The document provides an overview of the Axel Springer Ideation Council, which was established in 2021 to foster innovation within the company. It discusses how the Council works to gather ideas from across the organization, prepare them for presentation, and have an evaluation committee select the top ideas to receive funding for prototyping. The goal is to turn a higher percentage of ideas into products over time. Examples of early prototypes include building a TikTok account and developing ideas around sustainability. Refinements to the process are focused on addressing challenges like making time for participation and aligning ideas with strategic roadmaps.

1. the axel springer
ideation council
hello@reallygreatsite.com
Creative

2. ideas
engineering
A Brief Story About Us
we started off as 2 companies (ideas ventures & ideas engineering).
Over time we came up with products like upday, aravoices, lots of
prototypes & we're not done yet.
We are driving, shaping and coding the
future of tech at Axel Springer.

3. vision
we’re the first point of contact for every tech product or project
& we accelerate the improvement of our existing brands.
mission
we enable organic growth of axel
springer & are well known as their
flagship in the international tech
community.
01
we push for constant improvement,
questioning the status quo & always look
for challenges to learn and experiment.
02

4. Preparations to IC
2020
Ideation Council
2022
the ideation council was pitched to the
board in summer 2020 & took off with
the first meeting in january 2021.
it's been now 1.5 years of building
6 prototypes & we've got the
pipeline full up until september.
Ideas Ventures/Engineering
starting off to build new products for axel
springer... a 100% subsidiary to the axel
springer IT up until march 2021 - ideas
engineering works on projects & products
that serve the needs of the AS brands.
2014
80% of Ideas Become Products
2025
follow the timeline
we aim to find a way to transform the
majority of our prototypes into products.

5. everyone at axel springer no matter the unit/section/company can participate. we
also encourage people to join the prototyping team to either shadow us, or to really
bring their skills to the table, whatever suits their schedules.
Innovation
ideation council
the goal is to foster innovation & coach people so they feel they have a safe space
to pitch their ideas.

6. implementation
of ideas in a predefined time frame between one & four weeks
the framework
gathering all the ideas @ axel springer
prepping them for presentation in front of the ideation
council
represent your idea and receive rating
start working on your/your colleagues idea
the first 6 pitces have been prototyped already.
one of them you can follow on on tiktok
after the ideation council we start
jamming with the band!
02
ideation
units, individuals & communities all over axel springer
preparation
understanding & standardizing the idea
axel springer ideation council
evaluation & rating of presented ideas

7. the homework
write a press release
people hand in their idea by writing a
short press release - a framework well
known & used by amazon.
01
give more context
after understanding the main idea, I invite
members of the team + ideator to get more
context & ask additonal questions.
02
prep a pitch
after we synced the knowledge, the
ideators prepare a pitch to present their
idea to the ideation council.
03

8. the homework
write a press release
people hand in their idea by writing a
short press release - a framework well
known & used by amazon.
01
give more context
after understanding the main idea, I invite
members of the team + ideator to get more
context & ask additonal questions.
02
prep a pitch
after we synced the knowledge, the
ideators prepare a pitch to present their
idea to the ideation council.
03

9. the homework
write a press release
people hand in their idea by writing a
short press release - a framework well
known & used by amazon.
01
give more context
after understanding the main idea, I invite
members of the team + ideator to get more
context & ask additonal questions.
02
prep a pitch
after we synced the knowledge, the
ideators prepare a pitch to present their
idea to the ideation council.
03

10. the ideas
how to frame a short pitch without
scaring ideators off...
inspiration
how did the ideator come up with
his/her idea? where did the inspiraton
come from?
information
what kind of information did the ideator
gather on his/her idea? research about
business cases, competitors, internal
stakeholders & more...
impediment
why isn't this idea already out there or
what is it that has to change in order to
get it out there?
impact
what kind of impact will this idea have
on axel springer?
Company Profile

11. next steps
Prototyping
prepping the next prototype
find a way to test it
strip, strip, strip
Business Development
helping to find one or more homes for the
idea
supporting the units to onboard the idea
demonstrating the opportunities that lie
within the range of this idea
Ambassadors
getting people on board with ideas
before an ideas has been pitched
as soon as an idea is refined we
search for allies to fill the sport of an
ambassador to the overall idea
Next idea?
people will, if they have a positive experience
throughout the process come back & pitch
more ideas

12. some examples
diversity is
everywhere
the ideas are very diverse - building up a tik tok account from scratch, to
ideas about sustainability & ethical shopping we encountered a quite
interesting range of ideas & thoughts.

13. the learnings
Time
Knowledge
sharing knowledge
beyond presentations
seems hard as for having
people within the team is
hard to achieve.
people feel they don't
have really time to
participate & if they took it,
they would abandon their
9-5 jobs.
Roadmaps
Repeat
is an ideas/a prototype
successful, we want to scale
it & repeat its success...
if the idea/solution is not on
the roadmap or solving such
a problem it's close to
impossible to interest
someone to build a product.

14. the ideation
council team
we invite people from all over axel
springer to join us and to participate.
A Brief Story About The Team
Sebastian Spoerer
Alexandra-Irina Nicolae
Senior Product Owner & Ideation Council Lead Product Owner Ideation Council Development Team
Lars Reith
Tarek Madany Mamlouk
Innovation Engineer Innovation Engineer
Company Profile

15. thank you
Address
Zimmerstraße 50, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Telephone
+49 151 44047791
Website
http://ideationcouncil.axelspringer.de
please feel free to get in touch & exchange best practises, f**** ups, & whatever
else you can think of... we can only learn if we share our knowledge & we're very
much interested in learning at axel springer.
Because, we're here to help