Corpinc: collaboration corporates and incubators

COPRINC: CORPORATES & INCUBATORS

Increasingly, corporates and incubators are working together (CORPINC). These collaborations can be seen in many different forms. Companies enter into a sponsorship in exchange for exposure, commit to an accelerator programme and are therefore close to new technologies and talent or, together with an incubator, market an accelerator programme around a specific theme.

But why do these parties actually want to partner with each other? What do partnerships really look like and what do they deliver? That is what Carlijn Tempelaars conducted research on behalf of Elemental. The question around which the research revolved:

"What are the ingredients of partnerships between incubators and corporates that benefit both parties?"

Below is a summary of the main results and conclusions.

WHY CORPINC?

When asked why corporates and incubators work together, corporates give as their main reason that incubators do validation of startups. In short, an incubator selects the best startups out of the large number that might be of interest to a corporate, so to speak.

In addition, corporates indicate a partnership with an incubator to work on their innovative branding. A commitment exudes entrepreneurship and innovation. The corpinc partnership has a kind of customer-supplier relationship in which the corporate provides its resources and the incubator connects the corporate with the start-ups.

Incubators find corporates interesting because of their network, knowledge and the financial resources a corporate possesses. Through the network, they hope to make it easier for start-ups to find a lauching customer. They want to use the corporate's knowledge to best guide start-ups on their way to a validated business model. And financial resources are important to fund start-up accelerator programmes.

What do partnerships between corporates and incubators look like?

Both formal and informal partnerships are established. With financial transactions and with closed exchanges. There are also differences in the practical details of the partnership. Where one agrees to organise a number of matchmaking events, the other promises to attend demo days and pitch nights with a whole number of colleagues.

It is important to remember that a cultural difference remains perceptible regardless. Both parties therefore stress that account management is essential. If you claim to be innovative, collaborations with other parties must also continue to develop and adapt to the times and changing needs.

WHAT DO PARTNERSHIPS DELIVER FOR BOTH PARTIES?

This question is proving tricky. In what way do you measure the value of a partnership? To what extent do start-ups really benefit from these collaborations? Would they have found a launching customer without us? In short, there are no firm conclusions to be drawn.

However, incubators do say that by partnering with corporates, they are better able to facilitate start-ups. And in some ways, this also leads to a higher purpose: to give the Netherlands an innovation boost!

Corporates also clearly see the added value of corpinc partnerships. They indicate that the internal organisation learns to become more innovative. It also brings new, entrepreneurial energy into the company. The mutual learning effect, corporates indicate, is therefore definitely present.

WHAT ARE THE INGREDIENTS OF CORPINC PARTNERSHIPS?

Carlijn's research reveals eight aspects that can be used to shape a successful corpinc partnership.

1. WILLINGNESS OF CORPORATES TO REALLY WORK WITH START-UPS

First of all, it is important that corporates are willing to really cooperate with start-ups. After all, incubators act as a kind of 'middle man' between corporates and start-ups. Since having a launching customer is one of the must haves of a start-up, there is an important task for an incubator to facilitate this. The corporates that an incubator partners with can do an excellent job in this role. However, this requires a willingness to collaborate with start-ups.

2. PROVISION OF FINANCIAL RESOURCES, KNOWLEDGE AND NETWORK

Following on from this is the fact that resources need to be made available by the corporate. Not only access to the knowledge and network, but also to finances. Often, external budget is made available to stimulate innovation, but internal budget is often more difficult to obtain. The moment you start working with start-ups as a corporate, internal departments will also have to make time and money available to support this start-up.

3. FOCUS ON THEME

Incubators get from this research to focus more on certain themes or niches. By differentiating yourself in terms of content on your programmes, you attract corporates more effectively. It becomes easier to attract internal and external budgets. It also encourages 'collaborative innovation'. A nice example of this is the collaboration between YesDelft! with the Port of Rotterdam.

4. GETTING START-UPS READY FOR CORPORATE COLLABORATION 

In its position, the incubator has the best insight into what is happening in both 'worlds'; both in the start-up world and that of the corporate. With that insight, the incubator should better guide start-ups towards a successful partnership with a corporate. When incubators take on more of this role, more fruitful collaborations between corporates and start-ups will emerge.

5. UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER'S CULTURE

The first aspect that both sides need to take more into account is the cultural difference between incubators and corporates. More effort should be made to understand each other's culture. It is recommended that perhaps both parties have someone on board from 'the other side' so that the partnership is better managed.

6. ENSURE GOOD RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

One point that emerged clearly from the results is how the relationship is managed. At the beginning of a partnership, you align expectations, but these can change over time. Continuously managing those expectations requires solid account management. 

7. COMPLEMENTARY KNOWLEDGE

Corporates are regularly asked to give a workshop to start-ups around a certain theme. Incubators themselves do not have this knowledge directly in-house, so corporates can make a good contribution. However, this requires that a corporate's knowledge is complementary to that of the incubator, and vice versa.

8. SHARED GOALS AND MISSION

As with many partnerships, there must be a common goal to strive for. Once the goals are aligned, the partnership is easier to manage and successes are more likely to be achieved. A good example is the evolution of partnerships, which was explicitly addressed in the study.

A corporate that has little involvement in (open) innovation, but is keen to get to know the start-up world, usually joins an incubator for brand awareness: "Look, I'm associated with an incubator. I'm innovative." An incubator that has just started is still searching for a business model. Any revenue that can be generated from corporates is therefore welcome. A first phase of cooperation therefore often looks like sponsorship.

As time goes on, and both parties become more mature in this area, they start getting more out of the corpinc partnerships. The corporate goes out more for technology scouting, the incubator asks the corporate to open up its network and make knowledge available. This form of cooperation is a collaboration.

A number of such collaborations have been taken to the next level and are seen as strategic partnerships. There is a strong common goal that trumps individual goals: innovate together. Both incubators and corporates expect these kinds of collaborations, collaborations, to be the future.

CONCLUSIONS

A number of conclusions can be drawn from the study. First of all, corpinc partnerships can be divided into three different categories: sponsorships, cooperations and collaborations. The level of maturity and the purpose with which the partnership is entered into determines which type of partnership fits best. Our expectation is that corpinc partnerships will develop at a rapid pace, given the innovative landscape they are in.

Then corpinc partnerships do need to be well managed, from both sides. Sound account management has a positive effect on the relationship. For incubators, it is advisable to keep a portfolio of partnerships with which the various partnerships with corporates are mapped, managed and tested against the incubator's strategy. This way, partnerships also become more measurable.

In the coming years, more and more collaborations will develop into real solid corpinc partnerships. Incubators will support this development by focusing more on certain themes or niches. Corporates, in turn, will be able to provide easier access to network, knowledge and internal/external budgets.

The culture between the two parties is one of the most important aspects. On the one hand, this is now perceived as a weakness, as the relationship is more difficult to manage. On the other hand, it is better to see it as a strength, given that they can complement each other well. Incubators are thus better able to facilitate start-ups and corporates experience easier innovation.

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