Everyone loves the “AHA” moment, but a great idea, concept or insight. But the real impact occurs when innovation takes root, at a scale. This is where the rubber really meets the road.
We face some of the greatest global challenges in decades, from socioconomic changes and a population that ages to climatic impacts and the true need to feed our world that changes rapidly. Innovation is how we convert challenges into processable ideas and results. But it only matters when you can climb, that makes its way from pilots and pilot plants to the real world on shelves and in people’s lives.
So what is needed for that to happen? The best recipe for scalable innovation begins with the appropriate culture, partners and will to maintain the course.
Build a culture of innovation
You don’t get ideas that change the world by staying comfortable. The essence of innovation is to enter something new. The scale of innovation begins by intentionally building a culture of innovation, with the correct mentality, beliefs and behavior. My teams have done this for:
- Attract the best talent: Innovation begins with innovators. We constantly focus on recruiting deep experience and curious minds for our team.
- Building world -class capabilities: Driving growth requires investing in the necessary capacities for the future (observing emerging spaces from 3 to 5 years) in difficult times.
- Focus on the needs of customers and consumer: Know your “why”. For us, it is fulfilling our purpose through solutions that provide value to our clients and their consumers. Dedicated innovation and technical teams labeled to strategic clients have made the difference.
- Improvement of innovation systems and processes. Governance and defined processes are not optional. We became creative, working with our audit team to make innovation measurable and, therefore, stay.
Innovation is not just R&D D. It is a mentality that prosper in experimentation, tolerates failure and encourages rapid iteration. When you focus not only on the idea, but on how that idea creates an impact for customers throughout their organization or industry, that is where magic occurs. You can reinforce how your unique capabilities, processes and wallet connect, building conviction to act through an organization, Togeter.
Associations drive the exponential possibility
I have asized a lot about what are the benefits of companies that collaborate to boost scalable innovations. For me it is simple. Innovation is the best team sport. No one succeeds alone. Period.
The innovations scale requires a connected system in the supply chain, geographies and partners. This approach joins academy experts, new companies, VC, suppliers and brand notes on the same objective: finding science -based innovations that work.
Part of the equation is to balance profits, purpose and demand. Innovations should make sense of the business and offer profits. But he cannot leave the ship to the first short -term volatility signal.
That is why this son of integration is strange and Powerful. Sharing risks and rewards requires a basis for association, trust and a clear understanding of the role each of us plays in the complete innovation ecosystem.
For Cargill, which admits more than 30 startups in 11 countries and almost all continents, the association takes many forms. We have an early validation program to address the greatest starting challenges, going from one concept to another. We also associate with universities and accelerators to advance critical research and innovations. And we associate with customers to achieve shared objectives for health improvement, nutrition, sustainability and resilience of the food system
Stay the course
The great ideas are just the beginning. Too many innovations are celebrated early, reaching the top of the bass driver before they do so. Because? Because the scale is not easy.
The scale requires rigor, patience and some sand. Science, systems and adequate incentives are needed to stay compromised enough time to see real results. It is the repeatable and reliable innovations that make the true difference, including those that are accessible.
To ensure that their innovations are maintained, generate scalability in their innovation plans from the beginning. Think about the systems, prioritize speed and access and always collaborate. Balance delivery for today (we are all responsible for the final result) without losing sight of the long -term vision.
The future belongs to those who not only imagine what is possible but can build it at a scale. This is how we go from “Aha” to innovations that really change our world.
Florian Schattenmann is Cto or Cargill.