BNP Paribas recognised as no. 1 European bank on the management of climate-related risks and opportunities in ShareAction’s 2020 ranking
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Innovation is a fundamental part of BNP Paribas’ corporate culture. This focus recently produced a unique new entity within the RISK function—an incubator for intrapreneurs. The Innovation Booster will favor the development of disruptive projects to accelerate internal innovation.
Through entities such as We Are Innovation (WAI) or, more recently, Plug and Play, BNP Paribas supports entrepreneurs and start-ups working in FinTech.
For several years now, the Group has also begun to capitalize on disruptive ideas arising from its own employees. The People’s LAB in France, the Home for Innovation in Belgium, or the Lux Future Lab in Luxembourg all aim to encourage employees to set out on their own intrapreneurial adventure.
BNP Paribas RISK plays a vital role in this innovation strategy. Tasked with conducting continuous technology intelligence, the function decided to take its efforts even further by stimulating the creativity and intrapreneurial spirit of its employees.In 2017, its Innovation Booster program got off to a successful start.
Innovation Booster is an internal incubator open to all employees of the function. Its goal is to facilitate the process of generating ideas, drive reflection on innovative concepts and then develop the most promising ones.
All 170 applications showed the full extent of the function’s potential and enthusiasm to create and innovate. Chosen participants had the opportunity to experience a project in start-up mode:
At the end of this phase, the first prototypes were presented to management for a decision on their production.
The incubation phase is a pivotal step in any project. Coming immediately before any decision to invest in a prototype, this step serves to flesh out budding ideas.
To ensure the best chances of success to every project, Innovation Booster provides each intrapreneur with tailored support. Employees have a chance to discover new ways of working that are inspired directly from the start-up world’s favorite methodologies (design thinking, agile method, reiteration, pitch, etc.).
During this phase, each team works to define their project, notably in terms of: