Open Innovation Talks

Mind The Bridge

Welcome to Open Innovation Talks by the global open innovation platform Mind the Bridge: the podcast where Alberto Onetti and Marco Marinucci guide you through the captivating world of tech. Join us for in-depth interviews with influential innovation executives, exploring cutting-edge advancements and trends in technology and open innovation. With exclusive data and invaluable insights, we illuminate major and emerging ecosystems around the world. Whether you're a corporate executive, open innovation practitioner, startup founder, or passionate about startup-corporate collaboration, this podcast is tailored for you. Unravel the intricacies of successful collaboration in the ever-evolving business landscape as we embark on this enlightening journey.

  1. Ep. 28 - Why Public Sector might be an incredible Shaper of Market

    06/19/2024

    Ep. 28 - Why Public Sector might be an incredible Shaper of Market

    Procurement is often perceived as highly boring and bureaucratic. But it is a massive opportunity. Public sector spending, in the UK only, is about 400 billion pounds a year. In Europe we are talking about trillions of euros. Nowadays the public sector is facing more challenges than ever before (after Covid, climate emergence, child and social care, security, …) and it has to do it with tight finances. Public organizations have to deliver better, cheaper, and quicker outcomes. How does the public sector spend money? In the UK 21% of tenders have a single bidder. Why? It is really hard to engage with the public sector, particularly if we refer to innovation. Rather than prescribing, public organizations should be much more open to the market with the problems they want to solve. They should lower the barriers to entry, bring innovation in and work with diverse suppliers (startups, scaleups, academic span-outs, corporate open innovation depts, …). Public Procurement is not about being first, being an inventor, rather be an intelligent client.  If you try to do something from scratch, it always costs more. On the contrary, you can derisk by bringing innovation from outside.It Given the budget they have, the Public Sector can really help shaping the innovation ecosystems. That’s the reason why the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre (IPEC) – a Connected Places Catapult project - introduced a Special Award as part of Startup Ecosystem Stars Awards 2024 aimed to recognize and celebrate the most innovative initiatives within the public sector. This and more in this Mind the Chat with Rikesh Shah - Head of IPE and former Head of Open Innovation at Transport for London (TFL), interviewed by our Chairman Alberto Onetti.

    29 min
  2. Ep. 26 - Inside the CampX model

    04/08/2024

    Ep. 26 - Inside the CampX model

    CampX was launched back in 2020. Labelled as Accelerator, it is actually a Venture Client platform, or, as Helene Niklasson, VP Innovation Ecosystems & Partnership and Head of Camp X - Volvo Group, calls it, a “testing tool” or “validation machine” for onboarding solutions from startups. In this podcast, she delves deeper into the CampX model alongside our Chairman, Alberto Onetti. And here are the main highlights: - Selected startups in very focused areas enter into a POV (Proof of Value). If it is successful, solutions are integrated in technology platforms or services and scaled internally. Since the launch, 80 projects have been validated and about 10-15% of them are currently in the integration phase. The internal target is to run about 50 ongoing projects across the 4 locations (Gothenburg, Lyon, Greensboro, and Bangalore) where Volvo Group has its R&D sites (CampX is under the CTO office). - In 2022 a Venture Builder was added, and in 2023 an Incubator. Both are deployed only at the Gothenburg R&D facility, but if they prove successful, the CampX team is hoping to roll it out to other sites. - The Venture Builder, led by Karin Falck, is the landing point for internal ideas and IP that are vetted through subsequent iterations. Thus far 4 projects have been developed, 2 deployed internally and 2 span- out. - The Incubator programme - led by Robert Jan van Vugt - gives some 30 startups access to the company’s testing labs, workshops and prototyping space for two years. It’s focused on seed/early stage startups that would otherwise be years away from being mature enough for a joint project with Volvo Group. Volvo Group is among the Top100 world's "Corporate Startup Stars" awarded in Paris last December.

    38 min

About

Welcome to Open Innovation Talks by the global open innovation platform Mind the Bridge: the podcast where Alberto Onetti and Marco Marinucci guide you through the captivating world of tech. Join us for in-depth interviews with influential innovation executives, exploring cutting-edge advancements and trends in technology and open innovation. With exclusive data and invaluable insights, we illuminate major and emerging ecosystems around the world. Whether you're a corporate executive, open innovation practitioner, startup founder, or passionate about startup-corporate collaboration, this podcast is tailored for you. Unravel the intricacies of successful collaboration in the ever-evolving business landscape as we embark on this enlightening journey.