Corporates and start-ups: stimulating and catalysing innovation together

Share the knowledge to cope with all the world's changes

Digitisation requires new skills, climate change requires a new mindset. Innovative ideas are more than welcome in our rapidly changing world and start-ups are the drivers. Slush, one of the world's largest start-up events, brings together corporates and start-ups in Helsinki every year to share the knowledge that is badly needed to cope with all the world's changes. Also PwC was present this year (21 and 22 November).

Slush

“Slush is a Finnish non-profit organisation that aims to bring ideas together to stimulate and catalyse innovation”, says Krista Koeleman, program manager Digital Platform and Experience Center at PwC. “Every year, thousands of companies from all over the world travel to the Finnish capital to be immersed in new innovative ideas. PwC has been working with Slush since 2010 and became the first global partner in 2015. The aim of this partnership is to set up startup ecosystems by binding corporates to startups and vice versa. Not only in Europe, but worldwide. Start-ups are essential in solving important problems in society and corporates can in turn contribute their knowledge and expertise on business processes, resulting in innovation and generation of solutions.”

NextGens

The innovative power of start-ups stems from the fact that the entrepreneurs of these companies think 'out of the box'. It is often a new generation of entrepreneurs who lead start-ups. These young, enthusiastic approachers are also called "NextGens", continues Koeleman. “They have excellent digital skills and know very well what is going on in the world. For them, agile working - identifying, adapting and further developing - is very common. And it is precisely these skills that the world, with all the rapid changes, is asking for. Partly because of the "NextGens", start-ups are often at the cradle of the solutions to major problems.”

Solution to the climate crisis

One of the major issues is the climate crisis. “Every week we read about it in the newspaper and documentaries appear on TV”, says Koeleman. “But tackling the problem remains difficult and quite complex. The solution requires cooperation between tech companies, politicians and many other stakeholders. This is a huge project that we can only tackle if everyone's noses are on the same page.

One way to achieve this is to cut the issue into pieces. Exactly what start-ups do. Instead of the corporates - who often focus on the bigger picture - the business models of start-ups consist of manageable issues that society directly needs and sees the value of. In this way, the climate targets by 2030 will be much closer to being met and the Sustainable Development Goals will become realistically achievable."

New world, new skills

Another issue that was frequently raised at Slush this year was the changing world in which we live. From the way we work to the way we live and interact with others. “The driving force behind this is the rapid introduction of new technology into our daily lives”, says Koeleman. “Everyone must be able to live, learn, work and participate in this 'new' world in which digitisation is key.”

Particularly in the field of work, a lot will change in the coming years. “Jobs and functions will change, while new tasks and professions will arise”, explains Koeleman. “The discrepancy between the skills that people have and those needed for jobs in the digital world is one of the most common challenges of our time. After all, how do you ensure that no one is left out? What about elderly people who suddenly have to install all kinds of apps on their phones to be able to access their bills? Or a large group of employees who don't want any change at all on the shop floor and who go about their business with their heels in the sand?”

The need for further training is a complex problem. It is not simply solved by sending employees on a course. Something that traditional companies in particular are guilty of. “The human side of the story is forgotten”, says Koeleman. You have to include employees in the how, what and why. If that doesn't happen and employees of a company stop innovation, it can happen that a company is overtaken to the left and to the right. The company will be doomed.”

In the challenging process of bringing employees into the transition, decision-makers - education, business and government - must work together to find a solution so that no one is left behind. “If this does not happen”, warns Koeleman, “there will be a gap in society between people who can keep up with all those changes and people who cannot or do not want to do so. More and more start-ups are responding to this development. In particular, there is a demand for resources that older people will be given in the digital transition. Everybody has to work longer and longer and therefore it is more than important for employers that their older employees stay up to date and participate in Life Long Learning.”

Cooperation is the future

What will become increasingly important in the future is the cooperation between companies and governments. “Many problems cannot be solved by yourself”, Koeleman concludes. “Imagine a company's decision to adopt a circular policy, then you don't just need the furniture maker to do so. The caterer also has to be persuaded, and what do you think of the emissions from your transport? A chain of companies and governments is linked to each other; if one of them refuses to cooperate, the chain will stop and the house of cards will fall over. Companies need to be open about each other's strategy, even if it rubs on old patterns and raises questions about the current state of affairs. It is precisely new insights that can lead to solutions, and that is the strength of the common ground that Slush is trying to facilitate. I therefore expect Slush to intensify this collaboration even further in the coming years. It will not be easy to speak the same language with each other and actually achieve the progress that the world so desperately needs. Fortunately, at events such as Slush, you can see that there are a lot of people who are willing to try to understand each other. We're not there yet, but at least the intention and the will is there.”