Match-Maker Ventures takes a deep dive into the secret life of start-up-corporate collaboration in the financial sector in its recent report entitled Open Innovation – Fact or Fiction? The brief report, which was published in association with the Mind The Bridge initiative, Startup Europe Partnership (SEP), focuses primarily on the European banking sector, and helps to shed light on what goes on behind the scenes in these increasingly popular partnerships between disruptive start-ups and financial services incumbents.

In May 2017, Match-Maker Ventures released an insightful new report, Open Innovation – Fact or Fiction?, which it published in a joint effort with Startup Europe Partnership (SEP), an initiative of global knowledge-sharing foundation, Mind The Bridge. According to the brief report, corporate players in today’s financial sector face a new threat posed by the uptake in adoption of fintech solutions. Start-ups are by nature more agile and flexible than big corporates, meaning they are generally more capable of experimenting with the latest tech trends. It is therefore hardly surprising that the corporate hunger for collaborative programmes is on the rise.

The new report reveals just how deep engagement actually goes in these collaborations. It further aims to highlight the critical lessons that can be learnt from the current status quo. It then offers an exploration into the ways that start-ups and corporates could potentially benefit from more collaborations in the future. The report’s findings reveal a few hints that could help all involved parties to generate greater gains in collaborative efforts, namely:

• , Corporates should outsource the scouting and filter to third parties that are following the landscape closely and have expertise in the startup space. Focus on end-to-end integration of the few selected startups and dedicate your open innovation resources fully to it.

• , Startups should be patient with corporates. Startups measure time in days. Corporates measure it in quarters, some even in years. Waiting for weeks, or in some instances for months, for an answer is the norm in the corporate world.

To read or download (PDF) the Match-Maker Ventures and Mind The Bridge report – Open Innovation – Fact or Fiction? – click here.