From 'we should look at this' to structured experimentation.

The problem

Why does corporate innovation stall?

Interest in a technology usually arrives as a question without an owner. Someone senior believes it matters, but nobody has been asked to produce a decision, and no one has defined what a decision would require.

So the organisation explores. Workshops are held, vendors present, a deck circulates. A year later it knows more about the technology in the abstract and no more about what it should do.

The fix is structural, not motivational: write down the decision first, then design the smallest piece of work that would settle it.

What structured experimentation looks like

A small number of live experiments at any one time, each attached to a decision with a named owner and a date. Each one designed so that it could produce a negative result.

External capability brought in against a written internal problem statement, not against a technology category. A shortlist your operating teams recognise. Pilots run in the real environment, with a defined comparison against how the work is done today.

And, from the first day, a plan for what happens if it works: who operates it, what it replaces, what procurement, risk and compliance require.

What we do

The work.

Programmes are assembled from these according to where the organisation actually is - not delivered as a fixed package.

• Corporate innovation programs

  A programme structured around real internal problems, with owners, decision dates and a route from experiment to operation.

• Startup scouting

  Problem-anchored scouting that produces a shortlist your operating teams recognise as relevant - not a landscape map.

• Startup-corporate matchmaking

  Matches proposed with a shape: what the pilot tests, over what period, with what data, at whose cost, and what happens if it works.

• Technology scouting

  Assessment of specific capabilities against your constraints - data, integration, regulatory and procurement - before anyone meets a vendor.

• Pilot design

  Pilots that can fail: real environment, defined comparison against today, and a stated threshold that decides what happens next.

• Innovation challenges

  Open or invited challenges built from a genuine internal problem, with a committed sponsor and a defined prize that is worth winning.

• Accelerator collaboration

  Working with accelerators and programmes as a corporate partner, in a way that is useful to the cohort rather than extractive.

• Ecosystem development

  The relationships, visibility and credibility that determine which companies bring you their idea before anyone else.

• Innovation partnerships

  Partnerships with startups, institutions, universities and public bodies, structured so both sides can operate them.

• Innovation events

  Gatherings designed as instruments - to surface problems, test appetite or convene a market - rather than as content.

• Hackathons

  Focused build events with a real problem, real data where possible, and a defined path for what happens to the winning work.

• Executive workshops

  Sessions that move a leadership team from general interest to a specific, written position on what they will do next.

The path

Explore. Experiment. Adopt.

• Explore

  Executive framing, technology assessment and a written problem statement built with the operating team that owns the problem.

• Experiment

  Scouting against the problem statement, matchmaking with a proposed pilot shape, and pilots designed with a comparison and a threshold.

• Adopt

  The transition into operation: owner, budget line, support model, procurement and risk sign-off, and a place in existing processes.

The third stage is where most programmes have never been. It is the one we design for from the start.

For startups and scaleups

The other side of the table.

We work with startups selling into large organisations as often as with the organisations themselves. What determines the outcome is usually not the product.

• Whether the internal problem is owned by someone with budget authority
• Whether a security and data review can be answered without a six-month detour
• Whether the pilot has a defined threshold and a route to a contract
• Whether procurement, legal and risk have been engaged before the pilot ends
• Whether the corporate sponsor survives the reorganisation halfway through
• Whether the commercial terms work at the size the corporate actually buys

We advise founders on collaboration readiness for exactly these reasons - most lost enterprise deals were lost on this list, not on the demo.

Related

Where this connects.

• Programs & Experiences

  The formats: workshops, challenges, hackathons, roundtables and curated gatherings.

• Emerging Technology

  The technologies most of this work is built around.

• What startup scouting is actually for

  Our approach to scouting, matchmaking and corporate-startup collaboration.

Common questions

Programmes and scouting.

What does a startup scouting engagement produce?

A shortlist of companies matched to a written internal problem statement, qualified on collaboration readiness as well as technology, each with a proposed pilot shape: what it would test, over what period, with what data, at whose cost, and what happens if it works. Not a market landscape.

How long does a corporate innovation programme take?

Framing and problem definition typically take weeks. Scouting and matchmaking run over one to two months. Pilots are scoped to the shortest period that produces real evidence, commonly a quarter. The adoption transition depends entirely on the organisation's procurement and risk cycle, which is why we plan for it from the start.

Do you run the programme or help us build our own capability?

Either. Some organisations need a programme run for them; others need the structure, briefs and criteria so their own team can run it repeatedly. We are explicit about which one an engagement is, because they are different pieces of work.

Do you work with accelerators, universities and public bodies?

Yes. Ecosystem development means working across corporates, startups, accelerators, universities, investors and institutions - a programme that only involves one of those tends not to produce much.

What is your organisation trying to decide?

Bring the technology you keep discussing, or the problem you cannot solve internally. Either is a starting point.

Design a programme See the formats