Tag: Venturing

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.

 

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.