by Alisson Avila | Apr 29, 2020 | Corporates, Featured, Startups
New world, new challenges: Kicking off with this post, we’ll be sharing during the next days and weeks some Questions & Answers in a chat with Beta-i’s CEO, Pedro Rocha Vieira. You’ll get to know more about the big picture of what’s happening at Beta-i right now. A new moment, a 10-years retrospective, our new brand, future scenarios, our startup support and our global reach.
But let’s start by talking with Pedro about this very moment: the breaking news 🙂
Pedro, what’s changing at Beta-i and what’s happening under this repositioning and restructuring
Well, after 10 years of hard work in different areas, we managed to fulfil this first-decade mission: we were, and we proudly are a key player in the establishment of an innovation ecosystem in Portugal. We contributed to the mindset transformation process which has been happening in the Portuguese ecosystem over time, and we managed to be recognized as one of the leading startup accelerators in Europe.
However, now we are no longer in the phase of feeding this innovation ecosystem at its base, but rather helping to give it greater strength within the economy as a whole. Lean approaches, new in-company processes and especially, the collaboration between corporates, public services or other institutions with startups is an inescapable movement.
That’s why we’re undergoing this cycle of change, in order to continue to be relevant at a different level. In the last 3 years, we started to work to become a different type of consultancy firm, totally focused on bringing the startup way of working and making business growth to large organizations and vice-versa, as well as deploying our ecosystem building experience on different geographies. We now have clients and projects in almost 20 countries, on 5 continents. This is a matter of fact, not a vision – but to be very honest, this was still not exactly understood by the market. That’s why we are leveraging our approach.
Therefore we reorganized and redefined our areas, focusing essentially on the collaborative innovation territory. We have a team of experts and different frameworks to converge global startups, large companies, universities, researchers, investors, mentors and governments competencies to work on innovation programs and develop pilot projects with impact on the economy.
How important is this new positioning in the current context?
We were born in times of crisis and now we are “reborn” again in a new period of crisis – and this evolution was made at the right time to respond to current needs.
If 10 years ago we contributed to the generation of new ideas and entrepreneurship approaches to stimulate the economy, today the challenges are different. It is necessary to connect the old with the new economy in a logic of collaboration and win-win – from facing up and coming competitors as a target to be crushed, to see them as a potential partner. This is a paradigmatic shift. It is necessary to support startups as an economic agent of change, helping them to collaborate with companies. And put companies to collaborate with other companies, too – it’s mandatory to be aware that only together we can build this new future. And we’re all experiencing that, at this very moment, due to the pandemic.
So this Beta-i repositioning ends up giving us the necessary approach to face the current challenges and promoting collaborative innovation where everyone benefits, which naturally also includes the people impacted by the developed solutions.
(to be continued…)
by Alisson Avila | Apr 21, 2020 | Corporates, Featured, Investors, Startups
Well yes, we do have some exciting news to share. We’re launching our new brand and everything that comes along in these key moments. We’re really happy with the final result – something that was already happening when the entire planet turned upside down with the pandemic:
The interesting thing is that our value proposition – collaborative innovation – couldn’t be more aligned with the new challenges brought by this new brand world waiting for us out there, or already impacting us right now whenever we can be.
Beta-i has distilled its approach on innovation during the past years and if there’s a one really important thing to highlight at this point, is that what we’re saying is not a goal or a will. It’s a reality from here to the future. Beta-i has a global reach actually, a strong 10-year track record on innovation ecosystems and an expert team able to share this knowledge.
We have a new branch in Brazil, clients in 20 countries in the 5 continents and an admirable team of 50 people from 15 different nationalities.
We believe collaboration is the key to make things change. To solve things that matter. To help ecosystems and society grow. To, no bullshit, build a collective future. That’s what we have been doing; now, we’re just funnelling these services to the same destination: collaboration to innovate. We’ll keep connecting the innovation voices to transform ideas into a business, pilots into deals, solutions into impact to solve complex changes.
Beta-i was created during the last Portuguese crisis, in the second half of 2009, with the deep motivation of being part of the solution and help to create an innovation ecosystem able to support the next generation of entrepreneurs. We helped to make that in Portugal and abroad, and now we’re leveraging this in a global scale – helping corporates, startups, universities, investors, social impact organizations and other voices to work together. We’re starting a new phase in the best possible moment.
So you’re invited to explore our new site and follow our social media channels. And stay tuned: we have a lot more to share during the next months. And to tell, after 10 years of ongoing innovation.
by Alisson Avila | Mar 20, 2020 | Corporates, Investors, Startups
Considering the economic context of the coming months, when great difficulties for businesses in several sectors are foreseen, innovation is the keyword to guarantee a sustainable future for businesses and society. As a contribution to the response of leaders and employees of companies and startups to the upcoming scenarios, Beta-i launches a free online course on collaborative innovation, alongside other European institutions, and starts a podcast dedicated to what’s next on the innovation ecosystem facing the current situation.
The “Co-Innovation Journey for Startups and Corporates” free online course starts on April 22 and is the result of a year-long effort carried out by a European consortium that includes Beta-i, representing Portugal, and universities, companies and institutions from six more countries (Hasso Plattner Institute – Germany, FH | JOANNEUM – University of Applied Sciences and AVL – Austria, European Startup Network – Belgium, Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences – Finland and University of Economics Krakow – Poland). Over six weeks of training, the course addresses specific topics and teaches companies and startups the fundamentals and modalities of collaborative innovation, as well as exercising the initial design of this collaboration through the “Co-Innovation Builder”, a map that organizes the start of open innovation projects between the two entities.
The course is aimed at managers and employees of companies in any sector, and entrepreneurs interested in better understanding the functioning of collaborative innovation projects with companies, which often do not involve direct investment or venture capital. With a duration of six hours a week, the curriculum consists of lectures, informative articles, questionnaires, discussions and practical activities to bring together different players.
In addition to online training, Beta-i is also betting on the creation of a podcast that appears as a new source of information for the innovation ecosystem. The weekly BetaCast, available on the Beta-i YouTube channel, will explore topics that can be applied to the current challenges of companies and startups, also giving the audience the possibility for live participation in the content of the debate with comments and questions.
The first episode of the Beta-Cast will be broadcast live this Thursday, March 26th, starting at 7:00 PM GMT, discussing the theme “Innovation in Times of Crisis” with David Braga Malta, Domingos Cruz and Filipe R. Portela.
