In this issue of El Periscopio, we speak with Ana EstebanInnovation Manager of Sacyr Innovación e Infraestructuras, and Arantxa QuintanaManager of Open Innovation at Sacyr. And we make innovation more accessible, closer and understandable through the case of the great company where they work. In this podcast we discover how a strong innovation culture is generated in a company with more than 40,000 employees.
Within Sacyr, their role is to observe, inspire, listen and agitate teams to be restless and question the status quo. In their role as facilitators, they tell us that they are responsible for opening channels of communication between teams within the company and external agents to facilitate the flow of innovation.
They tell us that the key is to detect opportunities and turn them into concrete initiatives or projects that add value to the business at the economic, social and environmental levels.
There are more than 40 people dedicated to innovation at Sacyr, but the entire company works for innovation.
"There is an innovative culture that is catching on," Ana tells us.
All employees work to be innovative and it shows in their attitude in favor of innovation.
Sacyr works hard to develop this innovation through its specific Culture Department and Communication Department, which develop programs and initiatives for dissemination, training and inspiration.
Sacyr iChallenges is Sacyr's open innovation vehicle.
The program, which is one of the pillars of its innovation and transformation strategy, is a living space where innovation, technology and collaboration with the innovative ecosystem converge.
Ana and Arantxa tell us that through iChallenges, Sacyr shares the challenges of its business units so that other companies can provide solutions.
Thanks to this tool they have achieved a global reach. Edition after edition they reach more companies and countries and this allows them to discover new innovation poles.
Arantxa tells us that in order to work on innovation, a dynamic process of identifying challenges is used.
Every year they introduce some improvement to complement their existing approach, in line with their innovation strategy.
They bring together experts from all businesses around major themes and work collaboratively to promote the search for different ideas and contributions.
And they generate a lot of listening, openness to diversity and a process of analysis, definition and prioritization with the businesses.
The company does not work alone.
"Internal and external collaboration is key and a clear talent accelerator" says Arantxa.
Sacyr relies on partnerships to innovate. Our guests believe that through collaboration between teams and with external talent, new perspectives and approaches are opened up. And they urge that there are very easy solutions that come from another field that one is not able to detect.
"Innovation makes no sense if it is not open innovation," says Ana.
Both guests agree that knowledge is everywhere, inside and outside the company . And Arantxa reminds us that the outside world will always be bigger and have more talent, so we should not be afraid to lean on it.
Both Ana and Arantxa believe that creativity is key when it comes to innovation . And they motivate us to get out of our comfort zone to develop it.
"The engine of creativity is curiosity," says Ana.
We must be curious and ask questions, always with an open mind.
And they end with the following reflection, many of us go straight to the solution without focusing enough on the problem, simply because we think that creativity is for others. But we must be aware that creativity is connecting and we can all really do it. We should all apply it in our daily lives.
