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Task force to address water scarcity in Southern Europe

The CEO of Insight Foresight Institute, Totti Könnölä, participates in the task force of EIT-KICs (Climate-KIC, EIT Food, EIT Manufacturing, EIT RawMaterials). This Body of Knowledge works on finding innovative solutions for water scarcity in Southern Europe.

Water plays a central role in how societies mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change. A holistic approach considering water, the biosphere, and the anthroposphere is required to provide sustainable agricultural and economic systems that will allow us to decelerate climate change, protect us from extreme events and adapt to the unavoidable at the same time.

Main problems to tackle:

mitigating water scarcity and drought situations,
reducing the over usage of water,
wasting less water with the existing resources

In order to have a wide representation of knowledge, representatives from different sectors, including policy, industry, civil society and research and innovation participate in the process to support in the knowledge sharing and through innovation across the South of Europe.

Foresight: Capture the value in the innovation ecosystem

In response to the new business reality of the world VUCA (comes from the words in English: volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity), companies develop their activities, increasingly, in networks of collaborators and develop their own ecosystems to be able to innovate. an agile and connected way. These networks and ecosystems also open opportunities to improve foresight and technological intelligence both to identify and connect new signals and to interpret their relevance.

Technology foresight encompasses tools from automated technological surveillance to online collaboration for strategic management and analysis that enable much more informed decision-making. It also facilitates the innovation process of organizations, in the sense of offering information enriched with aspects that not only come from the domain or domains of the technology itself, but also from external factors such as competition, the environment, etc. This intelligence allows the informed and creative development of new solutions to the market.

Insight Foresight Institute is facing this challenge by offering executive and in-house training programs. The activities are developed in ‘partnership’ with our collaborators and clients, such as:

Foundations
Business schools and universities
Business
Public administrations.

Our approach is to support companies and their experts to develop their intelligence and innovation activities, and make the most of the ecosystem.

Attendants

Managers and managers of development, innovation, information and technology.
All those with interest in the application of technological intelligence in their ecosystem.

Objectives

Eminently practical training program to:

Know the basic elements and usefulness of technological intelligence for digital transformation.
Know and share experiences, how to value the ecosystem through technological tools and knowledge of various actors.
Inform the different actors of innovation ecosystems of the great potential and impact of intelligence tools for decision-making in their organizations.
Develod ideas and creative plans for new solutions to the market.
Plan actions that can be carried out to offer intelligence services in the ecosystem network.

Concept

Seminars (face-to-face classes). Exhibition of theoretical concepts.
Know and pilot the methods and tools.
Online co-creation. Work on the online platform with the tools, case studies and support material, in order to co-create strategic plans.
Personalized and confidential.

As a general rule we recommend 4 modules distributed over 4 weeks. Each module consists of 1 day of classroom (seminar / workshop) of 6 hours, which is accompanied by work activities, both individual and group, supported by online platform (4 hours / module / week).

It is advisable to leave several days between the modules that allow:

Learning through reading and exercises
Involvement of colleagues and organization

We are also flexible to co-design the program to specific circumstances.

Contents

(Week 1) Horizon scanning in the ecosystem. In the first week of the course will be carried out the detection and management of ideas or (early) signs of innovation in the sector in question.

(Week 2) Anticipate in the ecosystem. Using the ideas obtained in the first week, a prospective exercise will be carried out to identify success scenarios, which will be completed with roadmaps of the solutions found for their implementation.

(Week 3) Act in the ecosystem. With the selected solutions, a deep and specific analysis will be carried out to identify markets, partners and final concretion of action plans.

(Week 4) Take to practice. In this session, each participant (organization) will present their results (with the possibility of carrying it out in private tutoring sessions that members of your organization can attend), for the evaluation of their execution.

Participants will have the possibility to hire a follow-up service, after the training, in order to facilitate the development of their solutions and / or intelligence systems.

For more information: info@if-institute.org

Also know about other IFI courses.

Scaling up in the ecosystem

The creation of startups in the Spanish market grows significantly. However, there are very few cases of scallops and high growth firms (HGF). Many things must work correctly for a company to succeed. The systematic management of existing business is not enough, entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs need to drive innovations within the company ecosystem.

Insight Foresight Institute is facing this challenge by offering executive and in-house training programs. These programs are usually developed in ‘partnership’ with our collaborators and clients, such as:

Foundations
Business schools and universities
Business
Public administrations.

Our approach is to support entrepreneurs to develop their business and make the most of the ecosystem in its different dimensions: Culture, Talent, Knowledge, Financing, Governance and Markets.

Recipients

Entrepreneurs and those who are considering entrepreneurship.
Executives and managers interested in intrapreneurship.
All those with an interest in entrepreneurship and innovation.

Concept

Presentations and debate.
The students develop a group work during the course.
Classes are complemented with online work.

As a general rule, we recommend 12 sessions in three blocks. Even so, we are flexible to co-design the program to best match with each specific circumstances.

Content

Innovative entrepreneurship ecosystem.

goals

the role of innovation and entrepreneurship in society.
the current situation of innovative entrepreneurship in Spain and Europe.
the technological-social change and scenarios.

Sessions

Introduction to the Spanish ecosystem and its international dimension.
Cross-sectional image of the Spanish ecosystem.
European policies for entrepreneurship.
Technological-social change and scenarios in the Spanish ecosystem, group work.

2. Strategies for innovative entrepreneurship.

goals

Knowledge of key concepts of innovation and entrepreneurship.
Scalable business models.
Tools and methodologies for the innovative strategy.
Business plan.

Sessions

Key concepts and scalable business models.
Strategies and road maps and in the ecosystem, group work.
Lean start up, design thinking, business models.
Business model canvas, group work.

3. Tools and capabilities for high growth start-ups.

goals

Definition and management of equipment and its capabilities.
Financial and operational management, networks and value chains.
Creation and management of the high growth of companies.
Share learning experiences

Sessions

Definition and management of equipment and its capabilities.
Financial and operational management, networks and value chains.
Creation and management of high growth of companies, group work.
Review of the course and the presentations of the results of group work.

For more information: info@if-institute.org

Also know about other IFI courses.

Platform Strategy: Keys for Exponential Growth

Platforms play a fundamental role in digital ecosystems; they are the “medium” in which these ecosystems are developed through the interactions between users, developers and other stakeholders. The irruption of platforms and their associated digital ecosystems generates profound changes in the economy.

Insight Foresight Institute faces this challenge by offering a training program. We usually develop these executive and in-house programs in ‘partnership’ with our collaborators and clients, such as:

Foundations
Business schools and universities
Business
Public administrations.

Our approach is to support entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs to design and develop their scalable platform business strategy within the larger ecosystem. The manager of incumbent business learn to anticipate the impacts of new platform entrants and react to the emerging challenges.

Attendants

Entrepreneurs with ambition to develop high growth companies.
Managers interested in transforming their business.
All those with an interest in digital platforms and the platform-based economy.

Concept

Presentations and debate.
The students develop a group work during the course.
Classes are complemented by online work.

As a general rule we recommend 6 modules each of 4-8 hours. Each module consists of two sessions:

1 session of papers and debate.
1 session of practical application workshop.

It is advisable to leave several days between the modules that allow:

Learning through reading and exercises.
Involvement of colleagues and organization.

We are also flexible to co-design the program to specific circumstances.

Contents

The ‘boom’ of platforms

We will immerse in the world of digital platforms and their role in the digital transformation and the fourth industrial revolution; and we will learn how platforms create entirely new markets and transform existing ones. We will learn about different perspectives and platform models and learn to recognize their key characteristics.

The platforms ‘unboxed’

Learn how the understanding on the management of the platforms has evolved. The management literature has evolved from the mechanical optimization of platform infrastructures to the coordination of ecosystems of digital platforms that involve actors with different roles and ambitions. As a result, the unit of analysis for organizing a business has changed from a company to a business ecosystem.

Scenarios of the platform-based economy

We will explore different scenarios of the evolution of the economy based on the platforms and the consequences of the platforms both in the economy and its implications in different sectors that force managers in both companies and public administrations to redesign their strategies and operations. We will raise awareness about the advances in different regions (US, Asia, Europe …).

Strategies and business models of platforms

We will learn the essence of planning and strategic design of digital platforms. We will explore different radical and disruptive business models and discuss current cases to identify their strategies and value creation. We will know different tools to facilitate the strategic design of platforms.

Platform architecture

We will immerse ourselves in the technical challenges of how to build a platform that is attractive to engage and that creates value for the entire ecosystem of users.

We learn how to provide the tools and services that facilitate all the users and to design the scaling up of business. We will explore different technologies, for instance blockchain, how to monetize and create trust.

Roadmaps for platforms

The success of platforms depends largely on their ability to generate network effects and achieve increasing returns. We study strategies how to achieve these effects and how to overcome the problem of ‘chicken and egg’. We learn how to plan the development of the platform and its ecosystem to achieve the desired vision. We will also explore the relationships between the platforms and their ‘stakeholders’, including relations with public administrations.

To know more contact: info@if-institute.org

Find out about our other courses.

Corporative Innovation in Spain: Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Venturing

Insight Foresight Institute has prepared a research on corporate innovation in Spain in connection with the E2I2 Forum (Education, Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Investment) coordinated by the Royal Academy of Engineering. The project consisted of: i) a study of the literature on intrapreneurship, innovation and corporate entrepreneurship, iii) verification of the data with public material, and iv) the final report.
There are several ways to approach entrepreneurship in corporations in Spain:
1. Do not carry out these activities: 9 companies of those consulted. Fundamentally in the Media sector and in the project oriented companies.
2. Intrapreneurship promotion: 17 companies consulted. Fundamentally based on employee ideas competitions.
3. Encourage external entrepreneurship: 16 companies consulted. Investment in new companies, customer cooperation, external ideas competitions, event sponsorship.
Based on the quantitative indicators consulted, it has been verified that some differences in the concrete dimensions that have been interesting to highlight (Image 1):
• Companies focused on the development and sale of products / services in front of companies focused on client projects (turnkey, tenders, etc …).
• Companies with corporate headquarters in Spain against subsidiaries of foreign companies.

Figure 1. Distribution of companies interviewed according to type of sales and location of corporate headquarters.
The behavior regarding entrepreneurship, ideas management and innovation offers some nuances according to the quadrant that is observed (Image 2).

Figure 2. Positioning of the interviewed companies regarding their activities of ideas management, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Barriers perceived in companies to innovate can be grouped into external barriers, such as: (i) low entrepreneurial culture at country level; (ii) deficiencies in the education system and knowledge generation; (iii) poor public support and regulatory constraints; and (iv) difficulties in the financing of these activities, and internal barriers such as (i) Enterprise culture and vertical structures. Excessive internal bureaucracy; (ii) Financial bias in decision-making. Lack of innovation indicators and iii) Operational problems: Selection of non-entrepreneurial personnel and unchanging processes.
It can be concluded that there is great predisposition to entrepreneurship and innovation but little radical and disruptive innovation. Companies have specific units of high level corporate innovation, but also innovation in vertical units. The importance of ecosystem management is recognized. Intrapreneurship activities are carried out without specific remuneration in most cases. If it occurs, in kind and promotion. There is a broad interest in indicators: i) Process: efficiency and effectiveness of projects, ii) Strategic: most used, iii) Financial: main interest. Limitations by traceability.
To know the concrete results of the study, send us an email: info@if-institute.org