Case Studies

Sodexo outside-in program

Project Objectives

Scout and asses top-notch Chinese startups to get access to state-of-the-art technology with potential for immediate business impact
Accelerate the business proposition of each startup by guiding the development of a Proof of Concept and producing a comprehensive business case. To allow Sodexo to make an informed decision on potential investment in selected startups
Promote Sodexo as a startup friendly brand and provide a major impulse to the internal culture of innovation

XNode Solution

Startup scouting & assessment
The startup launchpad
The innovation outpost
The open innovation day

Investment Result

On Nov 8, 2018, AEYE-GO received a capital investment from Sodexo Ventures as a direct result of the LaunchPad Program

“We are extremely excited to announce the first investment from Sodexo Ventures in China into AEYE-GO. We have always believed that combining the flexibility and creativity of local innovative startups with the fundamental know-how of Sodexo's will enable us to jointly build an ecosystem of digital and innovative services in China. We look forward to working with bigger, better and more powerful Chinese startups in the future to bring much higher value-added solutions and smarter experiences to our customers and consumers.”

Belen Moscoso Del Prado Lopez-Dóriga

Chief Digital and Innovation Officer, Sodexo

X5 Retail Group

Scouting for Chinese retail innovations

XNode worked with X5 Retail Group’s Innovation Department to scout 100 top-notch Chinese startups. The aim was to co-develop innovation solutions to automate and robotize retail processes, as well as the testing of new technologies, products, and services.

The 5 main areas of scouting were:

Solutions to streamline in-store operations
Personalization tools to enrich user experience
Solutions to optimize supply chain processes
ADAS and DMS for transportation efficiency and safety
AGVs to drive warehouse automations

100+ startups delivered

In December 2019, a total of 100+ startups were scouted with 20+ brief reports delivered.

Among the shortlisted 20+ startups, successful pilots are already underway in the scenarios of ADAS, biogas and AGV.

Pilots have the potential to roll out across X5 Retail Group’s various formats that cover 14,400 stores and comprise the brands: Pyaterochka, Perekrestok, and Karusel.

Unilever HZL Inside-out Program

Project objectives

Reviving Hazeline Brand through internal incubation & acceleration
Adopt and apply a completely new entrepreneurial process and mindset
Accelerate the process of prototyping and building MVP to go to market
Create and validate a new business model which is applicable for Hazeline

Our solution

Tailor made acceleration program with lean startup methodology
EIR coaching by industry experts and serial entrepreneurs

Legrand Wake Up Call

01 | Objectives

Find new paths to faster growth with the integration of recent acquisitions and the optimization of operations
Build a plan that will be launched after Chinese New Year 2021 by 25-30 people from different departments and locations within several days
Explore industries including elderly care, IoT, and services for data centers

02 | Our Solution: Four days Wakeup Call

A mixture of ideation workshops, guest speakers, visits, and sharing session based in Shanghai

27 people from different locations and departments into 6 groups

Nurture ideas -> prioritize opportunities -> develop new business models

03 | Ideas Generated

A personalized, automated and intelligent home platform that focuses on elderly people
Launch a smart management platform to link software and hardware
Full lifecycle facility management for renewal properties
Providing more professional services other than just hardware products
Rental Services for intelligent home equipment
Enhance the ability of data search and analysis that are related to smart devices

Michelin SAP 2019

Program Overview

Innovation is a key priority for Michelin to achieve its 2020 Ambitions. In order to achieve those ambitions, Michelin decided to set up a Corporate Innovation Board which initiated the Incubation Program Office.

In China, Michelin IPO (the innovation department) aims to build a strong portfolio of new business models and solutions in the following domains: (1) commercial fleet (2) individual consumers’ mobility needs, (3) retailers, consumer experience on food and travel

Together with Michelin IPO, XNode helped different BU :

Define and finetune innovation topic and needs
Scout and screen the best startups
Accelerate the POC projects with structured methodology and expert coaching.

BMW Open Innovation

Objectives

Scouting top-notch Chinese start-ups for collaboration on both business and tech development with the aim to become the partner and early adopting venture client of selected startups.

Pain points

BMW did not have the connection with startups, entrepreneurs, community and network

Lack of experience in creating and managing Proof of Concepts, Pilots and Business cases together with startups

Ideation Workshop @BMW BeiJing

On Oct. 12th 2018, BMW Ideation Workshop was held in Beijing.

Together with colleague from 4 Bus（business unit）, we helped to better clarify the challenges and pain points faced by BMW

Continental China Megacity Mobility Solutions Incubator 2019

Project Objectives

Company Objectives

Adopt and apply a completely new entrepreneurial process and mindset;

Help internal teams validate their innovative ideas with real customers and leads to more launching opportunities;

Accelerate the process of prototyping and building Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to go to market faster.

Pain Points to Address

A multitude of BU’s and markets all with its own dynamics and interests;

Time-consuming and costly process for idea and concept development;

The challenge to quickly learn from the market feedback and improve iteratively.

XNode Solution

Lean Startup Methodology:

Intensive acceleration workshops over three months
Using lean startup concepts to build solid business models and test hypotheses
Rapid prototyping to develop a minimal viable prototype at the end of 3 months

Entrepreneurs-in-Residence:

Our Entrepreneur-in- Residence, Sina, an entrepreneur with experience with digital marketing and the Chinese consumer ecosystem,
Through weekly touchpoint meetings, Sina will guide the team as they work on their product, providing valuable insights and guidance

Stakeholder Engagement:

XNode will facilitate the discussion between ASI’s Europe team and Chinese team
Team will tap onto our community of external partners, investors and mentors

Osram 2019 X-pioneer

Building the OSRAM Engine of Innovation

XNode worked with OSRAM China BUs to scope and identify business opportunities. Together, 5 innovative ideas with clear pain points and opportunities were defined.

The goal of the X-Pioneer acceleration was to rapidly generate business impact for OSRAM. It also aims to leverage the speed and agility of startups in combination with the existing client network and resources of OSRAM to experiment with new business models.

The innovation journey started with ideation

XNode organized an ideation workshop with multiple BU teams to identify business challenges and opportunities for OSRAM.

At the end of the ideation session, outputs were:

High potential technologies and innovations for implementation
Relevant business challenges and opportunities
Preliminary project roadmap for acceleration

Demo Day

On May 27th 2020, X-Pioneer demo day was held in Shanghai with over 40 participants from different business units including smart lighting, automotive, and smart city.

Scania Disruptive Innovation Acceleration Program

From Building In-house to Leverage Outsider Knowledge to Co-build

‍New Products and Services

XNode worked with Scania internal BU and support teams to map out problems and issues that Scania want to tackle for current daily work and for future planning.

After problems and solutions are scoped, we co-picked 5 topics that can be further scouted after. The final goal is Scania BU will work closely with selected startups to co-create a PoC/ MVP for new market share acquisition and finance incremental. This will leads to real business impact generation in the end.

XNode plays the role as executor, facilitator and guider during the process of innovation strategy planning, program scoping, scouting and collaboration among startups and corporate.

Key Results for Scouting

1 month scouting in China

- From pre-A round to C round startup

‍58 startups are either being selected or showing interests

Only 3 startups are interviewed and picked to enter the 3-month acceleration program

- 3 startups collaboration model brief :

Startup A: Autonomous truck driving related algorithm and technology development in mining area.
Startup B: A new business manager SaaS for Scania customer (e.g. distributor, OEM and 3rd party vendor etc. ) to realize digitalization transformation.
Startup C: Helping Scania rental platform to increase efficiency during approval process with its AI algorithm and image recognition technology.

Innovation Programs

Our practice-proven programs

Internal & External Accelerators

Learning Expedition

Reverse Mentoring

Let's talk about your innovation goals

Case Studies

Sodexo outside-in program

X5 Retail Group

Unilever HZL Inside-out Program

Legrand Wake Up Call

Michelin SAP 2019

BMW Open Innovation

Continental China Megacity Mobility Solutions Incubator 2019

Osram 2019 X-pioneer

Scania Disruptive Innovation Acceleration Program

Innovation Programs

Our practice-proven programs

Internal & External Accelerators

Learning Expedition

Reverse Mentoring

Let's talk about your innovation goals

Case Studies

Sodexo outside-in program

X5 Retail Group

Unilever HZL Inside-out Program

Legrand Wake Up Call

Michelin SAP 2019

BMW Open Innovation

Continental China Megacity Mobility Solutions Incubator 2019 ​

Osram 2019 X-pioneer

Scania Disruptive Innovation Acceleration Program

Continental China Megacity Mobility Solutions Incubator 2019