

  • The scale of the prize in Fintech disintermediation mentioned by Chris Sier. I also really liked the way he presented this as a benefit to the consumer  
  • The power of a fully functioning ecosystem in the two examples presented by Alex (Geovation) and Amy (Level 39) – and the use of a cookie bell..
  • The particularly enjoyed the counterpoint from Marc at MXC Capital with a more financially driven approach. 

I very much enjoyed so many intense conversations continuing over drinks and food – though I am not sure security was so happy with the time we left

Thoughts from Belron

My first take-away from this event was that I needed to play more chess – someone is trying to tell you something when every keynote mentions it!

Four great sessions – starting with an inspirational presentation from Nick (Belron) who really demonstrated how he is using innovation programmes to face digitisation and disruption head-on.

Key points:

  • ‘strategically important’ is not necessarily your core business
  • IBM Watson hackathon shows what is possible when people are empowered. 
Nick’s presentation highlighted that while it is imperative that these activities have a strategic imperative it might not be the core company deliverable,  Andy (Schneider Electric) took this to the next stage and spoke about how activities can be aligned with sustainability e.g the Global Sustainable Goals. The message: there are many parts of the corporate that do not necessarily touch each other but through collaboration both areas can be strengthened.

Staying with the theme of using collaboration to solve societal problems (and generally very big problems) Marc (Telefonica) spoke very eloquently about how corporate partnerships with XXXXX have helped them innovate and connect disadvantaged communities. Some amazing thoughts:

  • Think about who should be in the start-up team (Queen – well connected all rounder, Knight – able to jump over obstacles and make things happen, Rook/Bishop – deep subject knowledge)
  • The old Sun-Tzu expression – keep your friends close but your enemies closer… taking the CTO to every meeting!

However, what was really resonating with me at this point is that it is all about value alignment..If you can line up the value drivers of everyone in the ecosystem (other corporates, start-ups and end consumers) then BIG things will happen.

Which brings me nicely to Prof Erkko’s amazing trip through ecosystems…the good, the bad and the ugly. It is impossible to talk about this presentation without mentioning the fact he cemented his academic credentials early on with his calculation of the exact amount of rice on the last square and used a word that no-one else had heard of.

Next stop …. Eindhoven and the High Tech Campus

This blog first appeared on the CfBI website

Thoughts from Paris – Corporate Venturing Leadership Forum

Wow! What an adventure in Paris. As part of our programme under the Centre for Business Innovation umbrella.

A capacity crowd of corporate venturers, lab leaders and innovators came together in Paris to talk about all things ‘working with / partnering with small companies and start-ups.

Nissan Innovation lab being perfect hosts and kindly offering us all a chance to interact with their latest incubatees.

With the calibre of attendees we had, it is easy to see why Jean-Francois from NUMA told us that corporate venturing has doubled in the last 3 years, with over $83.5bn invested and now accounts for 20% of all Venture Capital invested.

It was a packed schedule of:

  • Case studies:
  • Key Speakers & Academics:
    • Jean-Francois Caillard, NUMA and one of France’s leading CV do-ers
    • Prof. Anna Glaser ESCP Europe management school
  • Workshop – creating a ‘Curious Company’.

Quite amazed at the ground we covered (and still finished on time!). I certainly left with my brain on fire…

Highlights

For me, there were some key areas that resonated throughout the day – I am not sure there were answers but we heard a lot from both sides…

  • How to …survive the corporate Tsunami
  • Co-location of internal teams and start-ups.
  • The longer term thinking allowed by remaining on a salary with a safe job to go back to vs. the entrepreneurial creativity caused by having to pay the rent this month
  • Is the CV department the correct point of contact or do you allow other areas of your business to undertake this type of activity?
  • ‘Options’ are they the easiest way forward for investments – Afterall the only time you will need to get senior sign-off is when it is a success!
  • Conflicts of interest: Your company as a shareholder AND as a client Your business lines may prefer to work with a competitor

And of course my favorite: Write and keep the “investment thesis” – since management evolves faster than portfolio

I am looking forward to arranging the content for 23/4 January in London. There are a few places available – let me know if you would like to find out how to attend.

This blog originally appeared on the CFBI blog

Corporate Venturing Leadership Forum goes to Paris

 

Much of our time recently has been preparing for our programme under the Centre for Business Innovation umbrella.

Hosted by Nissan Innovation Lab in Paris on 17/18th October we are welcoming a select group of corporates who are innovating in partnership with SMEs and Start-ups – Incubators, Accelerators, Partnerships and Equity Investments.

Attendance has doubled since our July event, with Nissan, NXP, Telefonica, Geovation, Belron being joined by BASF, Veissmann, Lloyds Bank, Eurapco and Societe Generale.

Our key focus is creating content that adds value to our members  – though our main job is usually keeping the meeting to time!

We are proud to say this event looks like a doozy.

  • Two workshops on the key themes: Cultural Clashes and Impacts of Investment, being supported by:
  • Case Studies: Nissan Innovation Lab, Societe Generale Moonshot-Internet, Oxsensis, and
  • International Experts: Asst Prof. Anna Glaser, ESCP Europe and Jean-Francois Caillard, COO Numa

Looking forward to welcoming everyone for the first glass of vin rouge at the Ambassade d’Auvergne.

Get in touch if you want to know more.

 

Kind Words

We always get a warm glow when our work has made a difference 🙂

“Through this project Value Adage have played a significant role in highlighting the complexities and confusion surrounding the national approach to trade and investment policy. Their work has already had an impact, helping to support negotiations with key national stakeholders and galvanising the ambitions of local government, including the newly established Mayoral Combined Authorities. They broke new ground while keeping leading politicians on board and managed to deliver a focused and coherent report at a time of unprecedented political uncertainty. Adam and Heather were a pleasure to work with and their expertise was well matched by their professionalism and quality of work.”

Driving Corporate Innovation

We are pleased to announce the inaugural meeting of the Corporate Venturing Leadership Forum will take place on the 12th July. Welcoming attendees from amongst others:

  • Valeo
  • NXP / Qualcomm
  • Geovation
  • Belron International
  • Telefonica
  • Jaguar Land Rover (TBC)
  • etc.

Hosted at Clare College, Cambridge, we will be understanding how corporates can successfully integrate innovation from partnerships with start-ups and small companies.

We still have tickets available for this event and they can be combined with tickets to the Summer Innovation Summit the previous day, where speakers include: Amazon, HP, IBM, Cass Business School.

Contact Adam for details

The CVLF is a major new innovation program run for the Centre for Business Innovation.

 

Future of Automotive – Future Agenda

Future Agenda is the world’s largest open foresight initiative. It collects data and information from a global network of experts and regional roundtables to look into the deep future  (5 – 20 years).  Even better the key results are open and free.

The ‘big trends’ are always fascinating and it is always the first stop for us if we are looking (and have a spare few hours to get sucked in!).

We were lucky enough to get involved with a project on the future of the automotive industry, researching and investigating the advances in technology and connected cars in the future.

The three #keytakeways for us were:

  • More and more convergence between industries – connected / autonomous cars are x-ing automotive, financial services, retail, leisure, logistics, the list goes on… it is all about  #partneringforsuccess
  • Ownership of data, connections etc are going to be the key battle-fields… plus ca change
  • If you ever lose mobile signal in a city it is quite likely to be someone with a jammer on to bypass their telematics box!!!

Strengthening Sub-National Trade and Investment post #BREXIT

The global landscape for Trade and Investment is undergoing significant changes, not least within the context of Britain’s departure from the European Union.

The LGA (Local Government Association) has launched a project to understand the role of sub-national organisations in developing place-based responses to the risks and opportunities of international trade and investment in this new environment.

We are delighted to have been chosen to help the LGA on this important project and look forward to speaking to many of you who are undertaking ground-breaking work in this area.

The barriers for trading outside the EU

The United Nations International Trade Centre asked us to help understand the non-tariff trade barriers that UK firms face when they trade outside the EU free-trade block.

Working with market research specialists MMarket Solutions we conducted interviews with 1800 UK companies to find out the issues they face. The research and interviews were conducted prior to #BREXIT and will prove to be a useful evidence base for future research.

We are pleased to announce that the report is now available for download and highlights issues that the UK needs to think about as it leaves the EU