For the second consecutive year, Cubo Itaú, the largest innovation hub in Latin America, hosted thethe year's premier gathering of corporate innovators. Organized byInnoscience, the event took place on June 20th and brought together more than 500 professionals focused on corporate innovation, with the aim of promoting the exchange of experiences and knowledge about the trends and challenges in the sector.
“This meeting is a unique opportunity for professionals from different sectors and companies to share their experiences and learnings about innovation. In addition, it is a space to discuss best practices and strategies that will impact the market in the coming years, contributing to the development of the corporate innovation ecosystem in Brazil,” he highlighted.Maximiliano Carlomagno, founding partner of Innoscience.
Held in a hybrid format, allowing both in-person and online participation, the event was made available in its entirety for those who wished to watch or revisit the lectures and panels. To access the content, just click here –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6VeBuuNkVs.
Below, Innoscience experts highlight the five most valuable insights extracted from the 2024 edition of Innovation Unlocked for corporate innovation professionals:
Innovation plays different roles in different companies: Innovation should not be an end in itself, but a means of executing and renewing the company's strategy. Thus, in an agricultural commodities producer, innovation can be a vehicle for efficiency, while in a food and beverage company, it can be a way to diversify the portfolio by entering new adjacent businesses to the core business. That depends on the strategic context of the sector and the company.
Incremental innovations are as important as disruptive ones: Disruptive innovations introduce technologies that are more accessible, convenient, and easy to use, and have the potential to replace incumbent players. However, the largest share of a company's innovations are incremental, improving current products, services, and processes. Innovation leadership must balance efforts between disruptive and incremental approaches to ensure current viability and future survival of their businesses.
Innovation area, yes or no? The most innovative companies in Brazil have already overcome the false dilemma of having or not having a dedicated innovation structure. These companies currently have a range of dedicated structures for innovation and also innovation disseminated as an organizational capability. The most innovative companies combine these different structures and integrate them through governance and innovation portfolio management.
Open innovation is a tool for everyone but not for everything: In the last twenty years, companies have discovered that they can expand their innovation efforts through collaboration with the innovation ecosystem. Currently, more than 5,000 Brazilian companies systematically establish relationships with startups. This is an innovation mechanism that can be very efficient, but not all projects are suitable for partnering with startups.
Generative AI can enhance creativity and project development: Generative artificial intelligence is a technology with enormous potential to boost the efficiency, creativity, and reach of the innovation process. The cases presented in Unlocked showed that technology can be used in intrapreneurship and open innovation programs to enhance human intelligence to generate and refine better innovation proposals.
