Articles

Most management conversations about AI in innovation still fixate on idea generation and brainstorming with generative AI tools. However, a large-scale survey of innovation managers in US firms paints a different picture: AI is already used in more than half of innovation projects, and its strongest impact is in the development stage, not ideation. Generative AI adoption still lags behind traditional AI, but managers expect it to grow and see it as a lever for more fulfilling jobs and more radical innovation. To benefit, companies must redesign their innovation process, not just run AI pilots.

Women represent half of the global population yet remain significantly underrepresented in entrepreneurship. This gap limits economic growth, weakens innovation capacity, and reinforces structural inequality. Barriers such as limited access to finance, restricted networks, social norms, and lack of role models continue to hold women back. Empowering women entrepreneurs requires transforming investment systems, strengthening mentorship, and redesigning education. This is not just a social cause—it is a strategic economic priority.

Most companies start with intrapreneurship, later add open innovation, and eventually launch startup investing or CVC structures. Each model is powerful but also fragile on its own: internal programs become inward-looking, open innovation can misalign with strategy, and CVCs without innovation experience underperform. Hybrid innovation models—such as Entrepreneur-in-Residence schemes, joint accelerators, open innovation platform integration, mixed intrapreneurship–startup teams, and external accelerators backed by investors—help corporates combine the strengths of all three pillars while mitigating their weaknesses and sharing financial risk.

For corporates, startup investments are not only about financial return; they are also a strategic tool to access new technologies, reduce R&D costs, monitor disruptive trends, and shape the future of their industries. This article explains why startup investing matters for corporate innovation, compares different investment mechanisms (VC funds, corporate venture capital / CVC, direct investments), and outlines how to set up a robust fund structure, define an investment strategy, design a disciplined process, value startups under uncertainty, and manage risk and exit expectations in a professional way.

An entrepreneurial ecosystem is more than a cluster of startups; it is a living system of culture, regulation, finance, talent, and support structures. For corporate innovation and open innovation, understanding these ecosystems is essential to spot the right startup collaborations and investment opportunities. This article explains how to analyze startup ecosystems city by city, how to assess culture, regulation, funding, and talent, and how to build a multidisciplinary discovery team that can convert insights into pilots, investments, and long-term partnerships across different regions.

Open innovation operates in a wider space of contractual freedom than classic intrapreneurship. That freedom is an advantage, but it also creates legal risk if not managed systematically. This article explains how corporates should handle the legal side of open innovation: from idea-collection platforms to development-stage NDAs, and from joint IP to equity deals, acquisitions, and stock-option structures. It also shows why cross-functional collaboration between innovation, legal, and finance is essential to build startup-friendly, enforceable, and strategically sound agreements.

For open innovation to work, corporates must first understand that startups are not small versions of large companies. They operate with different risks, time horizons, and survival constraints. This article, based on interviews and surveys with founders, explains how startups approach big companies, which negative experiences frustrate them, and which behaviors they value. It then outlines how to design fair processes, transparent communication, and startup-friendly contracts and payment terms, so that startup collaboration becomes a sustainable pillar of corporate innovation rather than a source of mutual disappointment.

A Proof of Concept (PoC) is a small-scale experiment that tests whether a startup's idea or technology actually works in a real corporate environment. In open innovation and startup collaboration, PoC projects are a low-risk way to validate feasibility, business value, and technical fit before committing to full-scale rollout or investment. This article explains what a PoC is, how it differs from a prototype, why it creates strategic value for companies, and how to design a practical, startup-friendly PoC process that accelerates learning instead of adding bureaucracy.

Startup meetings are the core touchpoints of open innovation and corporate innovation. Done well, they reveal real opportunities for collaboration or investment; done poorly, they waste time and damage reputation in the ecosystem. This article explains how to structure interviews startup in two modes—informal and formal—what questions to ask, how to manage legal risk, and how to prepare decision-makers with concise briefing notes. It also highlights the importance of clear value propositions, realistic promises, and disciplined follow-up after every meeting.

There is no single “best” open innovation method. Companies combine several open innovation methods—startup scouting, representative offices in innovation hubs, ecosystem intermediaries, competitions, crowdsourcing platforms, and venture building—to access ideas, technologies, and talent. The right mix depends on strategy, innovation portfolio, sector, and risk appetite. This article explains how each method works, its strengths and limitations, and why a structured innovation strategy and portfolio analysis must come first, before selecting tools for startup collaboration or corporate venture building.

Open innovation is only as strong as the ecosystem around it. The most critical open innovation stakeholders are startups, suppliers, and customers. Startups bring speed, new technologies, and access to fresh markets; suppliers contribute deep industrial know-how; customers reduce market risk through co-creation. This article explains how to structure startup collaboration, how to turn suppliers into innovation partners, and how to integrate customer co-creation into your innovation process, so that corporate open innovation becomes a systematic, repeatable, and mutually beneficial practice.

Open innovation is the practice of designing corporate innovation in partnership with the outside world – startups, universities, suppliers, even customers. Instead of trying to invent everything internally, companies use startup collaboration and external partnerships to accelerate innovation, reduce risk, and access new technologies. This short guide explains what open innovation is, why it matters in today's markets, and how leaders can design a simple, practical open innovation strategy that involves R&D, HR, IT, legal, procurement, and marketing without creating a heavy bureaucracy.