Fostering Innovation Communities

Renata Alves is a Digital Innovation Manager at BASF, where she plays a critical role in fostering innovation communities and driving digital transformation. Over the five years, her team has seamlessly integrated market-leading technology trends with business needs, cultivating a culture of digital innovation and enhancing customer experiences across BASF in North & South America. In 2024, Renata specializes in developing digital business models and leveraging artificial intelligence to meet customer demands. Her expertise in creating strategic roadmaps and fostering intrapreneurship ensures BASF remains at the forefront of the digital evolution, driving collaboration and innovation throughout the organization. Renata and BASF are the recipients of a 2024 Innovation Strategy award in the Opportunity Hunting category.

1. What does innovation mean to you?

Innovation means creating value for the business and the society by solving problems and addressing needs in new and better ways, using the potential of technology, data, and human creativity. Innovation means creating value by solving problems, meeting needs, or fulfilling desires in new and better ways. Innovation is not limited to products or services, but can also apply to processes, models, methods, or systems. Innovation is not a one-time event, but a continuous process of learning, experimenting, and improving. Innovation is not a solo act, but a collaborative effort that involves multiple stakeholders, perspectives, and disciplines.

2. How do you and your team generate new ideas?

Our team generates new ideas through a comprehensive four-step process: observe, ideate, prototype, and test. We begin by observing the world around us, identifying problems, needs, or opportunities. We then ideate by brainstorming, diverging, and converging on potential solutions. Next, we prototype by creating low-fidelity models or mockups using available materials and tools. Finally, we test these prototypes by gathering feedback from potential users, customers, or partners, and iterating based on the results.

Additionally, we enhance our idea generation by scanning the external environment for signals of change and trends, engaging with diverse stakeholders and perspectives, and applying design thinking and speculative design methods. Our intrapreneurship program, Beyond the Hashtag, prepares BASF employees in North & South America for the tech supercycle. This initiative aims to support the understanding of new technological trends and their business impacts, empower employees to lead the program by presenting topics and developing prototypes, and present trends to prepare for all possible futures. Through this program, we foster an entrepreneurial journey and mindset change, ultimately impacting the business positively.

3. Can you share 1-3 unique innovation tactics your team relies on?

Based on the “Beyond the Hashtag” program, here are three unique innovation tactics that could be relied upon:

Trend Exploration and Application: This tactic involves using emerging tech trends to create business possibilities. By understanding and applying these trends, teams can identify new opportunities for innovation and growth. This approach encourages a future-oriented mindset and a curiosity for trend technologies.

Building Communities, Connection & Networks: This tactic focuses on the social aspects of trends. It involves examining how digital is influencing human connection and what this means for the difficulties and possibilities it creates, using the lenses of networks, tribes, and communities. This approach fosters a culture of collaboration and shared learning.

Ethical Consideration and Consequence Analysis: This tactic expands on the previous two by teaching participants how to use creative tools for innovation that consider the changing human/tech interface. It involves understanding the effects of technology trends and their social impacts, and ensuring that ethical considerations are taken into account when developing new solutions.

These tactics align with the principles of intrapreneurship and experimentation, as they encourage employees to take initiative, explore new ideas, and learn from their experiences. They also reflect the program’s objectives of fostering a culture of curiosity, experimentation, and lifelong learning among employees.

4. Do you have any specific rituals to reset creativity?

I would say that instead of reset creativity, I feed it by attending external events, conferences, trainings to see what is outside my "box" and open up for different perspectives.

5. What resources do you use to spot trends and consumer insights?

The Beyond the Hashtag initiative, which provides me with a comprehensive and engaging learning experience about the current and emerging tech trends and their implications for BASF and its stakeholders. It helps me develop a future-oriented mindset, a curiosity for trend technologies, and a sensitivity for the social and ethical implications of the tech supercycle.

The Visionaries of Tomorrow Community, which is a group of BASF employees who are interested in exploring and learning about the tech trends and their impacts. It provides me with a sense of belonging, identity, and empowerment, as well as a source of learning, inspiration, and feedback. It also gives me an opportunity to collaborate on projects and initiatives that leverage the tech trends for creating value and innovation.

Institute for the Future, which is a platform that monitors and analyzes global consumer trends and insights. It provides me with reports, newsletters, webinars, and tools that help me understand the changing needs, preferences, and behaviors of consumers, and how to apply them to my work. Trend Hunter platform to access the world's largest database of trends and innovations, and to get customized reports and newsletters based on our interests and goals.

6. Has there ever been an instance where another industry has inspired you/your company?

Yes, there have been several instances where another industry has inspired us and our company. One example is the virtual reality in personal care industry, which has inspired us to create more immersive and engaging learning experiences, using elements such as gamification, VR, and metaverse.

7. What makes an innovative company culture? How do you create a culture of innovation?

An innovative company culture is one that fosters curiosity, collaboration, experimentation, and learning. It encourages employees to explore new possibilities, to challenge the status quo, to take risks, and to learn from failures. It also provides the necessary resources, tools, and support for employees to pursue their ideas and to implement them in the business.

We create a culture of innovation by:

Setting a clear vision and strategy for innovation, aligned with the company's purpose and goals.

Empowering employees to be protagonists of innovation, by providing them with autonomy, recognition, and incentives.

Building a diverse and inclusive team, that values different perspectives and backgrounds, and that fosters a sense of belonging and trust.

Establishing a learning environment, that promotes continuous learning and development, and that leverages the potential of digital platforms and tools.

Collaborating with external partners, such as customers, startups, academia, and other industries, to access new ideas, insights, and solutions.

8. Looking to the future, how will you/your company continue to be a leader in innovation?

We will continue to be a leader in innovation by:

Monitoring the external environment for emerging trends and opportunities, and adapting our strategy and offerings accordingly.

Investing in research and development, and exploring new technologies and applications that can create value for our business and customers.

Scaling up our successful innovations, and integrating them into our core processes and systems.

Measuring and communicating the impact of our innovations, and celebrating our achievements and learnings.

Strengthening our innovation culture, and inspiring our employees and stakeholders to embrace digital transformation and innovation.