Venture Clienting in Corporate Practice: What type of Established Companies are Using the Venture Client Model?

Authors

  • Lennard Haarmann Fraunhofer Institute for Mechatronic Systems Design IEM
  • Johannes J. Jobelius Fraunhofer Institute for Mechatronic Systems Design IEM https://orcid.org/0009-0005-1120-1881
  • Fabian Machon Fraunhofer Institute for Mechatronic Systems Design IEM https://orcid.org/0009-0008-5269-4143
  • Martin Rabe Fraunhofer Institute for Mechatronic Systems Design IEM
  • Arno Kühn Fraunhofer Institute for Mechatronic Systems Design IEM
  • Roman Dumitrescu Fraunhofer Institute for Mechatronic Systems Design IEM

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.34190/ecie.19.1.2634

Keywords:

Venture Client Model, Corporate Venturing, Corporate Start-up Collaboration, Open Innovation

Abstract

Start-ups have become a pillar of EC' open innovation initiatives. With the aim of accessing start-up innovation, established companies (EC) use various corporate venturing modes. However, as established corporate venturing modes (e.g. corporate venture capital or accelerators) do not provide direct access to start-up innovation, the venture client model (VCLM) is receiving increasing attention in corporate practice. In the VCLM, ECs become paying customers of start-ups without taking equity - they become venture clients. In joint pilot projects, they apply start-up solutions to their products, processes or business models in order to solve relevant business problems and create strategic impact for increased competitiveness. The literature lists different EC using the VCLM such as BMW, Bosch, Continental, Daimler, Siemens, or ZF. This suggests that the VCLM is only used in EC with tens of thousands of employees, from Germany and in technology-intensive sectors such as automotive, mechanical engineering or telecommunications. On the other hand, GIMMY describes the suitability of the VCLM for any EC. However, in order to develop practical solutions to the challenges of the VCLM (e.g. slow purchasing, legal and IT processes or lack of acceptance of start-ups as collaboration partners), it is necessary to know the users (type of EC) of these solutions. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to characterize the EC using the VCLM with respect to industry, size and regionality.

Author Biographies

Lennard Haarmann, Fraunhofer Institute for Mechatronic Systems Design IEM

Lennard Haarmann, M.Sc., studied industrial engineering specializing in mechanical engineering at the University of Paderborn. He is a senior-expert at the Fraunhofer IEM in the Corporate Innovation department. His research focuses on the implementation of the venture client model in established companies.

Johannes J. Jobelius, Fraunhofer Institute for Mechatronic Systems Design IEM

Johannes J. Jobelius, B.Sc., is studying industrial engineering specialising in mechanical engineering at the University of Paderborn. Since 2022, he has been employed as a research assistant at Fraunhofer IEM, working within the Corporate Innovation department. His work is focused on the venture client model and start-up scouting.

Fabian Machon, Fraunhofer Institute for Mechatronic Systems Design IEM

Fabian Machon, M.Sc., studied industrial engineering specializing in mechanical engineering at the University of Paderborn and the UiTM in Shah Alam (Malaysia). He is a research associate at the Fraunhofer IEM in the Corporate Innovation department. His research focuses on the organization of the venture client model in innovation clusters.

Martin Rabe, Fraunhofer Institute for Mechatronic Systems Design IEM

Dr.-Ing. Martin Rabe studied industrial engineering specialising in mechanical engineering at the University of Paderborn and San Diego State University. In his role as a Senior Business Development Manager at the Fraunhofer IEM and the technology network it’s OWL he is focusing on the venture client model.

Arno Kühn, Fraunhofer Institute for Mechatronic Systems Design IEM

Dr.-Ing. Arno Kühn studied industrial engineering specialising in mechanical engineering at the University of Paderborn and Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. He currently serves as Head of Division at the Fraunhofer IEM and is a member of the management team of the technology network it’s OWL.

Roman Dumitrescu, Fraunhofer Institute for Mechatronic Systems Design IEM

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Roman Dumitrescu is Director at the Fraunhofer IEM and Head of the Advanced Systems Engineering Group at the Heinz Nixdorf Institute at Paderborn University. His research focuses on the product development of intelligent technical systems. Additionally, he serves as Managing Director of the technology network it's OWL.

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Published

2024-09-20