INTERVIEW WITH OPEN INNOVATION TEAM OF INFRAESTRUCTURES & ENERGY OF ACCIONA

“I’MNOVATION is a program that has been considered a reference in the sectors in which ACCIONA works. From ACCIONA, we believe that the main value that we provide to startups and that they provide to us is learning”

The Referent, a leading information magazine on startups and innovation in Spain, interviews our open innovation team. In it, we talk about the program, current projects, benefits for startups and the news of this 5th edition.

WHAT CAN YOU HIGHLIGHT IN GENERAL ABOUT THE EVOLUTION OF I‘MNOVATION SINCE ITS LAUNCH BACK IN 2017?

The initiative was launched in 2017 with the ambition of connecting with startups to attract innovative talent and new capabilities they were developing in the markets in which ACCIONA operated. During the five editions, ACCIONA has increased its commitment in the number of projects and has expanded the geographical scope with the launch in 2019 of the first edition of the program in Chile.

Over time, we have evolved in the way we approach and connect with the startup ecosystem, working collaboratively with other agents within our I‘MNOVATION initiative. In addition, we have opened up to participate in initiatives such as Energía Positiva, coordinated and launched among several corporate entities, which was launched in 2020 as a commitment to startups in the midst of a pandemic.

For this edition, we double the commitment with coordination from different business units, expanding the temporal scope of the development of the projects and an increase in the financing allocated to the projects.

Throughout these years, thanks to the experience acquired and the lessons learned from ACCIONA‘s collaboration with startups, we have worked on defining our own methodology to explore new ideas and challenges, experiment and validate new problems and solutions and transform them into new businesses, products or services. With this methodology we seek to generate not only impact within the company but also value for all the stakeholders with whom we collaborate within our open innovation initiatives.

Consolidating this methodology, adapted to the needs and culture of ACCIONA and in which the business teams play a fundamental role, has allowed us to expand the ambition of the challenges we launch to the innovation ecosystem. We not only seek solutions to current challenges of the company, but we want to identify solutions that help us create new growth opportunities in developing markets.

In summary, the learnings acquired during these five editions have allowed us to structure, pivot and consolidate the I‘MNOVATION value proposition, a key element to connect with the ecosystem and with the ACCIONA business teams and to generate impact on our stakeholders.

TELL US WHAT PROJECTS YOU HAVE IN HAND AT THE MOMENT.

Challenges are continuously being detected through the different business units and we also invite startups to make us aware of their own proposals within the scope of the markets in which ACCIONA develops its activities.

In addition, as we mentioned previously, we collaborate continuously with other agents in the innovation ecosystem. Innovation cannot be a one–off activity that is carried out exceptionally, so we always have open opportunities to collaborate with different agents in the ecosystem.

Of course, we continue to work with startups that participated in the last edition of the I‘MNOVATION program. Sometimes, pivoting from one business to another, looking for startups to solve challenges detected in other business units leveraging their value proposition. So, although we have now launched our fifth edition of the program, we have active projects with different areas of business: water, real estate, mobility or general services, the latter to instill a recycling culture among our employees.

HOW HAVE THESE LAST MONTHS GONE AND WHAT HAS PROMOTED THE LAUNCH OF A NEW EDITION.

For this edition, we double the commitment with coordination from different business units, expanding the temporal scope of the development of the projects and an increase in the financing allocated to the projects.

WHAT ARE THE NEWS OF THIS NEW CALL FOR PROPOSALS.

One of the main objectives of our I‘MNOVATION program is to generate impact both within the company and among the different agents with whom we collaborate. To do this, it is necessary to implement a working scheme that allows our teams and the teams of the startups to mature the solutions in which we work throughout the program.

During these five editions we have learned that teams need to be given more time to develop projects. In previous editions, pilots were developed over 3 months, in this new edition we will collaborate for a maximum of 6 months with the aim of generating solutions with impact that can be scaled more easily to business.

In addition, we expand the financing we offer to startups up to a maximum of 50,000 € per pilot. We want to work in the co–development of solutions that help us “move the needle“ and this requires us to make a greater commitment of resources, not only financial.

On the other hand, the open innovation program aligns with the values that the ACCIONA brand conveys: decarbonizing the economy, also contributing to the energy transition of our clients, improving the circularity indices of our projects, digitizing our processes, etc.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF STARTUPS?

From ACCIONA, we consider that the main value that we bring to startups and that they bring to us is learning.

For us, collaborating with startups allows us to learn from their technological capabilities and experience a different product development process or methodology.

On the other hand, startups have access to the technical and market expertise of our professionals, since for each pilot we configure a dedicated ACCIONA team that works together with the startup team to land a product or service that our business units demand. Obviously, this is a perfect testing field for startups to validate their Market–Fit or even to, hand in hand with ACCIONA, enter a new market.

Of course, this can only be done by deploying a methodology integrated within the company‘s own work culture. We must not forget that these are innovation projects where testing, validation and iteration within them is essential. For this to occur and be conducted properly, there must be a series of defined toolkits that fit the specific scope of each project, always keeping in mind the market to which they are destined and the maturity of the development.

WHAT IS THE PROFILE OF PROJECTS PARTICIPATING IN I’MNOVATION?

From the start, the challenges that we set for the ecosystem from ACCIONA‘s Open Innovation program are always defined by our business units. This always presents a challenge for us because we are “challenging“ them to think a bit further. For example, how will your business be in five years? It is not easy to define challenges thinking of the future, because we are always more concerned with the urgent and the day–to–day problems.

However, from Open Innovation, we try to cover all the areas from those challenges closer to the Core Business, going to challenges focused on adjacent markets, with the aspiration of defining challenges focused on exploring more radical innovation. We believe that this year we have achieved all these objectives.

WHY I‘MNOVATION, WHY SHOULD STARTUPS APPLY TO THIS PROGRAM?

I‘MNOVATION is a program that has been considered a reference in the sectors in which ACCIONA works. I‘MNOVATION is a source of opportunities not only for the internal and external visibility, but also for a very important contribution of business expertise and R&D teams, with a proven methodology and the opportunity to test and validate solutions in a real environment.