Attracting talent and sustainability, keys to business innovation for Aena, Redeia, Ikea and Endesa

MADRID, 26 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Attracting talent and sustainability are the two key factors for boosting business innovation, as representatives from Aena, Redeia, Ikea and Endesa agreed on Monday at the "Innovate: an opportunity for growth in times of disruption" forum , the fourth 'Generation of Opportunities' event organized by Europa Press in collaboration with McKinsey

Along these lines, the McKinsey partner

Likewise, around 20% of those surveyed pointed out that the creation of new businesses is the company's priority, "twice as many managers who saw it that way two or three years ago," Fernández highlighted.

In this sense, the director of Innovation and Technology of Redeia and director of Elewit (Redeia's technological platform), Silvia Bruno, explained that the company made the decision in 2019 to accelerate technological innovation due to the challenges in terms of transition energy and also in connectivity.

"Our goal is to be considered a solvent actor in innovation issues", Bruno highlighted about Elewit's initial approach, where they opted to work with third parties since not all ideas were going to come "from within" the company and since there could be "many niche solutions" that would help them move faster.

"In these three years we have multiplied by three the innovation effort. We have multiplied by 10 our ecosystem of actors with whom we normally did not work, such as 'startups' or the academy (...) all of this is making us achieve results of pilot projects that in turn are scaled", he highlighted.

For her part, the director of Innovation, Sustainability and Customer Experience at Aena, Amparo Brea, has indicated that one of the keys from the point of view of innovation in the company is digitization, with which they hope to improve the experience of the clients.

Thus, for example, it has pointed out that one of the pilot experiences that they plan to start applying in some of their airports is linked to biometrics, facial recognition systems with which they plan to optimize airport processes so that they can be carried out in a more fast and with less waiting time.

Regarding business innovation, Ikea's director of New Business and Innovation at a global level, Carolina García, has also pointed out that the "disruptions" of recent months in supply chains have forced them to find ways to make them more efficient.

Another of the key aspects for García in terms of innovation at Ikea is the relevance of how its products reach customers, both from a digital point of view (through the web or mobile applications) and in the stores.

Added to this is the fact that the company knows how its customers behave and knows which products work best, which is essential for the development of new ones, which "from the beginning" have to be sustainable and meet certain quality levels. .

Regarding sustainability linked to business innovation, the McKinsey partner has highlighted that, according to the company's studies, 42% of the entrepreneurs consulted maintain that the new businesses that are going to be set up in the next five years will to have sustainability as "the central axis of its value proposition".

As for the motivations for this commitment to sustainability, the first is the "pressure" of the markets and regulators, but, above all, increasingly due to the influence of consumers, who demand what is "green and sustainable". , he stressed.