Embraer Case

Wings to innovate

If a few years ago the innovation process in large companies took place in a closed way, the current scenario shows us that the path to create and remain competitive in the market has evolved. The concept of open innovation breaks open old paradigms and shows organizations that connecting the internal to the external environment stimulates creation, opening up a world of possibilities and new knowledge.

Embraer

One of the most successful examples of Brazilian companies is Embraer, considered a case of success in approaching and investing in startups to innovate together with its internal departments. More than a decade ago, the manufacturer found in the exchange of knowledge and experience the solution to continue adapting to the advances of the global industry. “Embraer is part of a global knowledge network and we are looking for connection with startups focused on advanced technologies. Our goal is to create mutually beneficial partnerships with these startups to seek opportunities for innovation and strategic business ”, explains Rodrigo Carlana, Technological Entrepreneurship Coordinator at Embraer. But it is clear that not everything is flowers and, in this path, the company encountered some turbulence in the process. Before betting on opening the doors to innovation, the company's employees were used to dealing with suppliers and partners even bigger than Embraer, companies already consolidated in the market, with well-established processes.

“The aeronautical industry is highly regulated, with robust processes and well-established regulatory systems. It is a dynamic quite different from the agile environment of startups. So, it is natural that there are initial difficulties to understand the operation mode of both parties and to establish a fluid workflow between the big company and a startup ”says Carlana.

In order to help Embraer's innovation teams communicate and better understand the mindset of startups and their innovative methodologies, Embraer carried out an experiential experience through a board game.

Experiential experience as a way of training

In order to reinforce and expand the culture of innovation, Embraer hired the Startup Mundi Game Experience to build bridges between internal teams and startups, building on and empowering experiences for the generation of innovation. For Carlana, a good start to understanding the world of startups is to participate in the Startup Mundi game.

It had the expected effect: to understand the world and the evolution of a startup. Due to the technology and open innovation programs in progress at the company, Embraer also sees the Game as a way of exposing its employees to new processes and practices in order to create increasingly better programs and with a greater probability of successful relationship. between these two universes. To bring the mindset from the outside in, Embraer hired a package of sessions facilitated by Startup Mundi to conduct multidisciplinary groups on this journey. Among the participants, there were professionals in the areas of Technological Development, Project Management, HR, Supplies, Legal, Compliance, among others. The standard Game Experience application was added extra time to give participants the opportunity to explore examples, deepen concepts and discuss scenarios.

Aerodynamics: reducing resistance

During the Startup Mundi Game Experience, which simulates the main stages, concepts and challenges of a startup in its first four years, the participants experienced the trajectory and made decisions based on the entrepreneur's vision, which generates positive learning and engagement with the universe startup. “Our intention at Embraer was really to bring the world of startups into the company, to bring the experience of this market to foster this mindset in the company. We had a high level of engagement and great insights that positively impacted the process, ”says Fabiele Nunes, Co-founder of Startup Mundi. This is what Gléverson Lemos, from the Technological Development area and participant in the Game, reports: “it was a very interesting experience to introduce concepts from this universe of startups in a dynamic, fun and very instructive way”, he says. The result was to have teams more open to the concepts of a startup and also more inclined to understand the other side, breaking the common culture clash between the corporate world and the entrepreneur.

“After the dynamics of Startup Mundi, the immediate impact was a reduction in people's resistance. The game helped us a lot to understand that there is a possibility of dealing with a promising startup and, understanding the other side, we started to have a more profitable relationship ”reports Carlana.