In this research we identify and analyse the impact of Covid-19 on corporate innovation. 60 Corporates participated in the research that identifies the impact of Corona on teamsize, priorities, investment budget, engagement with startups, portfolio distribution across startup development stage and areas of innovation. It also looks at the vision, challenges and opportunities that innovation leaders see for 2020 and 2021.

1. Research Conclusions
See questionnaire and research aim at https://bit.ly/innovation20202021
For full data report and more please contact the authors
“Now is the time for innovation teams to free from innovation theatre
and to show how they can actually deliver concrete value to the business”
Mario Zorn, Head of Product Development & Innovation at Airplus International
Impact of Covid-19 on
Corporate Innovation

2. Executive Summary
In our personal networks we’ve all heard many different stories of how corporate innovation has been affected by COVID-19, ranging from no
impact at all to huge impact. That’s why we started this research: to understand better what is happening in corporate innovation and
collaboratively learn from it. Digging deeper into the data we found remarkable insights that are worthy topics for exploration and discussion
amongst innovation leaders and beyond. Our findings in brief:
If we look at the impact on the size of internal innovation teams we find that the impact seems to be more pronounced in listed companies
compared to non-listed companies and that the impact is greater in companies with more than 10.000 employees.
Zooming in, we find that financials and the energy sector report a bigger impact compared to other sectors, while the technology industry is
least affected. Innovation activities focused on IoT, AI and Blockchain report lower impact. Interestingly, we see companies with a large
innovation portfolio report less impact on the budget for innovation facilitation compared to companies with smaller innovation portfolios.
On the question "how is your engagement with internal/ external startups affected by COVID-19", almost 70% of the respondents that report a
large/very large impact mention that a "reduction in activity" is the main impact. This contrasts with the 6% of respondents who report an
“increase in activity”.

3. Executive Summary
When we analyse the data around the impact on the investment budget for internal/ external startups, we also discover some interesting
insights. Non-listed companies report a greater impact than listed companies.
In line with this we see companies with large innovation portfolios report less impact on their investment budget. Also, companies that build
their own ventures (as opposed to collaborate or invest) report the most significant impact on their investment budget. In the respondents’
COVID-19 adjusted plans for 2020, slightly over 50% report a decreased investment budget, 20% sees their budget cut by half and 40% of the
participating companies report no adjustment to their 2020 investment budget.
When asked how their Horizon 1, Horizon 2 and Horizon 3 focus is impacted in 2020, 1/3 of the companies report a change in Horizon focus.
More than 40% report a larger focus on short term, 25% report cost cutting and 15% refocus their efforts to COVID-19 related initiatives.
Companies that build their own ventures (as opposed to collaborating or investing) are the companies who have seen the largest impact on their
innovation Horizon focus. Again, companies with a small venture portfolio (<10) report a much bigger impact on both the Horizon focus and
the areas of innovation they are active in compared to companies with a large/very large portfolio.
When asked about their expectations for the second half of 2020 and 2021 and 55% of respondents say they expect to have the same
ambitions with less budget and resources, 44% expect their investment budget to decrease and 43% say they expect to be focusing on later
stage startups.
Eager to learn more after reading these main highlights?
Please go through the full report for the details and some interesting additional insights!

4. On the question "how is your engagement with internal/ external startups affected by COVID-19", almost 70%
of the respondents who report a large/very large impact mention that a "reduction in activity" is the main
impact.

5. On the respondents’ COVID-19 adjusted plans for 2020, slightly over 50% report a decreased investment
budget, 20% sees their budget cut by half and 40% of the participating companies report no adjustment to
their 2020 investment budget.

6. “Cost cutting” and “openness to innovation” are the biggest challenges reported by innovation leaders.

7. “Speeding up transformation” and “need for innovation” are reported as the biggest opportunities.

8. 83% of companies active in the Energy sector report a (very) large impact of COVID-19 on the way they
engage with internal/ external startups. The average for other industries is 50%.

9. 67% of companies with Sustainability as an innovation area see a (very) large impact on how they
engage with internal/external startups. For companies focusing on Blockchain this is only 25%.

10. 58% of the companies with activities in Sweden report a very large/large impact of COVID-19 on their
investment budget for internal/external startups - the average is 41%. The Netherlands is the only
country in Europe where this % is slightly below average.

11. Asked how their Horizon focus is impacted in 2020, 27% of the companies report a change in Horizon
priorities, 40% focus on short term, 20% report cost cutting and 10% focus on corona related initiatives. The
greatest impact is seen in companies that build their own ventures (see next page).
“We have for the time being prioritized developing operational solutions and services that support our
Covid-19 operations. This means temporarily focusing more on incremental innovations (H1), and less on e.g.
H2 and H3.” - Michael Adler, Business Innovation Manager, Ramsay Santé

12. Companies that build their own ventures (as opposed to collaborate or invest) report the most
significant impact on their innovation focus: 45% of those companies tell us they feel that impact
on horizon focus is large to very large.

13. When asked about their expectations for the second half of 2020 and 2021, 46% of respondents said they
would now be focusing on later stage startups whereas only 4% said their focus would now be more on
earlier-stage startups.

14. Companies with small venture portfolios (<10 startups) report a disproportionately large impact on
Horizon focus for 2020 as a result of COVID-19 with 60% reporting very large/large impact.

15. 54% of companies with fewer than 10,000 employees reported large or very large impact on the areas of
innovation they are active in. This compares with only 22% of companies with more than 10,000 employees.

16. >30% of companies with 0-10 startups in their portfolio saw large/very large impact on the areas of
innovation they are active in, whereas no companies with 50+ saw a very large impact and <20% saw a
large impact.

17. >50% of respondents stated that the distribution across development stages of the startups their
companies collaborate with in 2020 will be focused on mature/later stage startups.

18. When asked about their expectations for the second half of 2020 and 2021, 54% of respondents said they
had the same ambitions with less budget & resources and 50% believed their investment budget would
decrease.

19. 27% of participants expect the way they engage with startups and their innovation focus
to change substantially in H2 2020 and throughout 2021.

20. More than 21% of participants expected a shift in resource allocation toward sustainable innovation.
19% expected their internal innovation team size to increase, but only a small minority expected an increase
in their budget for either innovation facilitation or investment.
“Sustainable tech will also come into
sharp relief with people understanding
the fragility of our world better now.”
- Kevin Dunkley, Chief Sustainability &
Innovation Officer, HH Global

21. When asked about the biggest opportunities for innovation provided by the global pandemic, the most
common response was that it will provide a platform to “Speed up digital/ agile transformation”.
The next most common response was “More need for innovation”.
“The biggest opportunity is
that all stakeholders now
have to become comfortable
with change, and that leads to
opportunities for innovation.
Everything that was first set in
stone, now becomes fluid.”
- Douwe Driehuis, Head of
Innovation, ISS

22. When asked about the biggest challenges posed on innovation by the global pandemic, the most common
response was that there is now “Less openness/need for innovation” (38%). The next most common
response was “Cost cutting” (32%).

23. Authors and Partners
Thijs Sprangers
Head of Wework Labs
Northern & Central Europe |
Building ecosystems for
sustainable innovation
Thijs.Sprangers@wework.com
Linkedin
Angelique Plugge
Innovation Driver
Innovation Coach & Guest
Lecturer ECE Owner of
Xploremore
Angelique@xploremore.nl
Linkedin
Jeremy Julius
Senior Manager, Business
Development
WeWork Labs
Jeremy.Julius@wework.com
Linkedin
Partners:
An initiative of Wework Labs and Lean Innovation Series, with special thanks to: Alexander
Osterwalder, Shamira Miller at Strategyzer, Wim van Woudenberg at Xploremore,
Dr. Ferdinand Jaspers at ECE, Prof. Dr. Justin Jansen and Prof.Dr. Tom Mom at Rotterdam School
of Management.