“In a global context marked by uncertainty… .”
This phrase is the “once upon a time” of the consulting world. The malicious will think that I say it because it is the first sentence that we consultants say at the beginning of all the stories we write. But not. I say this because this sentence summarizes one of the great truths that define the environment in which we work: we live in a globalized world that changes at supersonic speed, which presents us with new challenges at all times, many of which have a clear answer in technological developments.
As technology developer agents, technology centers play a key role in generating answers that satisfy these big questions. However, the questions are not easy and the solutions to the great global challenges require the collaboration of science, technology and innovation. The centers know this, and in addition to collaborating with universities and companies, many of them are beginning to look at other centers:
What if we merge?
1. The Lone Ranger Model
“Job satisfaction and family togetherness are poison for a small purveyor of intoxicant like me.” (Moe)
The sullen bartender from The Simpsons is a perfect example of individuality. He spends the day in his bar. He has no friends, he has no family, he doesn’t get along with anyone. Although all his efforts are focused on his business, the parish almost never exceeds 3 or 4 regular customers leaning on the bar. It’s not that you don’t care about your market, it’s that you don’t even know how to reach it.
Like Moe, many technology centers live in the most absolute of individualities. Their market is mature and is about to run out, and a future that is more than uncertain is ahead of them. Because?
These are bad times for lonely tech cowboys. I already mentioned it in the article “The Ten Commandments of a Technology Center in Trouble”. First of all, because many technologies have a strong scientific component, which implies a necessary collaboration with those who are further up the value chain, such as research centers and universities. As if that were not enough, script-technologies, transversal to traditional disciplines, such as micro-electronics or bio-informatics, among many others, have been hitting hard. Regardless of the joint R&D, collaboration is also necessary for the training of people and for the offer of high-level services to companies that have an increasingly specialized and demanding demand.
Many of the technological centers that we have in Spain were born closely linked to local and mature company nuclei, so this technological shift, together with the restrictions of public budgets and the need to change business models and the local approach mean that each time more suffocating to try to make war on our own. Today, collaborating is almost the only way for centers to specialize in high-level activities and position themselves locally and globally.
2. The Buddies With Benefits Model
“I will be clear and brief: family, religion, friendship: those are the three demons you have to kill if you want to succeed in business. When the opportunity presents itself, don’t let it lead you to motherhood or kneeling in one of many churches… or synagogues.” (Burns)
That the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant works infinitely better than Moe’s Tavern is beyond question. One of the main differences between the two models is that while Moe is alone against the world, Mr. Burns (the owner of the nuclear power plant) has decided to opt for an ally: his personal secretary Smithers.
Mr. Burns is a strategic mind and Smithers is a technical mind. They complement each other perfectly and both are very clear about their roles within the alliance. The main objective of Mr. Burns is to earn a lot of money and the main objective of Smithers is that his beloved Mr. Burns achieves his. Smithers goes where Mr. Burns can’t or doesn’t have time (dealing with his mother’s phone calls, chasing his employees around the plant, and organizing the more operational aspects of his life). That way, Mr. Burns has all the time in the world to think about his misdeeds and devise the strategies that allow him to screw everyone up and make even more money.
The Friends with Benefits Model is a way of organizing the collaborative effort of two or more agents towards a common goal. In the world of technology centers, this model translates into the creation of agreements, networks, and alliances with a more or less long time horizon, oriented, for example, at carrying out joint projects in the form of consortia for European programs. Each of the agents involved maintains a series of commitments with the whole, but at the same time, retains its legal personality and its individual responsibility towards third parties.
We have many examples of technology alliances in this country, such as the Technology Alliance of Catalonia, the TECNIO Network also in Catalonia, IK4 in the Basque Country, RedIT in Valencia, Retgalia in Galicia or Reta in Andalusia among others. There are also some quite interesting new initiatives aimed at promoting the value of technology in economic and social development such as the recently founded Club Innovación y Futuro. (1)
Framed in this collaboration model there are some unique examples that in my opinion are particularly interesting:
The first of these is the HOLST Center (2). This center was born in 2005 from the approach of Phillips to two European technology centers: IMEC (Belgium) and TNO (Holland) to promote a research strategy in an open innovation environment. Phillips approached IMEC (with a long tradition of research in open innovation environments) and TNO (the largest research center in the Netherlands specializing in asset valorization) with a proposal to create a center whose research would focus specifically on the field of micro and nanoelectronics and the result was Holst Center, which specializes in flexible electronics and has stable agreements with more than 30 companies such as Phillips, Alfa, Merck, Panasonic and Samsung.
The second example is the Heterogeneous Technology Alliance (3). The Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology, the French Commission for Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy, the Finnish VTT and the German Fraunhofer are part of this alliance. The four centers have pooled their knowledge and resources to improve Europe’s competitive position in microsystems technologies. They pool their capabilities that are distributed throughout the entire value chain, and seek to bring microtechnology developments closer to industry in different sectors such as automotive, health, safety and aeronautics, among others.
Although these forms of collaboration are very interesting and on many occasions they perfectly meet the objectives for which they have been created, they still have the challenge of focusing the technological offer and effectively uniting the critical mass of the centers that participate in them.
3. The Yes, I Do Model.
-“With ten thousand dollars we would be millionaires, and we could buy useful things like…love!” Homer.
Although at first glance it may not seem so, Homer and Marge are a perfect example of a successful merger. Without Marge, Homer would be lost. Surely he would have lost his job at the nuclear power plant long ago and would have become just another Barney (yes, that Moe’s client who has all the ballots to develop magnificent cirrhosis of the liver). Without Homer, Marge would be like her sisters Patty and Selma: dissatisfied, acid, cynical and a sure candidate for lung cancer. Together, Marge and Homer complement each other perfectly: they love each other, have three lovely children, a single-family house, a pink car, a dog, a cat, and a part-time grandfather. A marriage dream. Is fusion the best answer?
In Spain, most technology centers have emerged as a regional development instrument linked to core companies, mostly within sectors with a high degree of maturity. This conception clashes with the need for centers to specialize in technology activities. high level that can respond to the demand of global companies that are increasingly demanding in the quality of their demand for technology. The answer to this conceptual mismatch is found in collaboration, increasing the critical mass and increasing the excellence of the technological offer. Only by being world-class agents can technology centers provide satisfactory answers to both large companies and small and medium-sized companies in their environment that operate in global value chains, in which technology and innovation are the key elements of their competitiveness.
Compared with specific alliances, mergers have the advantage of being more stable operations in that they eliminate possible conflicts of interest between the objectives of different centers, harmonize the orientation of the entire critical mass under the same criteria, reduce the risks of dispersion, give continuity to the project in the short and long term and allow the creation of a comparative advantage over other centers that are larger and better positioned than the original centers of the integration process.
Another strong point of being larger, having more resources and taking advantage of economies of scale is that it improves positioning in the technological system, which gives the resulting center greater visibility and creates a virtuous circle that feeds back its strength and its ability to act. . Being bigger and more visible also helps to access new and improved sources of financing that give new life to the traditional financial structure of the centers.
The pioneering example in Spain of this type of operation is the merger of 8 technology centers that has given rise to the TRI Corporation (Tecnalia Research and Innovation), which ranks fifth among European technology centers in terms of size. (4)
TRI is a private Basque technology center created to contribute to the scientific and technological development of companies and society. It arose in 2010 from the merger of 8 research centers: Robotiker, ESI, Labein, Inasmet, Fatronik, Cidemco, Leia and Euve Its merger strategy has been to unite critical mass to be more competitive in the global technology market. It currently has 1,437 employees and annual revenues of 121 million euros. It is the first entity in Spain in FP7 returns and has one million euros in income from licenses.
In Spain, there are other more recent initiatives that follow in the footsteps of TRI, such as the possible merger between the Fundación Centro Tecnológico Agroalimentario de Lugo (CETAL) and the Centro Tecnológico Lácteo de Galicia (5) or the merger between the Technological Center ASCAMM and the CTAE Aerospace Technology Center, both in Catalonia. (6)
Yes, I want to… or not? Some recommendations for choosing a partner
“It was no easy task taking care of a pregnant woman and a troublesome child, but despite that, there was no one to take away my eight hours of television a day.” (Homer)
All married people will agree with me that marriage is neither good nor bad, but rather a double-edged sword in which, unless you are careful, everything you say or do can be used in you against Well, the same thing happens with mergers.
There’s no point in merging with the first technology center that comes within range. Fusion per se is not the magic answer that will solve the life of a center with problems. It is important to keep your eyes wide open to take advantage of the complementary opportunities that allow the center to focus its activity and generate a market in a way that improves its level of competitiveness and the added value that it brings to companies. The market is the one that has to mark the strategy of the center and its workflow, integrating the set of activities into specific solutions, so depending on the critical mass of the center, the ideal is to choose few technologies and do so in relation to their potential of market.
Once the decision to merge is made, it is essential to communicate the movements well and be transparent in the process. A merger movement requires an urgent and powerful communication operation directed both internally to the people of the centers that are part of the operation, and externally to the client companies and institutions, collaborators and the scientific and technological system in general.
It is important to be clear about the new commitments and the challenges that the resulting center will face, so the last key recommendation is to draw up a strategic plan for the merged center, defining its medium- and long-term guidelines and including a contingency plan that covers unforeseen events in the short term and avoid the logical mistakes that a similar movement supposes for the people involved.
Search for synergies, good communication, well-defined strategies are just some of the basic recommendations. Before considering a merger process, it is very important to carry out a process of reflection on some key questions: is there a market with a future for the merged center? What competitors are we going to find in that market? What comparative advantage does it give us? the merger to be competitive in that market? What links in the value chain are we working on now and which ones will we position ourselves after the merger? What are the advantages that the addition of critical mass offers us in the new positioning? How does the merger improve our ability to generate/develop/exploit technology? Are the merger movement and subsequent positioning consistent with the strategy that guides our center?
And above all, the most important thing: the devil is in the details. So what technology has brought together, don’t be screwed by a bad strategy…
(1) More information about the Innovation and Future Club.http://www.opti.org/boletines/ article.asp?id=54
(2) More Information about Holst Center: http://www.holstcentre.com/
(3) More information on the Heterogeneous Technology Alliance (http://www.hta-online.eu/ uploads/media/HTA-2010_web.pdf).
(4) More information about TRI: (http://www.tecnalia.com/)
(5) More information on the merger between CTAL and CTL: (http://www.cetal.es/noticias /index/318/.html
(6) More information on the merger of Ascamm and Ctae: (http://www.actec.cat/media_items/ assets/20110712_FUSION_ASCAMM_CTAE.pdf)
If you are interested in this topic, you may also be interested in:
Industrial Research Institutes Collaboration: a three way solution to integrating new research skills. http://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/cesisp/0179.html
Technology and Innovation Centres: a prospectushttp://www.innovateuk.org/_assets/pdf /corporate-publications/prospectus%20v10final.pdf
The current and future role of Technology and Innovation Center in the UK:http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/innovation/docs/10-843-role-of-technology-innovation-centres-hauser-review
Technology and Innovation Centers. Closing the gap between concept and commercialisation:http://www.innovateuk.org/_assets/0511/TSB_TICClosingTheGapv2.pdf< /a>
Impacts of european RTOs:http://www.earto.eu/fileadmin/content/03_Publications/TechnopolisReportFinalANDCorrected.pdf
Note: All the characters from The Simpsons as well as the drawings that appear in this article are the creation of Matt Groening and property of the Fox network.