And Is Open Innovation the Right Way to Start?
At Growth Studio, we sit at the intersection of two powerful worlds: corporate innovation consultancy and startup acceleration.
In practice, this means we partner with corporates, public sector organisations and government agencies to solve pressing business problems—or uncover new opportunities—by helping them collaborate meaningfully with startups, emerging technologies, and breakthrough ideas.
One of the most common starting points? Open innovation.
What Is Open Innovation?
Open innovation is the practice of looking outside your organisation for ideas, solutions, and technologies—typically by inviting startups, researchers, and technologists to help solve a challenge you’ve defined.
It’s often seen as a low-risk way for large companies to explore startup collaboration. And while we’re big fans of starting small, the reality is that most open innovation programmes fail—not because the concept is flawed, but because they’re not set up to succeed.
Here’s how to do it right.
Why Corporates Collaborate with Startups
There are five core reasons our clients explore startup collaboration:
- Solving real business problems
From reducing costs or carbon, to staying ahead of competitors, startups offer new ways to tackle persistent challenges. - Exploring new business models
Startups help corporates test, adapt, or validate new revenue streams—faster and cheaper than internal teams alone. - Increasing deal flow
Whether it’s new technologies (e.g. Cisco), retail-ready products (e.g. Boots or Amazon), or emerging IP, startups are a valuable pipeline. - Co-developing IP
Collaboration opens the door to shared innovation—new products, services or tools that can be protected, licensed, or scaled.
Why Open Innovation Initiatives Often Fail
Despite good intentions, many open innovation programmes fall short. Here’s what we see go wrong most often:
- No clear KPIs or success metrics are defined from the start
- Teams are forced into collaboration without buy-in, ownership or context
- Key stakeholders (legal, finance, procurement) aren’t engaged early
- Innovation teams act in isolation from operational decision-makers
- Long-term budget and ownership aren’t mapped out
- No framework to assess early-stage or unorthodox solutions
- IP rights and ownership aren’t agreed up front
- Internal politics and risk aversion block progress
How to Make Open Innovation Work
If you’re serious about innovation—and see startup collaboration as a potential path—here’s what we recommend:
1. Define your “Why”
Be crystal clear on what problem you’re solving, and how you’ll measure success. Are you trying to reduce operational cost? Cut emissions? Open up new customer segments?
2. Build the right internal conditions
Before you launch a challenge or accelerator, map out the internal structures, stakeholders, processes and budgets. This is the difference between an idea that gets stuck… and one that gets scaled.
3. Create a process that works for both sides
Open innovation needs structure. Consider:
- What’s in it for the startup?
- How will you evaluate applications fairly?
- What happens to good ideas that don’t quite fit?
- Who funds a pilot if it succeeds?
- How is IP managed in a co-created solution?
4. Anticipate resistance
From legal to procurement, understand who needs to say yes—and who could say no. Engage them early. Avoid surprises.
5. Be a good partner
Startups want fair terms, clear timelines, and a real chance to succeed. Don’t underestimate how challenging it is for them to work with you. Offer support, access and generosity.
Case Study: How Boots Used Open Innovation to Accelerate Emerging Brands
Boots is the UK’s leading beauty retailer—with over 190 stores and the largest beauty eCommerce platform in the country. But despite its scale, it faced a growing challenge:
Smaller, innovative beauty brands wanted to be stocked in Boots—but weren’t set up for its complex logistics, warehousing or order systems. Conversely, Boots’ internal processes weren’t fast or agile enough to accommodate them.
The result? Great brands were slipping through the cracks.
Boots asked us to help. Their challenge: find the best emerging beauty brands and get them in store within three weeks.
We worked with Boots to:
- Define their ideal startup profile and the offer to new brands
- Map and re-engineer every step of their internal onboarding process
- Remove bottlenecks and enable faster, fairer decisions
- Design a full open innovation process—Boots Ignite—that worked for both sides
The outcome: a more agile, inclusive, and effective route to market for the UK’s most exciting beauty brands, now proudly featured in-store across the country.
So, Is Open Innovation Right for You?
If you’re exploring startup collaboration, open innovation is a great place to start. But it needs to be designed around your goals, systems, and people.
Ask yourself:
- What outcome are we looking for?
- What’s the cost of not solving this?
- Who do we need on board to make it work?
- Are we genuinely open to unorthodox, early-stage, or risky ideas?
Done right, open innovation can deliver rapid wins, cultural change, and long-term commercial impact.
Let’s Talk
If you’re a corporate leader looking to innovate through startup collaboration—or you want to explore whether open innovation is the right route—let’s talk.
📩 paul@growthstudio.com
🌍 www.growthstudio.co
