Section ECONOMY
TOPIC

INTERAMERICAN

"IMAGINE": Innovation from idea to practice

INTERAMERICAN methodically and dynamically strengthens the corporate culture of innovation. To this end, the company has designed and is already implementing the in-company program called "IMAGINE", which aims to encourage the creativity of its people and to be a "nursery" of new ideas from employees, leading the in the future and consolidating its market leadership. Innovation, along with digitization and Lean methodology, is a pillar of the corporate strategy for sustainable development.

The central idea of ​​the program is the creative participation of employees by submitting new ideas to the digital platform of the program and their implementation, in next steps, through interdepartmental teams and collaborations based on a new, flexible way of working.

17 "Accelerator" teams consisting of 66 employees of the company - whose participation was voluntary - faced the challenges of the program, while they were trained by applying the "Accelerator" methodology. The main feature of this methodology is that, by subjecting each idea to strict tests through experimentation, it is determined with certainty whether the idea has value or not. 199 experiments have already been performed and almost 6,000 existing and potential customers have been involved in testing, pivoting and in / validating the most promising ideas. In addition, 150 INTERAMERICAN employees have come into contact with the program by participating in a group, workshop, demo day or other program-related event.

In addition, 11 employees of the company have completed the coaching program and are able to train and form new teams, taking new initiatives. The same people are the basis from which the company has selected "innovation boosters" for the third phase of the "INTERAMERICAN Accelerator".

The program was developed in 2016 and continues to this day.

Although innovation has always characterized Interamerican, the company, in an effort to build a strong corporate innovation culture by ensuring the involvement of all its employees, has developed a comprehensive innovation program.

The program called IMAGINE was launched in June 2016 and is now one year old. During this time, the company's employees have submitted more than 110 ideas to the online platform of the program, 15 of which were selected for further analysis and development of original solutions using modern customer-centric methodologies (Accelerator methodology).

During the first phase of exploring the ideas, the results achieved were excellent and encouraging for the further development of the program while at the same time 66 employees of the company from different departments and areas of the company were trained in the new methodologies.

In a glorious celebration of innovation (the third in a row in the history of the IMAGINE program), with the presence of the entire management, the presentation ceremony of the company's innovation projects took place on Friday, June 9 in the Interamerican amphitheater. 5 proposals were presented, 2 of which have already been successfully integrated into the business.

"Innovation Boosters"

17 "Accelerator" teams consisting of 66 employees of the company - whose participation was voluntary - faced the challenges of the program, while they were trained by applying the "Accelerator" methodology. The main feature of this methodology is that, by subjecting each idea to strict tests through experimentation, it is determined with certainty whether the idea has value or not. 199 experiments have already been performed and almost 6,000 existing and potential customers have been involved in testing, pivoting and in / validating the most promising ideas. In addition, 150 INTERAMERICAN employees have come into contact with the program by participating in a group, workshop, demo day or other program-related event.

In addition, 11 employees of the company have completed the coaching program and are able to train and form new teams, taking new initiatives. The same people are the basis from which the company has selected "innovation boosters" for the third phase of the "INTERAMERICAN Accelerator".

Greece

More than 120 new ideas have been submitted to the "Imagine" online platform. The most promising ideas have been submitted to the "Accelerator" methodology, which was adopted in September 2016, resulting in 17 minimum value propositions, 5 business cases and 3 value propositions, of significant value for INTERAMERICAN.

17 "Accelerator" teams consisting of 66 employees of the company - whose participation was voluntary - faced the challenges of the program, while they were trained by applying the "Accelerator" methodology. The main feature of this methodology is that, by subjecting each idea to strict tests through experimentation, it is determined with certainty whether the idea has value or not. 199 experiments have already been performed and almost 6,000 existing and potential customers have been involved in testing, pivoting and in / validating the most promising ideas. In addition, 150 INTERAMERICAN employees have come into contact with the program by participating in a group, workshop, demo day or other program-related event.

In addition, 11 employees of the company have completed the coaching program and are able to train and form new teams, taking new initiatives. The same people are the basis from which the company has selected "innovation boosters" for the third phase of the "INTERAMERICAN Accelerator".

Innovation is often seen as a high-risk energy, but the methodology we follow is structured, data-driven and - above all - minimizes risks. Reduces losses and increases success in product development, while improving both the top line and the bottom line. We have managed to develop internally a truly autonomous, sustainable and continuous innovation mechanism within Interamerican.