The Power of Innovation Partnerships
Collaborating with Academic Institutions
What is innovation and why do businesses need it?
While the answer to this question may seem simple, developing an innovation strategy is not as easy as you might think.
Without business innovation, there isn’t anything new and without the introduction of new products, services, or technologies — there will be no progress. Finding new ways to innovate is essential for long-term success and organizations are starting to catch on.
Around 63% of organizations view innovation as the top opportunity presented by ecosystems and partnerships. One proven way in which organizations are creating lucrative innovation strategies is by developing a strong partnership model with academic institutions.
Establishing a partnership model based on the principles of open innovation enables the flow of technology and information among people, organizations, and institutions. That’s why 44% of organizations are seeking out alliances for new ideas, insights, and innovation.
Academic-industry partnerships focus on breaking down silos and finding the best way to strengthen and cultivate a business relationship that delivers mutual benefits. From a business perspective, strategic partnerships are fundamental to improving organizational outcomes. In comparison, many universities are strategically exploring infrastructure and networks like digital spaces, creative environments for entrepreneurship, and corporate offices. The possibilities are endless and collaborations open doors to new opportunities.
This is supported by the fact that the partnership model is gaining popularity as a vehicle to drive forward innovation. Each year around 2000 strategic alliances are formed with that number growing by 15% per annum.
That’s why we’ve decided to form our very own academic partnership initiative built on the foundations of our EiR program.
🤔 About the EiR Program
Next Big Thing AG’s EiR program was launched as a strategic initiative to develop deeptech solutions in record time that solve persistent industry-specific problems.
Our carefully crafted four-month EiR program leverages an innovative venture studio model that enables entrepreneurs to build, test, and refine new ideas into venture-funded companies. During this time, aspiring founders will have the opportunity to explore three core technologies that have the power to disrupt entire industries — IoT, AI, and DLT.
We support each entrepreneur with the essential resources from financing and business development to operations and marketing. With NBT’s EiR model, we offer every entrepreneur a successful start to startup life.
All we need is YOU.
🎯 The Purpose of the Partner Initiative
We aim to establish long-lasting and strategic collaborations with universities and business schools to attract the best entrepreneurial talent to our EiR program. With this initiative, we have the opportunity to attract both business and technical talent that can build deep-tech startups together with us.
As a first step, we will focus on finding the partnership equilibrium — developing trust and forging the best possible offering for every stakeholder in our partner ecosystem.
🌍 Area of Focus
Although Next Big Thing AG is based in Berlin, this initiative does not only focus on Germany.
Our flexible working environment means that any entrepreneur who joins our four-month EiR program can be located anywhere and work remotely with us. However, upon the official foundation of the venture (at the end of the EiR program and only once the business idea is validated), we require our successful founders to relocate to Germany for legal and networking reasons.
🏗 Partnership Model
Since every institution is different, we adapt our partnership offering to each university or business school that’s eager to collaborate.
We’re taking this new initiative as a learning opportunity and iterating on the model wherever and whenever we see room for improvement. So, while there may not be a standardized model in place, there is a general framework that we follow.
The initial stages of the partnership start with a few events, either online or offline, that are organized by NBT. These events offer a look behind the curtain for students to learn more about our venture-building opportunities and the process of validating each business idea in the EiR program.
Over time, a longer-term partnership can evolve where NBT collaborates with universities for recruiting purposes. In addition, we also discuss taking part in career fairs organized by the universities.
🏆 Partnership Benefits
While the beginning stages of this new initiative may still be classified as experimental, we will be focused on fine-tuning the partnership model by building credibility, reliability, and shared excitement as we get to know each of our partner’s unique abilities.
This partnership model offers both sides an opportunity to keep up to date with evolving technologies and skillsets.
By combining their separate strengths through partnerships, universities and businesses can achieve three outcomes:
- Narrowing the skills gap
- Opening up new career pathways
- Pooling resources and exploring innovative ideas
How Do Universities Benefit From this Partnership Model?
Both universities and business schools want to give their students the best opportunities that help them succeed in their careers. For an ever-growing group of students, there may come a time in their career that includes founding a startup.
In Berlin, for example, the entrepreneurial spirit is high and the ecosystem boasts a diverse pool of fresh graduates and accomplished professionals (who might also wish to pursue additional educational opportunities). We offer students exposure and the chance to found a business with us and benefit from our experience and established network. We’d also like to give a special mention to those individuals who are pursuing or have obtained an MBA or Tech MBA. Our EiR program is the next logical step after this degree, building on the principles learned in this course with the opportunity to apply these lessons in the real world.
Partnering with NBT gives students the ability to form close contact with, and gain early exposure to, the wider NBT ecosystem and access the vast amount of expertise that comes along with it.
How Does NBT Benefit From this Partnership Model?
At NBT, we’re constantly on the lookout for the best entrepreneurial talent to found deeptech startups with us. Our collaborations with universities are one channel in which we gain exposure — and attract — the right talent. We’re interested in both business-centric profiles and technical entrepreneurs. All that’s needed is an exciting business idea that aligns with our tech-driven vision and the entrepreneur’s strong drive to succeed.
In addition, partnering with academia enables NBT to grow and learn from a different perspective, develop a deeper understanding of current market needs, and retain know-how.
As the future workforce, academics and entrepreneurs have the propensity to come up with new solutions which is something that NBT is excited to help bring forth: a new generation of ideas focusing on what matters — creating a prosperous future for all facilitated by advanced technologies.
🏛 Partners
We’re proud to be working alongside some of the brightest minds from around the globe who are committed to finding answers to the world’s most challenging problems. While this initiative is still very much in its infancy, we are already proud to welcome several extraordinary academic institutions that have embraced this opportunity to form a close collaboration and partnership with NBT.
To date, some of our partners include:
This list will continue to grow as we onboard new universities and other higher education facilities. If you would like to know more about this exciting initiative, here’s your chance👇
👋 Get Involved
We’re on the lookout for universities and business schools that would like to learn more about our academic partnership initiative.
This is your chance to collaborate on innovation and entrepreneurship projects, share your experience, and gain access to an exceptional group of motivated digital natives that strive to shape the world of tomorrow, together with you.
Why wait for an opportunity to come knocking when it’s right here at your fingertips? If you’re curious to know more about NBT’s EiR Program, or if you’d like to partner with us — reach out!
Get directly in touch with either:
Curious to know more about NBT? Learn about us here👇
