Introduction
The last decade has seen an important increase in the number of initiatives launched by large companies to attempt collaborating with startups. To illustrate this open innovation trend, between 2013 and 2019, there was a 32 percent year-on-year growth in corporate venture capital (CVC) investments (McKinsey, 2021). Other initiatives include corporate accelerators and scouting units, among others.
These initiatives can be beneficial for startups as well as large companies. Such partnership strategy can be important for startups as it can help them gain market access while large companies can benefit from accessing new technologies. Yet many of these initiatives have failed to generate the innovation they had promised (BCG, 2019; Decreton et al., 2021; Sifted, 2020).
Given the prevalence of these initiatives, you will likely be confronted with them in your professional life, from the startup side and/or the large company side.
This course is intended to equip you with the tools and frameworks to build effective bridges between startups and large companies and ensure that the potential of such collaborations is realized.
Questions that we will cover include:
- What is open innovation? Why do large companies and startups need to collaborate?
- What are the different types of collaborations between startups and large companies?
- What are the benefits and drawbacks of these different types of collaborations for startups and large companies?
- How can large companies design innovation units effectively?
- What do startups need to pay attention to when engaging with large companies?
- How can public policy facilitate the emergence of ecosystems in which startups and large companies collaborate?
- How can open innovation help create a more sustainable future?
Sessions in this course will include a mix of short lectures, case studies, and guest lectures by corporate managers and entrepreneurs.
Assessment
The assessment will be based on individual participation, group presentations and written reports.
References
BCG (2019). After the Honeymoon Ends: Making Corporate-Startup Relationships Work. The Boston Consulting Group. Accessed June, 06, 2022 at https://www.bcg.com/publications/2019/corporate-startup-relationships-work-after-honeymoon-ends.
Decreton, B., Monteiro, F., Frangos, J. M., & Friedman, L. (2021). Innovation Outposts in Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: How to Make Them More Successful. California Management Review, 63(3), 94-117.
McKinsey & Company. (2021). Collaborations between corporates and start-ups. Accessed June, 06, 2022 at https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/collaborations-between-corporates-and-start-ups.
Sifted (2020). This is why corporate accelerators fail. Accessed Accessed June, 06, 2022 at https://sifted.eu/articles/why-corporate-accelerators-fail.
- Teaching coordinator: Decreton Benoît