Innovating from within can be a challenge, and a costly one to boot. Policies and procedures that might otherwise benefit your business operations could actually stifle the innovative process. To find the next big thing, trying new approaches is crucial and failing is inevitable. The Communitech corporate innovation program is designed to help you harness your innovation potential by taking advantage of external models to supplement internal strategies. It allows you to shift your big brand culture and think like a startup, tap into fresh talent and ideas, create unlikely connections, speed up prototyping and significantly reduce the cost and risk associated with trying new things—all while staying true to your brand. Are you ready to step out of your comfort zone, and into ours?

1. HACK IT. TEST IT. SHIP IT.
CO
RPO
RATE
IN
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O
VATIO
N
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2. FACTS
1 A company’s ability to rapidly translate ideas into
action is the ultimate competitive advantage.
2 Every company starts with an entrepreneur.
3 Healthy growth requires an environment open
to new and unexpected directions.
4 Communitech provides one-of-a-kind space and expertise
smack dab in the middle of entrepreneurial tech nirvana.
5 Mavericks prosper in a place where they belong.
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3. CORPORATIONS ENGAGED WITH COMMUNITECH
It’s not an incubator with space,
though it’s an incubator with space.
It’s not quite an accelerator, but it
has corporate partners. And oh, wait
a minute, the university has space.
I was blown away by the ecosystem
here, physically.
Steve Blank,
The Godfather of Silicon Valley
“ We’r
have
map
ways
our c
David
Chair
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4. What does it take to squash uncertainty and try new things?
It takes the right people in the right space at the right place.
A lean lab helps to …
• Engage business units
• Define problems
• Search, sense and prototype
• Rapidly develop minimum viable products
• Bridge new and unexpected innovations to
profitable go-to-market results
A lean lab results in cultural transformation which values:
• Retaining and attracting the smartest people
• Innovation accounting and ROI
• Healthy and sustainable growth
HACK IT. TEST IT. SHIP IT.
On why GM was not expanding
into Silicon Valley:
“I’m impressed with Waterloo as an
equally important – if not better –
place to foster talent and change
the automotive industry. ”
Mark Royce, General Motors
Global Head of Engineering
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5. ENTREPRENEURIAL NIRVANA
• Dock with one of the world’s
fastest-growing tech ecosystems.
• Work directly with startups,
mid-size companies, corporates,
researchers and universities.
• The most experience with
corporate innovation outposts.
• Decades of proven expertise with
startups and lean methodologies.
• We focus on the company –
not the sector.
TRUSTED TIER 1
TECH ECOSYSTEM
2nd
largest
tech cluster in North America
Waterloo
2nd
behind Berkeley ahead of
Stanford, Cornell, UCLA for most
hired engineering talent
Cutting edge
research
quantum-nano and theoretical physics
236,000+
Post-secondary students
1,100+
startups
15,000 tech
companies
100km
200,000 tech
workers
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6. A PLAYBOOK TO MAXIMIZE INNOVATION POTENTIAL
INTELLIGENT METRICS
• LEAN LABS AND SPRINT SPACE
• CROSS-FUNCTIONAL TEAMS
ECOSYSTEM SENSING ENGAGEMENT
• BUSINESS MODEL
• DESIGN THINKING
DEFINE INNOVATION
• INNOVATION ACCOUNTING
• ALIGN BUSINESS UNITS
Build better products faster. Our behind-the-scenes expertise is informed by four years spent
working with corporate innovators and two decades with startups. This, combined with proven
practices from leading partners, gets you set up, unpacked and running in weeks.
DELIVER
THE INNOVATION
PROMISE
HARNESS TALENT PARTNERSHIPS
INVEST IN ECOSYSTEM DEVELOPMENT
LAY DOWN INNOVATION FOUNDATION,
VISION AND GOVERNANCE
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7. LEAN LAB PARTNERS
We’re here not to be positioned;
to have yet another circle on the
global map. We’re here to actually
find ways to become more relevant
to our customers, to our community.
David Thomson,
Chairman of Thomson Reuters
“
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8. TIME TO GET SERIOUS
com
m
unitech.ca
/innovation
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