Today, innovation is led by startups.
The most forward-thinking corporates across the globe are collaborating with startups in order to foster innovation and tap into new markets to stay ahead of the competition.
Thai agrifood conglomerate CP Foods Public Company Limited is one of the largest companies in Southeast Asia and is looking to improve their existing processes by partnering with innovative startups in the space. This new approach will improve their competitiveness and their position as a market leader by utilizing new technologies and incorporating more efficient means of product development.
We proposed an Innovation Challenge as a first step. The Innovation Challenge is a 3 day business development program in which hand-selected startups work with CPF representatives in a facilitated environment.. In this framework, business units work together with hand-selected startups in order to develop efficient solutions in a short amount of time.
As a first step, we worked with the CP Foods management team and business unit representatives to define four problem statements and a clear criteria for the Startup Scouting process.
During the Startup Scouting process, we reached out to our network and hosted an online application process to find early-stage startups with technologies that might be able to solve the challenges laid out by the CPF team. We selected finalists from around the world – including from India, Indonesia, New Zealand, Vietnam, China and Israel – with technologies that have the potential to solve CPF’s predefined Problem Statements.
In the end, nine startups will be invited to take part in the Innovation Challenge hosted at True Digital Park in Bangkok. Over the 3 days, we will guide the teams through an iterative process designed to develop minimum viable products (MVPs), proof of concepts, and potentially even prototypes. After a pitch presentation on the final day, CPF will select one winning startup for each problem statement and will kick-off an additional, ongoing collaboration process.
The solutions will be showcased at Agritechnica Asia in Bangkok, one of the largest trade fairs in Southeast Asia.
According to one of the CP Foods management team members, the collaborative program is a more efficient and significantly less expensive way to identify top-notch technologies, as compared to their traditional internal R&D.
Though the Innovation Challenge was initially scheduled for September, due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation we have decided to postpone until the end of this year. We appreciate the patience of all participants, the partaking startups, and CP Foods representatives and look forward to all meeting in person soon!
