In the last few weeks I have listened to the same song several times : “whoever comes out of this will come out stronger” referring to companies that survive this terrible economic crisis. Enduring, weathering the storm, digging in… are terms used every day in our companies to summarize the survival strategy they are carrying out. In such an environment it is very difficult to talk about innovation. Innovation is a bet in the medium and long term that does not seem to be among the most pressing priorities.
However, there are companies that decide, even in these difficult times, to bet on innovation and new tools and innovation that facilitate the diversification of their business lines. The Mondragon group and its Mondragon Open Innovation initiative is an extraordinary example, a pioneering initiative that has shared the diversification needs expressed by the companies of the Mondragón group with the technological offer of the scientific and technological agents of the Basque Country. The results are still promising and could be seen at the Mondragon Open Innovation convention held on the 28th of March, in which technology centers and companies met around specific opportunities for collaboration.
Innovation processes of this type allow companies to come into contact with technological assets that can be put on the market in the short term and that can help them generate new lines of business. Diversification is undoubtedly one of the ways out for companies that are seeing how their original markets are getting smaller and smaller while other new markets are growing, and the acquisition of technology through collaboration with scientific and technological agents is an unbeatable way to manage to enter these new markets with certain guarantees of success