Strategic Openness and Networking

00:08 In a world that is changing faster and faster, it's hard to make, follow, and even believe in a ten-year strategic plan.

00:17 That is why I believe it requires more: It requires strategic openness, a network connecting the economy, science, and civil society.

00:28 I believe that the innovation department, as we used to call it, is rapidly becoming obsolete. I believe we require networks.

00:36 We can begin now, nay, we must begin today.

00:40 Because we no longer know where innovation is born, you as a manager serve as a trend scout. You must comprehend what the current client requirements are, as well as what consumer requirements may emerge in the coming months.

00:53 You must keep your finger on the pulse of time.

00:57 You will spend more time - that is my assertion - at conferences, whether digital or analog, but analog has the apparent advantage of allowing you to interact with other attendees and guests face-to-face during the lunch break.

01:12 That means you are very near to what is going on outside; you exchange information, and we can see from this that organizational barriers do not end at the firm grounds, but at yourself, as individuals.

01:26 This strategic openness, this network, applies not only to conferences, but also inside. For example, you may say, "Okay, in a larger organization, we also need internal networking between the silos, so we are building a community." A community that makes things, a community that plans a roll-out, a community that supports its members - all while being innovative.

01:53 The creation of meetups is one example of both an external and inside network.

01:58 Meetup.com is a website where software developers, Java programmers, and others can get together and discuss various topics.

02:06 Then there will be a presentation by the company, which is serving as the event's host, as well as presentations by external parties.

02:14 You share your knowledge while also learning new things.

02:17 That is the deal, and that is the cause for the success of these get-togethers.

02:24 Traditional organizations can be compared to a tanker navigating the world's waterways.

02:28 Then you suddenly get the thought, "Well, maybe there are new business models that we want to try out; there are small islands that we want to visit," which is difficult with a tanker. As a result, we require speedboats, and small nimble boats capable of visiting these islands, and you could respond, "Yes, traditional, large organizations are looking for young partners." When you realize you need a speedboat, the simplest choice is to get one.

03:02 You can invest in a start-up with venture capital, often known as risk capital.

03:08 You buy 15, 20, or 35% of the company and become a part of it, or you just take over the entire company. You've then implemented a new technology and a new business model, which you may utilize to visit an island.

03:25 Digital and innovation hubs are popular right now.

03:29 More and more businesses believe: "We need to create a space where a kind of community, where work and research are coming together and where you create innovations in a certain area, where different players, creative people, people from the adjacent sciences, work together and create new things".

03:50 As an example, suppose your company wants to advance things in the area of artificial intelligence in a specific industry, so you go to a city, or a country, where AI is already very advanced in this industry, and you try to connect the various partners in a center. However, the same holds true for a region, an urban center, a city, and possibly even a country. Say your city XYZ wants to be an IT city, therefore you try using an innovation center, a digital lab, to advance these challenges.

04:28 For a bit of additional orientation, we now have a best-case scenario.

04:32 Take, for example, Wayra, a start-up in central Munich that is part of the Telefonica Group, the world's largest telecoms conglomerate.

04:40 They accept fledgling start-ups and provide them with a location in the start-up center - a room, a community, and information exchange, coaching, and workshops for them to flourish and obtain their first customer.

04:56 This customer will, in the best-case scenario, be Telefonica.

04:59 A multinational corporation as a customer is the dream of many start-ups, and it is Wayra's goal.

05:06 If, after a specific period of time, they recognize that the start-up has gained its first clients, possibly including Telefonica itself, Telefonica will consider investing there. So, as you can see, you introduce products to the market, and in the best-case scenario, a start-up merges with a corporation.

05:27 You could also try dramatic measures to bring new input into the organization.

05:33 For example, the condom startup Einhorn and Vienna's oldest brewery, Ottakringer AG, have merged and traded CEOs.

05:41 That is, one of them moved from Vienna to Berlin, and the other from Berlin to Vienna, and the two enterprises influenced each other.

05:49 Everything is softening, beginning with organizational barriers.

05:54 Take a look at the car business, and you'll notice that competitors who hadn't interacted in years suddenly started working together.

06:02 They are working together to develop a uniform standard for autonomous driving and to consider new mobility concepts.

06:09 This is now considered typical.

06:11 This was unthinkable even ten years ago.

06:14 This, however, may be done across industries.

06:17 So, when we consider the fact that cars will drive themselves, perhaps we will want to be entertained in a different way, and suddenly there are collaborations and joint developments between streaming provider A and Renault, and between streaming provider B and Fiat. As a result, we can observe that, regardless of industry, everything is merging. Job boundaries are also getting softer; as ING CEO Nick Jue once stated, "In five years, we will be an Internet company and no longer a bank." "What will you do with your employees?" they inquired.

06:51 "Well," he replied, "we will retrain the bankers to become programmers." When questioned why they didn't hire programmers, he replied, "Yes, that is completely logical." We need bankers who know how to code and programmers who understand finance." So there are two jobs in one person, and we see this all the time.

07:11 Changing technology and industries necessitate the acquisition of new skills.

07:18 For example, because of LED technology, an engineer who previously only developed light bulbs now faces the challenge of integrating an LED lamp with an infinite shelf life into the lamp, and they must design completely new competencies, so we have two skills combined in one person.

07:41 Customer boundaries are also growing softer.

07:44 Today's client is someone who sets the pace, defines the trends, and establishes a discourse about the next year's trends, and all we have to do is be in the same room.

07:55 So the question for you is, how do you start a conversation with your customers? Is there any type of platform, some kind of regular live dialogue on how to maintain your finger on the pulse of time? I feel that today's customer has power that they have never had before.

08:10 Yes, they set the pace, but they also show us what we're not so good at.

08:15 The shitstorms all around the world are proof, and I'm confident no organization's public relations department can do anything about it.

08:23 The customer wields power while also serving as a kind of collaborator to us.

08:28 They sit at a desk at times and not at others.