Venture clienting: New beginnings driven by an innovation mindset

If we are to create a more sustainable future, the world must transition to cleaner energy. Today, 15% of the world’s energy comes from renewables. But, by 2050, according to the International Energy Agency, this will increase to 67%. That’s a sizable gap to close within the next few decades!

So the question has to be, how are we going to achieve this significant and long-term change?

?While there’s clearly not one silver bullet, three key areas that are only going to become more important include developing new business models, harnessing data and insights, and pushing the boundaries of technology through innovation.

Society is increasingly recognizing the need for sustainability and innovation to work hand in hand - both in life and in business, to ensure we have a healthy planet and society for generations to come. This mindset is helping to create new business models and new approaches to support the transition to clean energy.

We can also encourage the right behaviour changes by making the most out of the global megatrends of digitalization and connectivity. These are giving us more data and insights than ever before, enabling operators to better understand and control their energy consumption and encourage more sustainable habits. But data isn’t just about making sure that each one of us uses our energy more wisely. At a strategic level, advancements in energy data analytics can help policymakers better understand consumption patterns. This in turn will support the development of policies that promote energy efficiency and renewable energy adoption, and really help make every watt count.

As the world seeks to reduce carbon emissions and move towards a more sustainable future, we need to push for new technologies to support this change. Without innovation and strong technology leadership, we will not be able to develop the new clean energy solutions we need to replace fossil fuels. You need to look no further than wind turbine and solar panel efficiency to see how new technology has contributed towards more cost-effective and reliable outputs. Similarly, innovation in energy storage is helping to address historic intermittency issues associated with integrating renewable energy sources.

A key enabler for future clean energy technologies, business models, and behaviours is to enhance the way businesses connect, collaborate and engage to drive open innovation.

But how do we deliver a truly innovative approach? How can a big global business engage with the people inside and outside the organization to tap into the fresh new ideas that could create the significant changes needed to solve the world’s energy challenges?

One practical example that is now a key part of our innovation strategy is our ABB Electrification Start-up Challenge.

Now in its fourth year, our Start-up Challenge aims to combine the expertise and customer insights of our business, with the agile and outside-in thinking of a start-up. This annual event is a key enabler for ABB to join forces with digital mavericks to help solve some of the world’s energy challenges.

Working together with partner, SynerLeap and Microsoft, it’s our way of embracing open innovation and tackle the ‘not-invented-here’ syndrome that traditionally affects many large organizations. With more and more corporates entering the venture clienting space, it’s evident that you need to be prepared to tackle the barriers to engagement head on to make it work and add real value.

The success of our program has been down to several factors including a change in our approach to innovation. To make it work, we take an ‘innovation over investment’ approach so we aim to engage as partners rather than potential investors. We’ve changed our outlook too -looking beyond our core offering while staying focused on specific outcomes, and we’ve embraced a more agile approach with the customer at the centre. We have a more ‘try something new’ and ‘fail fast and move quickly’ mindset, while being prepared to invest significant resources to co-create MVPs with the start-ups.

There’s clearly a lot to be gained by maximizing the potential contribution of the start-up community and investing in their spheres. They need to be at the heart of the energy industry’s approach to addressing climate change and an accelerated energy transition. The future of society may just depend on it!

With the need for innovations which address global energy challenges arguably more important now than ever before, I’m interested to know your thoughts on how to best approach innovation and collaboration to ensure these aren’t just buzz words, but become central to a sustainable future.