On April 25, the House of Startups welcomed Alex Osterwalder, the creator of the famous Business Model Canvas and founder of Strategyzer. Dr Osterwalder led a workshop on “The Invincible Company,” organized by the Luxembourg Open Innovation Club (LOIC), a project of the House of Startups, itself an initiative founded by the Chamber of Commerce.
Alex Osterwalder is a Swiss entrepreneur, author, and expert in strategy and innovation. He is best known for creating the Business Model Canvas (BMC), a visualization tool to help businesses design innovative business models. Since then, he has written several successful books, including “Value Proposition Design” and “Business Model Generation,” which have helped thousands of companies around the world to innovate and thrive.
Strategyzer, the company he founded, is a provider of consulting, training, and software services to help businesses innovate. They offer a variety of tools and resources to help companies design, test, and implement new business models, including the Business Model Canvas.
Making the most of his visit to Luxembourg, Dr Alex Osterwalder discussed with Sasha Baillie, CEO of Luxinnovation and Marc Wagener, COO of the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, ways to boost innovation and encourage entrepreneurship in the country.
During his workshop with the Luxembourg Open Innovation Club (LOIC), a club coordinated by the House of Startups and composed of innovation directors from large companies, he presented his latest book “The Invincible Company.” He describes an approach to help companies adapt and thrive in an environment subject to strong variations, by focusing on continuous innovation and the creation of new business models. This concept is based on four pillars: strategy, organization, culture, and processes.
It assumes that innovation should not be seen as a one-time activity, but rather as a continuous process that needs to be integrated into the culture and structure of the company. “The minimum time a CEO should spend on Innovation per week: 40%. If it’s not the case in your company, change your job,” Alex challenged the innovation managers, causing much laughter in the audience.
The workshop provided practical methods and tools to help companies design, test, and implement new business models.
“Alex’s talk is one of the most relevant I have heard in the last 5 years. Strategyzer gives the keys to both formalizing the expectations of top management in terms of innovation and the tools to execute the innovation process operationally. I wish all directors to listen to him at least once in their career”, said Jonathan Kalfa, Head of Innovation at Bâloise Assurances Luxembourg.
Alex Osterwalder’s visit was a valuable opportunity for Luxembourg’s innovation ecosystem to draw inspiration from one of the most respected experts in the field. His experience and knowledge certainly helped participants and stakeholders to explore other innovation challenges, contributing to differentiation in an increasingly competitive global market.
