Open Innovation Outlook 2023 – Macro-trends for 2023 in Corporate-Startup Engagement

In December 2022, during our annual Open Innovation Bootcamp – organized as part of the Corporate Startup Stars Award Ceremony in London by Mind the Bridge and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) – we had the opportunity to sit down (in person) with the heads of innovation of several of the world’s most innovative corporates.

This has been an outstanding opportunity to share insights as well as assess – first hand – what has been working thus far and their plans for the future.
In this brief report, we present a wrap-up of some of the main outcomes of our discussion, including the results of a structured survey that was circulated at the end of the meeting.
Some trends are clearly visible.
Innovation tools used and initiatives are constantly evolving.
Accelerators are increasingly being reconsidered, and Venture Builders are on the rise. The Venture Client model remains the favorite tool to engage startups.
Open Innovation Outposts in the world’s top innovation hubs (Silicon Valley and Israel) are trending. New emerging hubs (South Korea and MENA) are increasingly becoming attractive.

Innovation leaders identify some procedural and organizational barriers to innovation, while some report limited resources to support startups.
Though concerns about the Covid-19 pandemic appear to be now a thing of the past, the current economic climate and political uncertainty at a global scale drive a relatively cautious approach by innovation leaders.