As a successful 2022 closes – the bar is raised for 2023
● The B2B marketplace connects large firms with small or scaling technology companies to address internal digital transformation objectives
● Launched in February 2022 with 200+ scaling technology companies signed up to the programme along with 23 large corporates
● Seven deals to be concluded by the end of the year that will help to address digital transformation challenges within large corporates
The Innovation Exchange, Ireland’s exclusive B2B innovation marketplace which matches large corporates with innovative scaling technology companies to address digital transformation challenges, is today issuing a call to action to businesses, both large and startups or scaling, to register themselves on their marketplace before the Christmas holiday period and hit the ground running in 2023.
The marketplace was launched in February this year and to date has over 200 scaling technology companies engaging with it along with 23 large corporates. Since the launch, 5 deals have been concluded with 20 more in the pipeline. Two additional deals, involving multinational companies and indigenous technology start-ups, are expected to be finalised before year end, bringing the total to seven deals done by The Innovation Exchange.
The deals are designed to accelerate digital transformation for large multinational businesses by connecting them with indigenous scale-ups. One of the major benefits of The Innovation Exchange is the fast-tracking of deals. In the most recent collaboration between Exertis (DCC plc) and Digital Workplace, the deal was agreed six weeks from the first pitch.
The initiative works by members submitting proposals to specific corporate challenges which are published via The Innovation Exchange platform. The corporate partner and the solutions provider then follow a clear framework which if successful at each stage, results in a deal being done. To date, 18 challenges have been published with 290 submissions received. This has resulted in 40 pitches having been made with 20 moving to the next proof-of-concept phase.
Raising the bar in 2023:
In 2022, 18 corporate challenges were published, including from the likes of Ryanair, Axa Insurance, ESB and Dawn Meats. The Innovation Exchange has announced today that it expects to publish over 25 corporate challenges in 2023. In addition, it has announced an expanded learning platform and new masterclasses focused on leadership, selling, procurement and negotiation. The Innovation Exchange will also host a minimum of four in person networking events in 2023.
Nationwide roll out
In 2023, The Innovation Exchange is expecting to expand its regional outreach structure to ensure that the programme and its marketplace is benefiting Irish technology companies the length and breadth of the country. Galway Technology Centre became the first official regional channel partner in November 2022 and the number of The Innovation Exchange channel partners is expected to reach ten by the end of 2023.
Launched in February 2022, The Innovation Exchange has had a number of successful outcomes to date, including 20 SMEs that have moved to a deeper engagement with a corporate partner, with one company announcing that it has signed a paid pilot. Several other SMEs are in proof-of-concept discussions with a view to establishing a longer-term collaboration. More than 30 innovation challenges are expected to be published by large corporates for participating SMEs in 2022.
The paid pilot involves Exertis, an IT services company of DCC, and The Éclair Group (now Digital Workforce), a technology scale-up that is developing innovative solutions in robotics process automation. Exertis published an innovation challenge via The Innovation Exchange in May and The Eclair Group responded proposing a solution. Following a pitch and a proof-of-concept phase, a deal was agreed to enter a paid pilot.
Member engagement / collaboration
As well as facilitating collaborations between large corporates and scaling technology companies, The Innovation Exchange also promotes collaboration between the solutions providers themselves in an effort to promote the idea that a joint approach to challenges can provide the corporate partner with a more complete solution.
To promote deeper engagement between members, The Innovation Exchange will be hosting a meet and greet on Tuesday, 13th December at The Alex Hotel in Dublin. It will allow like minded founders to meet each other but there will also be a recap of the year and a sneak peak of what The Innovation Exchange has in store for the year ahead.
Speaking on today’s announcement, Conor Carmody, Programme Director of The Innovation Exchange said, “We’ve been delighted with the uptake by large corporates and start-up and scaling businesses alike since we launched the programme in February of this year. Our hope is that The Innovation Exchange becomes a mini-hub where we can connect large corporates, be it domestic or Irish-based foreign businesses, and indigenous innovative scaling technology companies and close the gap between these businesses and build long standing relationships, which will ultimately be beneficial to the Irish economy.
As we come to the end of 2022, we wanted to make sure that businesses who may be interested in being part of our innovation marketplace sign up before they take a well deserved break for the Christmas season and hit the ground running in 2023.”
