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

Oney Wake Up Call

Objectives

(1) Discover new business opportunities (2) Learn from the innovation eco-system in China (3)Find collaboration with local innovation partners (4) inspire employees to engage in entrepreneurship

XNode Solution

Oney Wake up call: a tailor-made journey to discover innovation from different angles, understand the entrepreneurial mindset, and see innovation best practices. With the ultimate goal of shifting the perspective of Oney employees to drive real change

Result

3 new business opportunities for Oney
Achieving Problem/Solution fit through rapid iteration and customer interaction

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.

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.

Intel GrowthX

About Intel GrowthX

Formerly known as Ideas2Reality, GrowthX is an innovation program at Intel China that helps our businesses grow inorganically and incrementally.

Each year, we explore dozens of new ideas and pick 10 best ideas to run through our award-winning acceleration program.

The program is sponsored by Ian Yang, Intel China President and Brent Young, VP & Director China Corporate Strategy Office and is truly a cross-BU, customer- centric and one Intel effort.

Impact on business

Over the past 3 years, GrowthX has explored 500+ ideas, accelerated 40+ projects, landing 9 ideas into the market creating an incremental revenue of $25M with an outlook of $275M over the next 5-year.

Sanofi Hackathon 2020

Program Overview

XNode teamed up with Le Wagon and co-delivered three 3-day Wechat Mini Program Hackathons for Sanofi.

The hackathon aimed to empower Sanofi's in-house innovators to

‍Refine their innovative ideas,
Try to validate their proposition,
Develop an interactive prototype,

through a series of tailor-made workshop and coaching.

‍

XNode offered end to end solution, which includes:

Material design and onsite decoration
Workshop facilitation and pitch rehearsal
Retrospective article and media

And won the award of Sanofi Innovation Community Partner

GAC-SOFINCO Scouting & Demo Day Program

The Project

Co-defining topics, requirements and criteria for evaluating startups
Scouting and assessing startups based on the requirements
Interviewing and shortlisting of potential startups based on the evaluation criteria
Organizing pitching workshops for startups in preparation for the Demo Day
Assist in creating marketing collaterals and supporting Demo Day preparations

Pitching Workshop

XNode organized 1-1 pitching workshop with the startups to refine their pitches and decks in preparation for the final demo day.

Demo Day

On November 8th 2019, GAC-SOFINCO’s demo day was held in Guangzhou with over 30 participants from different business units, and China CEO was one of the judges together with other BU heads. XNode was also invited to give a sharing about corporate innovation.

Final Pitch & Demo Day: 3 startups, 1 winner

Pernod Ricard China - Ask Jerry Challenge

Objectives

The challenge aims at making Ask Jerry – Pernod Ricard China’s nationwide WeChat Cocktail Platform, the next industry-standard marketplace with the largest community for bartenders, bar owners and cocktail lovers in China.

Identify

the most promising Startups with whom to set up cooperation agreements and create strong synergies in China

Accelerate

the top Startups into Xnode ”LaunchPad” Acceleration Program, in which startups can learn, shape and further grow their business

Collaborate

both online and offline with Pernod Ricard China experts to implement the solutions proposed at the end of the challenge.

‍

The Agorize platform was used as a powerful digital tool to spot the best startups to co-develop the Ask Jerry WeChat Platform and making it the next industry-standard marketplace. The XNode ‘’LaunchPad’’ transformed the ideas in executable business cases.

Oney Incubation Program

Objectives

Active exploration of 3 new business opportunities for Oney, Achieving Problem/Solution fit through rapid iteration and customer interaction, building a bankable business case to gain HQ support for follow-on investment.

XNode Solution

Oney Incubation Program: a tailor-made incubation program to rapidly explore the 3 business opportunities through a rigorous process of validation and customer interaction. After the program, 1 proposition was turned into a compelling business case with customer traction, while the other 2 proposition proved not to be viable in the market.

Innovation Consultancy

Market Analysis & Growth Strategy Research Reports

Analysis Examples

Innovation Strategy: Transformation & Implementation

Result Examples

Let's talk about your innovation goals

Case Studies

Sodexo outside-in program

Oney Wake Up Call

X5 Retail Group

Michelin SAP 2019

Intel GrowthX

Sanofi Hackathon 2020

GAC-SOFINCO Scouting & Demo Day Program

Pernod Ricard China - Ask Jerry Challenge

Oney Incubation Program