From November 5 to 7, the third edition of the Barcelona Deep Tech Summit gathered top global players from the deep tech ecosystem, including leading experts, startups, investors, institutions, research groups, and public sector representatives. This year, for the first time, the event took place within the framework of the Smart City Expo World Congress, leading to a record attendance of over 2,500 participants, along with 74 experts from various continents and more than 40 emerging startups.
During these three days, the most innovative trends in deep tech were presented, encouraging market access for these disruptive technologies and facilitating their adoption across multiple strategic sectors.
IESE Business School, a partner of the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator and strategic partner of the Barcelona Deep Tech Summit, organized two plenary sessions on corporate venturing.
Professor Mª Julia Prats led the session “Corporate Venturing in Deep Tech: Tackling Speed, Cost, and Risk.” Meanwhile, Josemaria Siota, Executive Director of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center of IESE, led the session “Corporate Venturing Squads in Deep Tech,” where he presented the study “Corporate Venturing Squads: Teaming Up with other Corporations to Better Innovate with Start-Ups. Hands-on Guidance.” This is a visual guide on corporate venturing squads (CVS), defined as multi-partner strategic alliances where a group of corporations joins forces to address a common challenge and collaborate with one or more startups.
In the context of EU-LAC Digital Accelerator, participating in a CVS offers key benefits compared to individual innovation:
Expanded Opportunity Flow: Participating in a CVS allows access to a greater number of startups and innovative solutions, increasing the likelihood of finding a suitable collaboration match.
- Enhanced Network Effects: By collaborating with multiple corporations, CVS members benefit from network effects, leveraging shared resources, connections, and insights to accelerate innovation.
- Knowledge Sharing and Collaboration: CVS fosters knowledge exchange and collaboration, allowing members to access diverse expertise and perspectives, driving collective learning and innovation.
- Increased Visibility and Credibility: Participation in a CVS boosts the visibility and credibility of corporations within the innovation ecosystem, highlighting their commitment to collaboration and attracting greater interest from startups, investors, and other stakeholders.
- Cost Reduction and Risk Mitigation: Sharing resources, knowledge, and risks among CVS members can reduce costs and lower the risks associated with innovation initiatives, facilitating the development of more ambitious projects with reduced financial and operational burdens.
This strategic collaboration model has the potential to enhance matchmaking capabilities with startups and may contribute to higher success rates in pilot projects, supporting the digital ecosystem of EU-LAC Digital Accelerator and promoting agile innovation with an international impact.