HEC Paris at Vivatech 2024
HEC Paris x Vivatech: A Synergetic SuccessOnce again, Vivatech has lived up to its name! Europe’s biggest startup and technology event attracted thousands of attendees, including a large part of the HEC Paris community and our partners. For the 2024 edition, the HEC Paris Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute and its Incubation & Acceleration Center organized several must-attend events, including a Doers To Doers conference on “How do corporates de-risk collaboration with startups?” in partnership with Capgemini and Caisse des Dépôts. If you didn’t get a chance to attend Vivatech or these events, here is a catch-up session.
Three Questions Around Corporate-Startup Accelerator Programs
Startup accelerators, open innovation, corporate venture capital… Corporate-startup programs have become over the years one of the best ways to create value for both entities. We invited three industry experts to Vivatech to host an insightful conference about these innovation programs, known for leveraging and maximizing the value produced between startups and large organizations:
- Pascale Chabrillat Trahin, Deputy Director of TechSprint, Groupe Groupe Caisse des Dépôts)
- Adrien GLEYZE, CVC Associate & Chief of Staff to the Managing Director at Capgemini Ventures
- Mathias ABRAMOVICZ, Partner | Head of Pedagogy | Corporate Innovation Programs at the Incubation and Acceleration Center of the HEC paris Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute.
Though these programs are appealing, stakes are high and time-sensitive. Indeed, in the context of today’s fast technological and regulatory changes, these collaborations must generate rapid success. Here, the challenge lies in successfully aligning the different goals, cultures, and needs, a difference that puts the companies and startup collaboration at risk.
Whatever the form of collaboration, we asked our speakers three questions that will help bridge the gap, derisk, and create business value:
• What does success mean?
• What are the key success factors to produce results in a short time?
• What resources for what activation?
Strategies for creating impactful corporate-startups innovation initiatives
The panelists presented three key dimensions that need to be explored for innovation and corporate programs to succeed:
- The first dimension is the overall commitment and engagement of the organization in the initiative. Aligning the innovation collaboration program with the strategic goals of the organization is crucial. Why? Because it defines success for the organization and sets KPIs, which are necessary to measure both the success and performance of the innovation initiative.
- The second dimension involves the support corporates provide to startups. What matters here is the understanding of the startups’ needs, which are mostly related to market access, product development, and impactful capabilities. Corporates must review their assets and identify the kind of support they can provide based on the maturity of the startups they are collaborating with as a result.
- Last but not least, engaging key individuals within the organization is crucial. Indeed, three main groups are usually critical to the success of such initiatives: sponsors (typically C-level executives), mentors from business units, and experts. These stakeholders are fundamental in the sense that:
- Sponsors help engage the broader organization and provide financing,
- Experts solve specific operational tasks,
- Mentors navigate the market and connect with key people within the organization.
De-risking collaboration with startups
While these three dimensions are worth exploring, corporations need to be aware of potential risks. Among the most important: building something nobody wants, failing to provide the necessary support to generate quick wins, and lacking engagement from key individuals within the organization, which leads to slow collaboration between startups and corporations.
- Adrien Gleyze, CVC Associates, Capgemini Ventures
However, in Adrien's opinion, bridging the gap between a startup's solution and corporate operations remains complex. That’s why at Capgemini Ventures, they propose de-risked ways of collaboration by creating joint value propositions between Capgemini business teams and startup-led innovations. “We also aim to operationalize startup-driven open innovation and make it accessible to our clients,” he added.
Side events that stole the spotlight too
HEC Paris Annual Pitch Contest
Among the biggest HEC Paris x Vivatech events were the X-HEC Entrepreneurs Demo Day!
Five finalist startups: Greyn, AmonAI, Revolty, Vitichar and Pharmatch from the X-HEC Entrepreneurs Master presented their solutions in front of a jury composed by Gaëtan Bris (Hi! Paris Center), Sihem Ben Mahmoud-Jouini (X HEC Entrepreneurs), Olivier Younes (HEC Paris), and Inge Kerkloh-Devif (HEC Paris Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute).
The grand winner of this 2024 Demo Day was Revolty! Founded by Valentin Heuzé and Mathilde Janicot, the startup offers affordable and sustainable solar energy storage, making residential storage accessible with a profitable battery.
Africa stole the show at the 2024 Vivatech edition!
Today, Africa boasts one of the world's highest rates of entrepreneurship. Many events focused on shedding light on its entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems as a result.
Moderated by Birahim Diop, Co-Academic Director of the HEC Challenge+ Dakar, the conference "Entrepreneurship in WestAfrica: Understanding the Market and Finding Your Product-Market Fit", featured startups from our HEC Challenge + program who shared powerful feedback based on their own entrepreneurial journey and experience.
Speaking of Ivory Coast and Senegal, Emma Cochrane, Director of Strategic Projects at the HEC Paris Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute, welcomed the Minister of Digital Transition of Ivory Coast, Ibrahim Kalil Konaté, while our Institute renewed its partnership with the French embassy in Senegal and the Délégation Générale à l'Entreprenariat Rapide des Femmes et des Jeunes - DER/FJ as part of the HEC Challenge+ Dakar x LIONSTECH Invest program at Vivatech.
Japan took stage on multiple occasions at Vivatech 2024
During Vivatech, Japanese startup HERALBONY, currently incubated at our Incubation and Acceleration Center, was selected as one of the 18 finalists for the LVMH Innovation Award 2024.
HERALBONY Head of Global Business, Megumi Kobayashi received the Employee Experience, Diversity & Inclusion Award, among 1,545 candidates representing 89 countries worldwide. Congratulations to her!
Emma Cochrane, Director of Strategic Projects at HEC Paris Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute, was a speaker in "Startup Ecosystem Building: Bridging French Innovators and Japan" session, organized by Nexus Junction by DTVS.
Finally, General Manager at KOSME (Korea SMEs Startups Agency) Junhee Lee and partner of our International Landing Pad program in collaboration with South Korea also shared insights at the Doers to Doers workshop.
A Startup Launchpad team finalist of the 2024 Next Startup Challenge
Resilient, the startup dedicated to enhancing the climate resilience of industrial companies, was among the 7 finalists of the 2024 Next Startup Challenge Launchpad! This pitch competition, launched in 2019, rewards student entrepreneurs with innovative projects that feature a technological or digital element.
We are proud of Resilient’s co-founder, Tom Verheyde, who represented the entire team, consisting of Tom Verheyde, Lucas Letellier, Matthieu Haguenauer, and Louise Éon.
All four team members participated in the HEC Paris Startup Launchpad 2024 edition, a program designed to help students launch their startups in just 11 weeks. Out of more than 200 projects, Resilient stood out as one of the seven startups selected to pitch their project. No wonder why they won the Startup Launchpad Jury Prize this year!
This year’s main prize was awarded to Jacques de Montigny and Green Fusyon, a company that uses biogas industry co-products to cultivate chlorella.