“Conservative companies must show a willingness for change in order to create an innovative environment that will push forward their entire sector”
The session dealt with promoting innovation as business development relating to social trends such as health, urban lifestyle, sensible consumerism, community and more. The session was moderated by Jo Confino, Executive Editor, Impact & Innovation, The Huffington Post, who decided to put formalities aside, and gave participants the pleasant feeling of being in “Jo’s lounge”. The speakers included Orry Ben-Porath, VP Sustainability, Marketing, Innovation, Shikun & Binui Group; Adi Regev, Customer Development Director, Unilever Israel; Henry Chen Weinstein CEO, Cockpit Innovation by EL AL; and Ilanit Kabessa Cohen, Head of Corporate Innovation, Startups & Digital Business Unit at Nestle Israel, Osem Group. They presented what happens when business innovation brings together new technology and ideas from various different disciplines? … Hint: New and surprising partnerships are created.
Orry Ben-Porath | VP Sustainability, Marketing, Innovation, Shikun & Binui Group
Joe Confino talks with Orry Ben-Porath, VP Sustainability, Marketing, Innovation, Shikun & Binui | Maala Conference 2017
Orry presented Infralab, an urban innovation hub with Israeli startups, created in a joint venture between Shikun & Binui and Italian energy giant Enel, aiming to advance to the forefront of technology and innovation in the building, energy and transportation sectors.
The lab will include technologies such as a platform for simulating smart grid electricity, virtual reality systems, industrial robots, 3D printers and more. Selected companies will receive funding for projects.
Main points:
- The Israeli government created incentives for companies in conservative sectors, such as building companies, health and food, to develop ideas of innovation in their sectors, and create an innovative and modern environment to push forward their sector.
- In this context, Shikun & Binui, a building company, joined in cooperation with Enel, a global energy giant.
- Executives at Shikun & Binui and its subsidiaries are developing ways to integrate technology and digitization into the conservative building sector. The startup momentum in Israel meets the obsolete building sector to create new opportunities for innovation and development in the building.
- Although the conservative attitude in the building sector could potentially drive a cultural aversion to change, Shikun & Binui discovered willingness to change.
- They initiated cooperation with startup companies.
- One of the more interesting cases was a cooperation with a company that offered a platform to replace the piles of paper used in the process of planning and building. They broadcast the plans on site, thus allowing to build more accurately in relation to the plans, without having to flip through endless files of paper. This also saves much time as the plans are projected on site sparing the need to translate the plans to the work on site.
- We realize our footprint on the environment, given that we are a building company, and therefore we take careful measures at all times and strive to green, environmental building.
Orry Ben Porath, Shikun & Binui. Maala international conference 2017. Photo: Yoav Zohar
Adi Regev | Customer Development Director, Unilever Israel
Jo Confino talks with Adi Regev, Uniliver israel at Maala Conference 2017
Regev presented Shopo – an online grocery shopping platform for small and local grocery stores, launched by Unilever in 2017. Shopo brings together two trends: 1. Consumers tend to shop more in local groceries near their homes. 2. The trend of online purchasing of consumer goods is growing vastly, and large chain supermarkets have already begun adapting to the new reality.
Shopo presents a unique opportunity for small and local groceries, which already operate in a challenging and competitive environment, to join the online shopping revolution, and thus increase their sales potential, helping small-scale retailers improve their incomes.
Main points:
- Unilever’s vision is to create a positive social impact and reduce its carbon footprint.
- There are two popular trends in grocery shopping today:
- There is a rise in shopping at small local groceries, in smaller quantities.
- There is a massive rise in online grocery shopping
- Unilever has brought the two trends together to create Shopo.
- The idea of Shopo is to become the leading platform for online grocery shopping at local, communal groceries.
- Shopo provides a supportive platform for small businesses that cannot afford to maintain their own website or digital platform.
- Unilever also subsidizes a training course for the businesses on how to use Shopo.
- Unilever offers the small businesses to use Shopo free of charge, as part of their vision of social responsibility.
- The innovativeness of Shoppo lies in the digital connection between consumers who choose to shop online and the small groceries who are looking to increase their revenue.
- A decade ago, small groceries were expected to disappear, whereas today they are actually growing. Consumers buy in smaller groceries due to having smaller families and shopping in smaller quantities on a more frequent basis. This model fits perfectly to the local groceries.
Adi Regev, Unilever Israel. Maala international conference 2017. Photo: Yoav Zohar
Henry Chen Weinstein | CEO, Cockpit Innovation by EL AL
Joe Confino talks with Henry Chen Weinstein, CEO, Cockpit Innovation by EL AL | Maala Conference 2017
Cockpit is a subsidiary of El Al airlines, serving as an industry venture fund (first of its kind) with an aim to seek out, support and invest in innovative, groundbreaking startups with disruptive technologies redefining Digital Travel, Aviation and Aerospace, and to create innovative partnerships between them and El Al.
Main points:
- The Aviation sector is growing at a rate of about 8% annually, and the largest growth in the next few decades will be in developing countries.
- Less than 1% of startup companies are related to aviation. Although that is not an accurate figure, seeing that several companies have some kind of connection to aviation, from aircraft building and energy to the food industry.
- The small scope of innovation in the aviation sector is due, among other reasons, to the fact that there are several factors involved in aviation and it is quite difficult to cover them all. For example, purchasing a plane ticket, a relatively simple action for the consumer, involves a number of different factors – airports, aircraft manufactures, travel agencies, online services and more. An entrepreneur like Cockpit needs to work with all the different factors simultaneously, what proves to be quite difficult.
- Another reason is the airlines themselves. They tend to be very large companies with several subsidiaries, and every attempt to change and innovate takes a very long time, while innovative project and startups tend to disappear relatively quickly.
- One more reason has to do with the low profits of the airlines. While most of the factors involved in commercial aviation show impressive revenues, the airlines themselves tend to be less profitable.
- Costs and risk are inherent parts of innovation, therefore the airlines do not rush towards innovation. Cockpit is the first of its kind in the world, and over the last couple of years several similar innovative companies were created in the aviation sector.
- The success is beginning to show, with four startups already partnered with El Al, and several others are in different stages in creating partnerships.
Henry Chen Weinstein, Cockpit. Maala international conference 2017. Photo: Yoav Zohar
Ilanit Kabessa Cohen | Head of Corporate Innovation, Startups & Digital Business Unit at Nestle Israel, Osem Group
Joe Confino talks with Ilanit Kabessa Cohen, Head of Corporate Innovation, Startups & Digital Business Unit at Nestle Israel, Osem Group at Maala Conference 2017.
Ilanit Kabessa Cohen, Nestle Israel, Osem Group. Maala international conference 2017. Photo: Yoav Zohar
Main points:
- Reducing sugars and salts in food is a big challenge, because people are used to the high amounts of sugar and salt in food. Therefore, removing at once all of the sugars and salts only drives the consumers to add salt and sugar to their food. Reducing these ingredients is a complex process set over a long span of time.
- There are several startups in the food-tech industry in Israel today, and Nestle sees in Israel great potential for food innovation.
- A good example is Tivall, which was bought by Nestle and marketed worldwide today.
- The food industry is undergoing changes and creating new opportunities for development and innovation. The popular trends are in health foods, healthy lifestyle, personalized diets and more.
- Innovation is part of a company’s growth. The basic level is innovating existing products. The next level is core innovation or sustainable innovation. The final level is strategic innovation, which involves the creation of new ideas.
- There is a gap between the discourse on health foods and healthy lifestyle and between the actual adoption of these trends among consumers. Nonetheless, food companies are committed to develop and manufacture healthier products for a healthier lifestyle.
