To strengthen Continental's innovative strength and agility, the technology company has launched a startup program. The goal is to give its own employees, as well as external entrepreneurs, the opportunity to develop and bring new business concepts to market.
Continental supports them with expertise, mentoring and financial support.
“With our startup program, we want to utilize the great innovation potential within Continental and, in particular, promote the entrepreneurial spirit of our employees,”
explained HR Director Dr. Ariane Reinhart.
All good things come in threes
The startup program called co-pace is based on three building blocks:
The so-called "Incubator" acts as an incubator for the ideas of Continental employees. The incubator was launched in the summer with an initial internal competition at ten locations. From a total of 420 submitted concepts, the three most promising were selected. The three international winning teams are now working in collaboration with UnternehmerTUM in a boot camp in Munich – far away from daily business – on their concepts and prototypes: an intelligent light switch, a smart door lock and an electric drive for wheelchairs.
"In times of digital transformation, we must continually reinvent ourselves and generate new business models. In doing so, we also rely on the innovative power of our employees,"
explained Reinhart.
“We are very impressed by their potential and creativity.”
The second element is the “Startup co-operation program”, which brings together external startups and Continental. After founders have proven that their solution works, they need to demonstrate this "prototype" in a concrete application. Continental supports and accompanies the startup with its expertise, helping it reach a marketable solution more quickly.
With the third program module “Corporate Venture Capital” (CVC) invests venture capital in young companies, thus providing direct access to new technologies and business ideas as well as the startup ecosystem.
"The triad of our startup program gives us the opportunity to act quickly and flexibly. The building blocks form a holistic, structured approach in which all areas are closely interlinked,"
said Reinhart.
Here you can find Further information on the Continental startup program co-pace.
