Corporate Accelerator Programmes - the good, the bad and the ugly
by Startacus Admin
The 'Whitespace Ventures Corporate Innovation Club' has published its first report, compiling insights and ideas from leading voices in corporate innovation.
Titled The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Corporate Accelerator Programmes, the report brings together key themes from the latest bi-monthly gathering of the Whitespace Ventures Corporate Innovation Club members. The Club is formed of a community of over 40 international and global corporate brands, with representatives convening bi-monthly to learn form each other – with regard to both successes and failures – while digesting the insights of specially invited expert guests.
The September 28th meeting discussed important questions; why implement a corporate Accelerator programme? How do start-ups see corporate 
Accelerators? How should a corporate deliver an accelerator beneficial for both start-ups and its own interests? Additionally, the meeting resulted in practical insights into making a corporate Accelerator productive and sustainable. Meanwhile, the disconnect between start-ups and corporations was explored during the gathering.
“Corporations run Accelerator programmes for three main reasons; brand storytelling, IP incubation or to spark different thinking. To get the most out of an Accelerator programme the corporation needs to have well-defined give/gets and needs to be transparent with this upfront,” underlines Andrew Webber, the Chair of the Whitespace Ventures Corporate Innovation Club.
Whitespace Ventures is focused on helping high growth technology startups build a strong and repeatable business as quickly as possible. They aim to do this by learning from startups and Corporates that they have closely partnered with, combined with the experience of the Whitespace founders.
Startupbootcamp Chief Content Officer and an invited speaker at the meeting, Misha de Sterke, was very impressed by the quality and the outcomes of the dialogue which took place during the meeting. “C-suite executives have a different mindset. They are risk averse and they expect predictable returns. That’s logical when you’re running day to day business. In Corporate Accelerator programmes the goal is to search for new business models in which traditional accounting metrics are irrelevant. The best approach here is to craft workable metrics to record impact and result.”
The Club then convened again on the 23rd of November and the main focus of this meeting was the topic of 'Internal Innovation in Corporations'. We look forward to finding out what key themes were discussed and explored.
Subscribe to our newsletter
If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.
.png)
Sodexo Live! and L Marks open call for applications from innovative startups and scaleups to join their inaugural North America Innovation Lab.
.png)
Startups founded by students and recent graduates from the University of Edinburgh secure SMART:SCOTLAND grants to help support their ambitious and innovative projects.
Lydia Kothmeier, VP of Operations at Storyblok shares insights on the processes and policies that every startup should have in place in order to make remote working work.
The lowdown on HoloToyz, the Irish startup and its products for kids that can come to life through the power of augmented reality.
Inbound Investors 2022 providing NI businesses with the opportunity to pitch directly to leading UK investors over the course of one day.
Enterprise CMS Storyblok launches Storyblok V2 in a bid to further empower teams to create and scale standout audience experiences.
The lowdown on Nothing, the London-based startup that's creating innovative connected products "to make tech fun again."
The lowdown on Athos, the Spanish startup that has created a customized climbing shoe that's been made with 3D printing technology.
Edinburgh-based startup Swurf connects remote workers with welcoming spaces to work in since "you don’t need an office to do your best work!"
.jpg)
Kickstart catapults innovation with 43 high growth startups selected for the 2022 core program from 16 countries this year, including two from the UK.
Published on: 29th November 2017
If you would like to enable commenting via your Startacus account, please enable Disqus functionality in your Account Settings.
- Sodexo Live! And L Marks Seeking Startups and Scaleups for first ever North America Innovation Lab 5th Aug 2022 Sodexo Live! and L Marks open call for applications from innovative startups and scaleups to join their inaugural North America Innovation Lab.
- Innovative University-supported startups secure £500,000 in grant funding awards 4th Aug 2022 Startups founded by students and recent graduates from the University of Edinburgh secure SMART:SCOTLAND grants to help support their ambitious and innovative projects.
- Registrations Open for Inbound Investors 2022 2nd Aug 2022 Inbound Investors 2022 providing NI businesses with the opportunity to pitch directly to leading UK investors over the course of one day.
- Storyblok Launches New CMS Experience to Shape the Future of Digital Storytelling 1st Aug 2022 Enterprise CMS Storyblok launches Storyblok V2 in a bid to further empower teams to create and scale standout audience experiences.
