Scouting Interview:
Jordi Rafols, Innoget, Barcelona, Spain
yet2.com recently interviewed Jordi Rafols, Co-founder, Marketing
and B&D Manager at an on-line open innovation community in
Europe for technology transfer, who provides scouting services
for yet2.com.
yet2.com: Jordi, tell us about your company and how you
originally connected with yet2.com.
Jordi: Our company was born in a Barcelona Science and
Technology Park in 2006. We’ve built a community for technology
transfer practitioners — primarily through our on-line marketplace, which has more than 100,000 users worldwide, across 16
industries. Our customer base ranges from large corporations,
to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to research institutions
and universities that directly post technology needs and offers in
our on-line marketplace www.innoget.com.
We connected with yet2.com at the very beginning, in 2007.
yet2.com offers an excellent and unique approach to companies
wanting to increase their internal innovation abilities. As part of
our relationship, yet2.com shares postings with us to list on our
marketplace. yet2.com also supports us in helping to translate
technology needs in order to draw results from across a broader
range of industries.
yet2.com: What’s the innovation climate like in Spain right
now?
Jordi: Europe and Spain are still attractive places to find
opportunities in terms of spin-offs, start-ups, and tech products,
despite the current environment. There are fewer funds available
right now for innovation across Europe, which means we have to
be more efficient.
yet2.com: What are the industry strengths in your region?
Jordi: Life sciences, pharma, healthcare technologies, biotech; also computer sciences, food & beverage — which is moving
very quickly to open innovation right now; chemical, and fast
moving consumer goods.
yet2.com: What are some of the harder parts about helping
companies in your region to adopt an open innovation mindset?
Jordi: Interest in open innovation varies company by
company, instead of industry by industry. Companies, SMEs in
particular, are not used to relying on external partners for new
technology. It’s not that they’re not willing to do so, but that they
need to change their internal structures. Currently they are relying on their existing capabilities, organization, and methods. To
make open innovation work well for them, they need to provide
for the abilities and roles to filter, assess, and manage the open
innovation process.
yet2.com: This sounds very similar to many companies in
Ohio! What, then, are the key benefits that convince your customers to try open innovation approaches?
Jordi: The companies know they have the need, and they
don’t feel confident that their traditional avenues are going to
achieve the best results. They realize that, with help, they might
Continued on page 2
Jordi Rafols
Co-founder, Marketing and B&D Manager
Innoget
yet2.com Inc., 10 Kearney Road, Suite 300, Needham, MA 02494 USA | +1-781-972-0600
yet2.com Open Innovation Newsletter
Copyright © 2013 yet2.com Inc.
Scouting Interview: Jordi Rafols, Innoget, Barcelona, Spain
2
page
Continued from page 1
be able to get a wider perspective of what’s out there, globally, to
help them.
This is related to time-to-market and the costs involved with
developing a new product. Using open innovation can be a faster
and more cost-efficient path to market. Customers know we are
focused more on finding ready-for-market technologies, not just
research-phase ideas. And that can save them time and money.
yet2.com: Your approach is very similar to yet2.com’s focus
on market-ready technologies. So if an Ohio customer has a technology need, how do they work with you?
Jordi: yet2.com might send us the TechNeed posting for us
to put up on our web marketplace; we also use our networked
customer knowledge to direct queries to players we think might
be able to help.
yet2.com: Are there any cultural differences between U.S. and Spain when it comes to
deal making?
Jordi: Not really. It may be that here in
Spain corporate management might like to
know more details, or take a little more time,
but both sides are hands-on and do lots of deals
between both public and private organizations. Another similar
factor between both countries is that there are a lot of initiatives
and infrastructure at both the national and regional levels to encourage innovation and science/technology development. Spain
has been developing and changing the way it operates over time,
just the way you seem to be doing in the States, especially with
this new Ohio program. Both sides still have a lot to do and seem
to be dealing with the same challenges.
yet2.com: Is there anything else you’d like Ohio mid-sized
companies to know?
Jordi: Yes — our company base is similar to the corporate
base in Ohio: quite a few large players, but a majority of small
and medium enterprises. We really focus a lot
of our energy on these mid-market players and
would love to help companies on both sides.
We’re well connected in Spain, Europe, and
around the globe — doing a lot of collaboration. We look forward to working with your
Ohio clients.
Bruce Heinrich
yet2.com
One Chagrin Highlands, Suite 300
Beachwood, OH 44112
1-614-601-2564
yet2.com Inc., 10 Kearney Road, Suite 300, Needham, MA 02494 USA | +1-781-972-0600