Corporate Venturing - Sebastian Smerat organizes cooperation for innovation

Constantly changing conditions and a dynamic market environment pose new challenges for a wide range of industries. At thyssenkrupp Materials Services Sebastian Smerat looks for innovations and solutions to precisely these challenges on behalf of customers and promotes the innovative strength of the materials trader and service provider through corporate venturing.

The ability to adapt not only oneself but also the offerings for customers is crucial to the success of any company today. That's what drives Sebastian Smerat, but he takes it a step further: "At thyssenkrupp Materials Services, we're not about transforming ourselves in response to market pressure. We're transforming because we want to evolve." The aim is to use innovations strategically to digitize supply chains, make them transparent, and thus offer customers new value creation opportunities.

_{Reinventing the wheel: With corporate venturing to more innovation}

Sebastian Smerat, Head of Tribe Customer Innovation & Operations

And sometimes even the wheel has to be reinvented. Because the Head of Tribe Customer Innovation and Head of Operations of the Digital Services business field at thyssenkrupp Materials Services can't imagine a world without innovations. Together with his team, he develops innovations and builds startups. "Without corporate venture projects, large corporations like thyssenkrupp would have no capacity to digitize and improve our world with new innovations," says Smerat.

But what actually is an innovation? Sebastian stays true to Joseph Schumpeter's classic definition: "An innovation is the assertion of new combinations in the market." Thus, in addition to the technical point of view, profitability is important, because the ultimate goal is for innovations to be profitable.

Smerat's penchant for innovation is no coincidence: as a physicist, he already worked in research during his studies and doctorate. "The path to research and development in an industrial group was not far away," says Smerat.

Innovations with a goal

When it comes to new innovation projects, Sebastian Smerat acts as the initiator: "As part of Customer Innovation, I am responsible for identifying new products, services and business models together with our operating business," says Smerat. But of course it doesn't stop at identification: The ideas go through a structured innovation process that helps to identify sustainable ideas and develop them to market maturity.

That means a lot of work is required before ideas can be turned into reality. "You need a lot of patience in this job. Part of that is picking up and maintaining a certain pace," Sebastian said. The constant change and fast pace of the digital world means that a technology can be relevant today but yesterday's news tomorrow. Companies must therefore keep up with market demands and respond flexibly to trends and technologies.

This also involves working on many topics at the same time and not continuing with any pet projects, because not all ideas are ultimately feasible. "Personal opinions are often out of place at this point. In these cases, it's 'Kill your Darlings,'" laughs the expert. In the end, only one thing counts: Do customers see value in the solution?

Corporate Venturing: Unleashing innovative power together

New supply chain solutions that make it possible to increase efficiency, plan ahead, and act more sustainably - that is the overriding goal of innovation activities at thyssenkrupp Materials Services. Smerat and his colleagues are therefore currently working on various solutions to drive forward the digitalization of the supply chain. These innovations will later be encapsulated in a separate unit - Corporate Ventures - in order to test them on the market and evaluate them on the basis of real feedback.

null — Innovative supply chains, forward planning and sustainable action - many innovation activities at thyssenkrupp Materials Services are based on increasing digitalization and new technologies such as artificial intelligence.

One example: AI-based demand forecasting is to be used to prevent the company's working capital from becoming too high. In concrete terms, this means that forward planning enables customers to keep as little material as possible in stock for their production and still allow them to react flexibly to changes in demand or disruptions in the supply chain. Another project focuses on intransparencies in material procurement. "This is where marketplace platforms come in," says Smerat. "With the platform, we connect mills, service centers, distributors and end users and enable them to anonymously buy as well as sell materials. This is a first for the industry."

The first corporate venture projects could start as early as spring 2020. Other innovations will enter the decisive phase later this year. For Sebastian, the focus is always on the solution: "This work is my passion! For me, innovations are the engine for new ideas, products and business models."

Are you also fascinated by new innovations and corporate venture projects and are you up for a new challenge that is more than just a job? Then visit our job board and become part of #GENERATIONTK.