Cécile Cordier, Head of Innovation at Engie Global Energy Management Solutions, provided some interesting insight on how Novable helped smooth out the journey toward corporate innovation.
We all know that corporate venturing, corporate innovation, and startup scouting are growing trends. However, companies are still using extremely inefficient tools to follow them, receiving poor results, as well as too many options. “The more the merrier” doesn’t always indicate a positive connotation. Especially if you have to analyse those results yourself, one by one. What we define as “SAD syndrome“.
Novable helps innovation professionals within large companies identify and engage with the most innovative startups to feed their growth, innovation, and transformation projects, by combining AI-based technology and the expertise of the Novable Agents”
Cécile Cordier, Head of Innovation at Engie Global Energy Management Solutions, has been working in the innovation field for over 10 years. We had the opportunity to listen to the key learnings and main changes about her job and the innovation department structure in the company.
Recently, the interest shifted more from internal to external innovation, finding the startup and entrepreneurs’ world really fascinating. After becoming an angel investor in 2020, she was able to acquire a clearer and more direct view of several innovators’ figures and get inspired by them.
The startup ecosystem gives you a view of what is living in the new generation, what motivates the young entrepreneurs to start new businesses, and what they want to innovate in, allowing you to be more in tune with the employee you hire.
The key driver encouraging companies like Engie to engage in open corporate innovation and partner with startups is the success that you can obtain from this collaborative journey. “If you have to do everything yourself, it is not going to work”, stated Cécile. As a company, you have a role to play in society, and it is important to collaborate with many stakeholders. They provide a grasp of what is happening in the external ecosystem, among your customers, and in the countries in which you are operating.
Engie was stuck between:
Usually, big corporations don’t have the time to collaborate with startups. Novable, and in particular the Real-time Search feature, is a rapid way to gather information in a few minutes, spiking the interest of who is all about following the corporate innovation trend.
To stay in the state of the art you need to know what is happening outside of the bubble. Using Novable to benchmark the potential companies you could be interested in is extremely useful.
The aspect that she particularly appreciated about Novable is the contribution that the Agents give to the research process. Discussing together the strategy and the different steps to reach the final objectives is what makes this collaborative project toward corporate innovation successful in the first place.
One of Novable’s strengths is that we don’t leave you alone with the tool. We are here for you throughout your innovation journey. The Novable Agents will help you in defining the scouting strategy, and how to break big problems into small pieces to fine-tune your description and get better results.
Corporate innovation is often associated with technological advancements. However, a greater emphasis should be placed on a collaborative approach. It facilitates the implementation of innovative, successful ideas, by spreading risk to a larger group of factors.
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