Why Focus on Innovation
We know that corporations are increasingly hunting for new ideas to stay current and even gain an edge on the competition. We discuss this throughout our latest edition of our Insight Series: Activate Startup Trendspotting Case Study. The in-depth report is available cost-free for download.
What else are companies doing to uncover opportunities to better develop – or reinvent – their offerings and businesses?
From our birds’ eye view of the global innovation landscape, we see that more and more companies are seeking complete knowledge of the global innovation ecosystem. They are not just seeking new ideas.
Corporations are looking to answer three key questions:
- Where in the world is innovation happening?
- What type of inventions are being developed?
- Which startups are leading the way?
-
Startup Trendspotting- A Hot “Must”
Innovation trendspotting is a critical activity by corporations because staying competitive is becoming harder for them. Consumers can only buy so much of a company’s products and services. Market offerings and overall branding become stale with time.
There are many more reasons why corporations look to understand where innovation is bubbling up, what types of inventions are being developed, and which startups are leading the way.
Our takeaway is that understanding innovation trends and getting closer to its sources has become a “must” for companies wanting to keep ahead of the curve.
In our latest report, we discuss one such forward-thinking company, Isomer Capital. Acting on behalf of one of its most important clients, they turned to UBI Global. They sought key research and insight about the worldwide innovation ecosystem in a very specific area: the five senses. Targeting key markets in Europe, they sought to understand new developments by startups that were offering new products and services within their interest domain.
Download Activate Startup Trendspotting Case Study, for a closer look. The report provides a thought-provoking look at how large organizations are embracing young, innovative startups in different ways, in order to support key business needs.
Beware: Next Steps Are Risky
Smart companies and their forward-thinking leaders are looking to connect the dots and identify hot trends (i.e., “trendspotting”) in product and services around the world. Their goal is to determine if these trends can be leveraged, incorporated, or- in the case of impending disruption- deflected.
Understanding where this innovation is occurring and which startups are leading the way is key. But how can companies do this quickly, accurately, and to what end?
Corporate trendspotting is part art, part science, as innovation managers and leaders will agree.
An early-stage startup will not yet have the sales numbers with which to predict that their business idea will “work”. Corporations spending time and money on these startups require a leap of faith- or an experienced partner who recognizes the early signs of success.
UBI Global is one such knowledgeable and well-connected partner. With a network (known as the interactive learning community) of more than 1200 business incubators and accelerators from over 90 different countries.
In sum, members represent over 20,000 startups worldwide.
UBI Global knows where innovation is happening and by whom. Member programs that participate in its gold standard research initiative called The World Benchmark Study, have demonstrated a very important trait.
Their startups are more successful.
With a 5-year average survival rate of 59 percent, UBI Global member programs outperform non-incubated startups by 15 percentage points.
Download Activate Startup Trendspotting Case Study to learn more about how corporations, like Isomer Capital, leverage innovation in different ways to achieve business goals.
%20(2).jpg)
.png)
.png)
