Corporate innovation has evolved. Having worked on it for a decade in a different sector, it’s interesting for me to look back at where it was then and what we’re doing now with Sixth Sense.
Seven or eight years ago, when we started to see lots of accelerators and incubators pop up in corporate settings, there was something naive about it. I think we were kind of in love with the idea of hanging out with the ‘cool kids’ – innocently thinking that if you put start-ups together with big corporates, magic would just happen.
I don’t think we recognised that for collaboration to truly take-off, we needed to be focused about it. For example, we needed the start-ups to be at the right business stage and to have a certain level of maturity to enable them to work effectively with corporates. Beyond that, there also needed to be some alignment between the start-ups’ objectives and that of the mature business. In short, it needed to be ‘investable’ for both the corporates and the start-ups concerned.
We also probably underestimated the level of change that the corporates themselves would need to go through to allow them to interact more proactively with the start-ups. It was like we built the house, got all the right people to the party, but we didn’t have the right music playing for everyone to dance. We didn’t get to form alliances or relationships that stood the test of time.
Richard Heggie, founder, H Catalyst
But this deep experience has given me a chance to support Hexagon in their desire to get it right. To leverage H Catalyst’s expertise on what worked and what didn’t work and to create a far more value-exchange and outcome-orientated approach to open innovation.
At Sixth Sense, there is a clear understanding of the areas of interest and the kinds of innovation that align with Hexagon’s broader mission. The areas where Hexagon, as an established global player, can truly add value to the companies coming in and collaborate. There is an understanding that we want to work with scaling start-ups that have product market fit already figured out. They need to be in a position for Hexagon to help them through scale and distribution – not simply through investment.
It’s a win-win. Mutually beneficial for the start-ups and Hexagon. It’s not a case of handing over venture investment and sitting back saying ‘job done.’ We’ll be proactively sharing the right resources, the tools and constructing a programme that can help these businesses to scale. Sixth Sense is about helping the start-ups prove the business model and demonstrate the ‘win-win’ opportunity. If they can, Hexagon will unlock distribution, new markets and customer relationships to help them fly.
Hexagon recognises that this is a journey and there will be ups, downs and opportunities to improve. However, Hexagon have shown their desire to start this journey on the best possible footing. I know from experience that this will be as much a learning and change process for Hexagon as it will be for the start-ups. But that is exactly what makes Hexagon’s enlightened leadership so exciting: the promise of Sixth Sense is about moving towards a much more purpose-led, collaborative and equal relationship to innovation going forward. I look forward to seeing this vision come to fruition.
Personally, my eyes have been opened to how exciting the world of smart manufacturing is. The possibilities seem endless. The impact on a sustainable future, critical. And the potential gains not just financially but for humankind, huge. It’s a privilege to be on this journey with a company like Hexagon. We’re living in a world that needs answers. It seems to me like we’ll find some here.
