“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” Alan Kay
Last month we launched the latest version of JLAB, the John Lewis Partnership’s innovation programme. 2018 marks the fifth year of JLAB and we are very excited to have announced some very big changes to how it will run. In the previous four years JLAB ran as a 12 week accelerator during the summer only. This provided us with opportunity to invest in early stage startups. Startups received mentoring and investment from the Partnership with the opportunity to accelerate their proposition.
Each year we have attempted to improve the JLAB process by making iterative changes based on feedback from the previous year. In 2014 JLAB was located in Canary Wharf. We invited Partners to take part in the process by helping mentor and judge but logistically this became a challenge so in 2015 we moved JLAB to our head office in Victoria. Partners and startups share the same space and this has been fantastic. In 2016 we recruited senior stakeholders to help us identify themes that we believed would solve real life business challenges and in 2017 Waitrose joined the programme for alongside John Lewis.
So why the new approach?
Consumer expectations are rapidly evolving and I believe this is due to emerging global innovations. If we track these innovations we can predict future scenarios and identify how they might emerge from today. It is also natural to think linearly but technological change is exponential and relentless accessibility to talent and ideas will help us think differently. The workplace must be somewhere you come to learn and our Partners will continue to be at the heart of what we do with JLAB. Our founder John Spedan Lewis talked about experimentation and gardening being very similar; one is planting seeds and the other is ideas, however you want them both to grow and develop. We want to amplify this type of thinking.
What changes have we made to the JLAB programme?
- JLAB will move from a 12 week accelerator to an ‘always on’ innovation programme providing startups and businesses with opportunities to pitch their products/solutions/services to us all year round
- This year we are running three innovation programmes.
- Throughout the year JLAB will run a number of themed programmes, the first innovation theme of health and wellbeing is now live and applications close midnight on 25 May 2018
- We will also be launching, later in the year, a number of new activities for those who aren’t a business so watch this space for more details….
To apply visit www.jlab.co.uk. Good luck!
