Innovation is a key focus for businesses looking to stay competitive. Many corporations hunt for new ways to gain an edge and have noticed that there are lots of exciting actors in their local (and even wider) innovation ecosystem.
But how does one begin to understand this far-reaching and dynamic innovation industry?
Through information. In our latest installment of our Insights Series, we discuss how companies Activate Business Intelligence as a first step to tapping into the exciting innovation ecosystem.
Getting at quality information enables corporations to make informed decisions with which to base their actions.
Download Activate Business Intelligence, for a closer look. Case Study #3 highlights how Intesa Sanpaolo and A.T. Kearney sought insight into the complex innovation landscape to support their business offerings.
Overall, the report provides a thought-provoking look at how large organizations are identifying and embracing innovative startups through impactful collaborations.
Most corporations do not know who the players are in their local innovation ecosystem- nor how to become part of, or leverage- the innovation ecosystem.
Intessa Sanpaolo Group, the leading provider of financial products and services in Italy, needed some business intelligence specifically around
emerging trends in Fintech, data security, identification, blockchain, voice technology, 5G, quantum computing, AI, and other verticals in financial innovation.
A.T. Kearney, a global management-consulting firm with 60 offices in more than 40 countries, publishes the Global City Index. In this report, they map innovation ecosystems and present information on the respective startup scenes.
Both companies needed a credible source to understand the business incubators and accelerators, and local dynamics. They also wanted to identify startups and innovation trends.
Earlier this year, we introduced The 2019 Innovation Landscape to provide an overview of sectors and startups set to disrupt the market.
In sum, companies understand that insight would help their own teams be innovative, as well as, support their business ambitions. The trick is to find the right, knowledgable partner to teach and guide.
The latest installment of our Insights Series, Activate Business Intelligence discusses how UBI Global helped both companies get smarter with business intelligence- and why smart decisions should be based on targeted insights.
Interest from corporations into the world of business incubators and accelerators- and their associated startups- is evident. However, where innovation is happening, in what areas, and by whom is not as clear to the untrained eye.
This is why it is important to engage with a guide that knows the players in the worldwide innovation ecosystem.
This guide must be skilled in analyzing and benchmarking the actors.
Besides insightful reports that rank the world’s best business incubators and accelerators, or spotlight top startups, UBI Global 
prepares custom analysis based on corporations’ specific questions. Knowledge is based on biennial studies of the innovation ecosystem called The World Benchmark Study.
Additionally, bespoke research and consulting is a service offered to support corporations’ ambitions. Whereas some companies look to engage with the right actors (incubators and startups), others look to pinpoint up-and-coming tech hotspots.
UBI Global is dedicated to enabling worldwide collaborations that impact innovation. Our network, supported by original research and proprietary benchmarking methods, consists of over 1200 incubators and accelerators located in over 90 countries. Our members represent over 20,000 startups worldwide!
Download Activate Business Intelligence.
The data experts at UBI Global are deep into the analysis of all the data from the World Benchmark Study 2019 -2020 surveys, and are already excited to share a WBS1920 First Look with you. Who will be among the top programs in the world? The results won’t be available until The Night, a gala dinner event during the World Incubation Summit, but we can’t resist offering a sneak peek of the preliminary results to whet your appetite for more!
The World Benchmark Study included 365 programs located in 282 innovation hot-spots around the world. In the end, a total of 78 countries were represented.
More than half of the programs that participated in the World Benchmark Study 2019-2020 were classified as business incubators. Hybrid programs were the second-highest classified participants – a hybrid program combines virtual services with on-premise activities. This is a sign of the technology embraced by the global innovation community as well as a nod to the born-global approach that many startups have in their very foundations. Our expert opinion is that more hybrid and fully virtual programs will spring up around the world.
Split down the middle were university-affiliated programs and private, public, and corporate programs. Overwhelmingly, not-for-profit programs outnumbered for-profit programs, with average budgets hovering around the $4.5 million range.
Health and Fitness was the top sector of focus, according to participating programs. Communication & Transportation and Green & Energy were also sectors with explosive growth. The Top 5 Technologies that WBS19-20 participating programs were seeing disruption in include Health Tech, IT Services, B2C, Ed Tech, and B2B.
The programs surveyed represented more than 153,000 successful startups, which is an average of 420 per program.
As the UBI Global data expert team constructs individual scorecards and the world rankings of the top programs, you can expect announcements via our media channels including UBI Connect. The awards recognizing the top-ranked programs in the world will take place at the World Incubation Summit 2019 this November in Doha, Qatar. To register your interest in attending this event, see the website here.
Our sincere appreciation and admiration go out to the programs that took the time to complete and verify the World Benchmark Study 2019 – 2020. Benchmarking is a sign that programs want to succeed by ensuring that they are performing at the top level possible by measuring themselves against their peers. Membership is just a few clicks away to participate in our interactive learning community and the next World Benchmark Study!
