Program created three years ago by Scania, in Sweden, arrives in Brazil this year to develop a culture of innovation and creativity in the organization. Competition received 120 entries and 11 selected groups have specialized consultancy to improve their business visions. Projects with potential will be able to receive mentoring and investment from the Swedish manufacturer.
São Paulo, 16 May 2022 – Develop a culture of innovation and encourage skills in all areas of the company. These are the main objectives of the Innovation Factory, Scania's global intrapreneurship program to challenge its employees to transform ideas into projects, improve them with innovative and creative practices, and transform them into new business models. In its 3rd edition, the Innovation Factory was created by the manufacturer's headquarters in Sweden, and for the first time it arrives in Brazil, with the participation of Scania Latin America.
Divided into five stages and with a total duration of six months, Scania Innovation Factory 2022 is held simultaneously in both countries. Among Brazilians, there were 120 entries. The finalists from here will participate in the final stage, in Sweden, scheduled to be held in June.
“As they enrich ideas and develop projects, participants evolve in the stages of the program. The best ideas with business potential will participate in the global stage”, says Douglas Neves, from the innovation office and program coordinator. “Innovation is in Scania's DNA and so that we can follow our purpose for a more sustainable transport, it is important that the people who work in the company also have innovation as the foundation of their journeys”, he adds.
In the first stage of the program, even before registration closed, an event named Inspiration Days was held to inspire and motivate employees to participate. For two days, those interested discussed the scenario and opportunities for startups with guests from the market, from the areas of innovation, entrepreneurship and startups.
Next, they went through a matchmaking stage, when they received mentoring techniques and, divided into groups, participated in the first Pitch Day. There were intense days of hearings and business visions related to product technology, digitization, circular economy, logistics and other even bolder ones, in which participants presented their ideas.
field projects
The projects were evaluated by the Business Angels, who decided which of the 27 teams advanced to the next phase of the Innovation Factory. The 11 teams currently selected participate in the Idea Development Boot Camp (“Development of Ideas”). “The high level of ideas presented was surprising. So, it's time to put these ideas into practice.
As the program challenges us to think 'outside the box', it is now that innovators resort to creativity, consult the market, carry out research and studies, analyze scenarios, and adapt their ideas so that they can evolve”, explains Douglas.
For seven weeks, the teams participate in workshops with an innovation consultancy that supports the Innovation Factory at Scania Latin America. There will be a total of seven meetings, in which participants are fully dedicated to the project. “The expectation is that the knowledge acquired during this experience in the program will be disseminated in the organization.
The most important thing is the learning journey and the development of employees who have become ambassadors of new work concepts with agile tools, design thinking methodologies and other soft skills, for example”, says Veridiane Maman, from the People and Culture area at Scania Latin America. “Based on the active, creative and mutual learning dynamics proposed by the Innovation Factory, we want to stimulate the skills of our employees, in addition to offering them the opportunity to apply innovation and transform their ideas and dreams into real business formats”, adds.
On June 14th, the Brazilian finalists will face a second Pitch Day, in which they will present the projects developed in the Idea Development Boot Camp. The groups considered ready to take off, whose projects have business potential, will proceed to the last stage, the Business Angel Forum Global, in Sweden. “The groups qualified here will present their projects together with the groups from Sweden and may be incubated for six months”, points out Veridiane. The last edition of the Innovation Factory, in Sweden, originated four groups in incubation. “Who knows, maybe the next one will not be a Brazilian team?”, he completes.
