Toby Lewis, Global Corporate Venturing’s chief analytics officer, introduced four corporate venturers who were given seven and a half minutes each to convince the audience of their views on how corporate venturing units can deal with disruption.
Sue Siegel, CEO of conglomerate GE’s corporate venturing unit, GE Ventures, began the discussion with her argument that digitisation is causing major disruption. The trend started in the consumer sector but has since spread across all industries.
As companies move from a centralised to a distributed model and static offerings become smart, the importance of building partnerships and collaborative networks is increasing.
“Data is raw material and has become the currency of today,” Siegel said, explaining GE Ventures is doing its best to maximise the benefits of this new ecosystem.
Nagraj Kashyap, corporate vice-president and global head of software provider Microsoft’s accelerator initiative, Microsoft Ventures, focused his attention on the declining cost of technologies as a major element of disruption.
Kashyap claimed many companies today, including smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi and electric vehicle producer Tesla, are in fact software companies, pointing out that if Tesla wants to upgrade a car it can do so through a software update without replacing any parts.
Kashyap is hopeful that corporations are understanding this change, citing investments by car companies like Ford and GM in startups such as ride-hailing app Lyft.
Dominique Mégret, head of telecommunications firm Swisscom’s corporate venturing unit, Swisscom Ventures, spoke about the importance of universities and research institutions such as a resource for innovation.
Switzerland has sought out niche markets including engineering and the digital world in order to get ahead of larger countries in terms of innovation.
Mégret was also optimistic, and explained that corporate venturing is currently at the stage of enlightenment on the learning curve, having moved on from the hype and crash and moving towards maturity.
Finally, Ralf Schnell, chief executive of engineering company Siemens’ strategic investment division, Siemens Venture Capital, listed a range of important areas for disruption.
The areas include industrial design and manufacturing, where concepts like 3D printed goods have led to individualisation; energy, where changes such as decentralised power generation have had a major impact; healthcare, which is moving towards personalised medicine and more educated patients; and mobility.
Schnell foresees a world in which mobility will eventually become a convenience that consumers do not want to spend a lot of money on anymore.