Transforming the everyday: Cultivating a culture of innovation 

Our founder, Werner von Siemens, provided the proof: Innovation is essential for growth, progress, and success in every field. In today’s fast-changing world, it is more important than ever. What do you think the implications are? What do we need to do? From my point of view, we need to transform, rethink, and dare to try something new. Openness means embracing new ideas and not being constrained by traditional ways of thinking. To unleash the full potential of innovation, we must be willing to collaborate and think in new ways. Only then can we create new opportunities, solve complex problems and drive progress.

Breaking barriers and igniting progress  

Innovation is a buzzword that gets thrown around a lot these days, but what’s truly behind it? Simply put, innovation is the act of introducing something new or improving something that already exists. And while this may sound like a no-brainer, the truth is that many companies struggle to embrace innovation, even though it’s essential for growth and progress. Of course, innovation isn’t always easy. There are several reasons why companies struggle to innovate, from a lack of resources and fear of failure to a short-term focus and organizational structure that discourages risk-taking.  But despite these challenges, it’s essential for companies to prioritize innovation if they want to stay ahead of the curve.

Siemens knows this all too well. We have invested and continue to invest a great deal of time and effort in the way we approach innovation. As a large corporation, we understand the importance of continuously improving our existing portfolio while exploring new opportunities. We know it’s not always easy to pick winners in the exploration space, as seven out of eight corporate ventures fail to generate business impact due to a lack of market demand. That is why we have put customer-centric and open innovation at the heart of our strategy. It enables us to learn before we invest, increase our success in exploring new opportunities and drive data-based decisions. But it doesn’t stop there: our culture and mindset also play a crucial role in fostering innovation.

Fueling a culture of innovation 

So, what does it take to foster a culture of innovation in large corporations? First, it is important to realize that innovation does not just happen. Innovation requires hard work, for which you must actively create space and time. Second, it takes people that are curious and have the courage to try something new, unleash their creativity and think collaboratively. It is also important to create an understanding of the importance of both optimizing today’s business and developing new businesses – what can be described as an ambidextrous organizational culture. Finally, we need to create a framework for innovation.

For us, our approach to innovation is based on four strategic priorities:

1. Technology with purpose – Gone are the days of creating technology just for the sake of it. It’s about focusing on delivering solutions jointly that solve customers’ problems and meet their needs.
2. Empowered people – Involves giving freedom to act where it is needed as well as providing tools, initiatives and opportunities so that individuals can innovate and make decisions. And basing those decisions on facts to determine the profitability of projects and not being afraid to let go of projects for which there is no market demand.
3. Growth Mindset – The more an organization tries, the more innovation will occur. Thus, it means inspiring people to continuously improve and innovate by encouraging risk-taking, experimentation, challenging the status quo and divergent thinking.
4. Customer Impact – Signifies anticipating customer needs and exploring opportunities to create impactful solutions, by prioritizing customer feedback, with the aim of developing solutions that generate positive business outcomes for our customer and Siemens.

Our internal start-up-oriented teams, SIMATIC Robot Pick AI and Data Driven X, are the perfect illustration of how we approach innovation and manage to move from exploration to scalable business. Both have successfully completed the Validation Engine, talking to numerous customers, re-validating their business ideas, and developing their products in line with the real needs of our existing and new customers. The Validation Engine is a program in which teams go through several phases to validate new business model ideas in an evidence-based, fast and efficient way. It is also a key element of our Innovation Framework, our systematic approach to the innovation process, which encourages collaboration with partners and ongoing exchange with universities and other research institutions.

The power of the collective genius  

Perhaps most importantly, Siemens understands the power of the collective genius. We know that innovation doesn’t happen in a vacuum, so we embrace an open innovation approach that involves collaboration with customers, partners, academic institutions, start-ups, and other companies. By doing so, we gain new impulses from outside our own organization, share unique perspectives, skills and knowledge, and increase creativity and diversity of thought.

And it’s not just talk – Siemens has a track record of successful collaborations. From hosting the Intrapreneurs Bootcamp on sustainable manufacturing with Infineon to supporting innovative spaces like Zollhof, the technology incubator at the Friedrich-Alexander University in Nuremberg, where we are continuously building a shared innovation ecosystem. Our partnership with the MakerSpace at the Munich Urban Colab also pursues this goal. Here, we actively support the development of a creative community and collaboration with startups outside our company through training, licensing, events like hackathons and speed networking as well as mentoring by our Siemens experts. All these collaborations have one thing in common: Open Innovation and our continued commitment to driving it forward with our customers and partners- an ecosystem of innovators.

Game changers for exploratory innovation

For us, innovation isn’t just a buzzword – it’s essential to our growth, progress, and success in every area. That’s why we’re constantly breaking new ground and embracing the learning curve that comes with it. But we also believe that innovation thrives on partnerships. Only by working together can we move forward and push the boundaries of innovation. And while it’s not always easy, we truly believe that necessity is the mother of invention, and that innovation is possible when we work together.

So, if you want to take your organization to the next level, here is a short summary of what I believe are the critical factors for a successful and strategic approach to innovation:

1. Prioritizing customer centric and business opportunity driven innovation
2. Creating an environment of creativity and innovation
3. Empowering people to explore, experiment and think outside the box
4. Encouraging openness and collaboration outside the organization

Let’s drive bold innovation together. Who knows what exciting and disruptive possibilities await us? Now is the time to collaborate! Become part of the Future of Automation and discover our fields of innovation today.