Wow! What an adventure in Paris.
A capacity crowd of corporate venturers, lab leaders and innovators came together in Paris to talk about all things ‘working with/partnering with small companies and start-ups.
Nissan Innovation lab being perfect hosts and kindly offering us all a chance to interact with their latest incubatees.
With the calibre of attendees we had, it is easy to see why Jean-Francois from NUMA told us that corporate venturing has doubled in the last 3 years, with over $83.5bn invested and now accounts for 20% of all Venture Capital invested.
It was a packed schedule of:
- Case studies:
- Nissan - Automotive
- Visteon - Tech
- Oxsensis - Precision Engineering
- MOONSHOT Internet - Insuretech
- Key Speakers & Academics:
- Jean-Francois Caillard, NUMA and one of France's leading CV do-ers
- Prof. Anna Glaser ESCP Europe management school
- Workshop - creating a ‘Curious Company’.
Highlights
For me, there were some key areas that resonated throughout the day - I am not sure there were answers but we heard a lot from both sides…- How to ...survive the corporate Tsunami
- Co-location of internal teams and start-ups.
- The longer term thinking allowed by remaining on a salary with a safe job to go back to vs. the entrepreneurial creativity caused by having to pay the rent this month
- Is the CV department the correct point of contact or do you allow other areas of your business to undertake this type of activity?
- ‘Options’ are they the easiest way forward for investments - Afterall the only time you will need to get senior sign-off is when it is a success!
- Conflicts of interest: Your company as a shareholder AND as a client Your business lines may prefer to work with a competitor
I am looking forward to arranging the content for 23/4 January in London. There are a few places available - let me know if you would like to find out how to attend.
