Why Corporate Venture Building is an ally in the fight against Climate Change

The innovation ecosystem, by its very nature, is constantly evolving, ready to embrace small and large revolutions. The latest of these is Corporate Venture Building (CVB), a model that complements traditional Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) with the aim of minimising the risk of failure and speeding up the path to the scale-up phase. Unlike traditional incubators or accelerators, this form of collaboration allows companies not to limit themselves to mentoring/coaching a start-up, but allows them to contribute directly to its creation. Through the CVB, in fact, an already structured company can build a team of internal and/or external talent, focus on a few projects each year that have a very high strategic impact, and accompany them to market through a framework of skills and resources that can minimise the technological and market risk. Underlying this new paradigm is the desire to convert an entrepreneurial idea into a new autonomous enterprise, making the most of the company’s economic and human assets.

More concretely, “venture building” is characterised by continuous hypothesis testing in a trial-and-error perspective to reduce risk. All this within a controlled environment with short timelines between the birth of an idea and the decision to develop or abandon it.

Due to its characteristics of asset valorisation, speed and risk minimisation, therefore, the CVB model is an ideal solution for addressing the urgencies of the ecological transition, especially in cases where an efficient allocation of capital and a mechanism that can catalyse significant investments on the most impactful solutions in terms of sustainability are needed. 

The goal of accelerating carbon neutrality requires a decisive change of course for all companies who have the goal of leading this turnaround. Investment in open innovation to tackle climate change is also crucial for the development and growth of the companies themselves. According to World Bank research, every dollar spent on climate and sustainability yields a 4-fold return, and for companies with significant resources and the creativity to think big, the impacts and potential profits are virtually enormous. The conditions are ideal for closer cooperation between start-ups and large companies, particularly according to the logic of Corporate Venturing.

For the former, access to capital has been more difficult in recent years, but for large groups, being able to work in concert with smaller, more agile entities is a driving force that helps them overcome the bureaucratic swamp in which they often risk finding themselves immersed.

At A2A we have long embraced an Open Innovation model with the aim of making a concrete contribution to the realisation of models and infrastructures for the ecological transition. 

We continue and give new impetus to our journey with A2A Life Ventures, the Corporate Venture Building programme through which we are committed, as a Group, to valorising the best ideas and talents working with passion and competence to build a better future.