In an era where artificial intelligence dominates headlines, many wonder if traditional innovation practices like startup scouting are becoming obsolete. We sat down with Laurent Kinet, the CEO and co-founder of Novable to explore how the hybrid approach is transforming the corporate venturing landscape while maintaining the crucial human element.
Q: Many people fear that AI is replacing traditional innovation scouting practices rather than enhancing them. How does Novable respond to the claim that AI alone could replace the entire service offering?
“We designed our solution as a hybrid from the very beginning,” Laurent explains. “While we’ve been leveraging advanced AI technology since 2020, we recognized early on that generative AI can be prone to hallucinations, even if tremendous progress has been made lately. This emphasizes the need for humans to remain in the loop.”
Laurent elaborates that Novable’s corporate clients require verified results – confirmation that startups actually exist, match briefing requirements, demonstrate financial viability, and are enterprise-ready. “With AI and LLMs alone, this level of validation simply isn’t possible,” Laurent notes.
“AI essentially automates what a junior employee would traditionally do through Google searches – which is fundamentally simple task automation. Novable differs because we guarantee results, quality, and value delivery. We don’t just provide technology and let users figure it out themselves.”
This commitment extends to Novable’s promise: “If it exists, we’ll find it, even if the solution comes from unexpected industries. This capability for serendipitous discovery is something AI alone struggles with. When we work with critical industries like nuclear, energy, and manufacturing, obviously, they demand this dual approach, where both human expertise and machine capability ensure the quality standards these sectors require.”
Q: Startup scouting can be chaotic, with biases often creeping into decisions. How does Novable ensure its AI tool remains impartial while still tailoring results to client needs?
All innovation scouting campaigns at Novable begin with a human-written briefing, which inevitably contains some preconceptions. “The briefing is obviously biased with preconceptions and beliefs, either from the individual themselves or from the companies they represent,” explains Laurent. “However, our DeepMatching™ technology actually helps correct this bias.”
The technology creates a knowledge base where briefing semantics are compared against topics from their entire database. “Let’s get a bit more technical. The thing is that biases are automatically reduced because the process is multidimensional. The power of numbers and volume essentially streamlines or flattens anomalies, meaning the briefing gets automatically corrected through our knowledge graph.”
Beyond this technical correction, Novable’s experts add another layer of human validation to ensure results aren’t steered in directions that might have been unintentionally implied by the briefing. “It’s about combining expertise and technology to eliminate unwanted biases,” Laurent explains, while noting that some biases might be intentionally included in the briefing as legitimate search parameters.
Q: The startup ecosystem evolves rapidly, and many databases struggle to keep up. How does Novable overcome the challenges of outdated or incomplete data?
“R&D is at the core of our product development practice,” the CEO shares. “We’re continuously working on automated startup data collection and updates. Recently, we were supported by the Brussels region through the Innoviris project to continue stay active on this practice”
The main challenge lies in detecting companies that have ceased operations, are declining, or have pivoted, which is a common occurrence in the fast-moving startup world. “Startups are born and die at a rapid pace. These ‘shooting stars’ also change not only in scope but in nature when acquired or merged.”
Novable’s R&D initiatives aim to automatically grasp this moving complexity. “Our experts provide quality control on each delivery we provide, creating a double insurance to ensure quality. It’s the same principle – humans plus machines working together.”
Laurent fairly points out that while generative AI tools like ChatGPT or Pereplexity can’t determine if a startup has actually stopped operations when its website remains active, Novable is developing solutions for this very problem. “The activity index we released two years ago was just the first step,” he notes.
Q: Some argue that corporate venturing processes are outdated and incompatible with the agility of startups. How does Novable’s solution create a seamless connection between these two worlds?
“When you hear ‘corporate,’ you immediately think of administrative burden and heavy processes,” Laurent acknowledges. “But we’re seeing positive changes. Corporations now understand that collaborating with startups requires speaking a similar language and maintaining a similar pace.”
He uses a vivid metaphor: “Making an elephant dance with a mouse is complex, but increasingly those elephants understand that there is no need to fear, rather – learn how to communicate. Both are not afraid of each other anymore, and are adapting their processes accordingly.”
Novable sees its role as helping large companies formulate the right requests. “We’re not industrial experts, per say, but we are startup and innovation experts. We contribute by helping corporations translate and understand the startup ecosystem.”
Importantly, Novable addresses both sides of the equation: “We also help define the enterprise readiness of startups. Some very promising ventures may not be suited for the corporate world, and we factor this into our recommendations.”
Looking ahead, Novable plans to develop automated enterprise readiness certification, which would benefit customers by further streamlining the corporate venturing process through open innovation methodologies.
Novable’s hybrid approach combines AI-powered technology with human expertise to deliver reliable, high-quality startup matching for your corporate venturing needs. Contact us below to learn how we can help you find the perfect innovation partners!
