Corporate-Startup Collaboration Assessment & Innovation Maturity
As we head into a new year and a new round of acceleration and open innovation projects, we want to focus on the benefits of collaboration assessment and how to make the most of it. BIND 4.0 gathers digital transformation experts and offers Corporate Training & Support to help well-established companies carry out successful Open Innovation and Startup-Corporate collaborations.
Corporate – Startup collaborations through the BIND 4.0 Open Innovation & Acceleration platform have a set start and end date, a timeline in which to develop and implement solutions in a real environment. To successfully execute each Industry 4.0 pilot project, the ability to work with young startups and in a timely manner is essential.
In May 2021, Dan Toma, Author and Co-Founder at Outcome, dedicated to helping large organizations transform to become better at innovation, shared his expertise in a BIND 4.0 Workshop for our Corporate Partners. The workshop titled “Collaborating with Startups Checklist” introduced an assessment tool to help our Partner companies establish awareness of potential issues when working with external startup teams on internal challenges.
Workshops for large enterprises, our Corporate Venture Clients, are one of the many resources provided by the BIND 4.0 Platform in order to fortify the success of the Industry 4.0 collaborative projects implemented during our programs.
Why is Corporate-Startup Collaboration Assessment Important?
For companies of all sizes, assessing the ability to collaborate with younger companies is an important first step in open innovation and Startup – Venture Client relationships. Well-established companies and Startups have completely different chains of command, business procedures, budgets, flexibility and specializations.
Startup Collaborative projects like those carried out through the BIND 4.0 Platform, are very complex and require the merging of contradictory but not incompatible business cultures and infrastructures.
Refine Internal Infrastructure for Ongoing Success
BIND 4.0 Collaborator Dan Toma reminds organizations “It’s important to have your house in order” when approaching open innovation projects. Doing an assessment before, during and after each collaboration, allows the corporate client to identify opportunities to improve and to strengthen their collaborative dynamics, ensuring each one is successful.
BIND 4.0 chose Toma to present a training based on his years of professional experience and dedication to “Helping large companies transform and execute their innovation by first offering assessment tools to identify barriers and to help establish internal infrastructure and budgeting.”
10+ Key Areas to Evaluate for Collaboration Assessment
- Establishing a Startup Scouting Protocol
- Following an Innovation Strategy
- Including Startup strategy in the growth plan
- Clear, attainable goals for Startup collaborations
- Using a Startup collaboration checklist
- Involving appropriate parties in the Contract process
- Preparing Tech Infrastructure for 3rd Party Integrations
- Startup collaboration budget separate from an Internal Innovation budget
- Strategy to assess the risk and uncertainty of Startup collaborations
- Training of employees responsible for the collaborative projects
- Clear documentation which details privacy, brand usage, payment, etc.
Innovation & Collaboration Assessment Tool
Along with his CoFounder at Outcome, Toma has developed The Startup Collaboration Maturity Assessment. An assessment tool is a form of self-evaluation in order to see how your company rates as a Collaborator, with the goal of becoming an Expert. Each question presents several potential answers each with a different value which you total at the end to get a clear rating. The in-depth questions can help identify goals, strategies and processes that need to be implemented or improved to earn an Expert Collaborator rating.
It is recommended to evaluate your Innovation Maturity status before and after each collaboration project. To identify your current rating, we recommend you get started by using the Startup Collaboration Maturity Assessment shared here.
Taking an assessment is just the first step to identifying existing barriers and opportunities for improvement. Results for each company will vary and for more insight on how to improve readers can reach out to an Innovation Strategy Consultant and check out Toma’s latest book Innovation Accounting.
Innovation Maturity for Industry Leaders
Assessment tools aren’t just a one-time occurrence but rather like taking inventory, should become part of a company’s modus-operandi. Companies of every size should be implementing ongoing assessments and measurements to check the healthiness of innovation efforts regardless of whether the efforts are internal or external.
The BIND 4.0 Platform offers expert support, training and tools to help startup teams and well-established companies successfully execute projects in their Industry 4.0 evolution. In line with our objectives to accelerate digital transformation and to strengthen the local industrial ecosystem, we encourage companies to perform ongoing assessments of their innovation and startup collaboration maturity.
