Turning scientists into entrepreneurs
DSM
Targeted campaigns invited around 450 scientists and engineers to tackle two global challenges — producing 150+ ideas and five that won funding.
The Challenge
DSM wanted to fill its innovation pipeline against two of the hardest problems it works on: a critical global environmental challenge and a critical global nutrition challenge. Both demanded deep specialist knowledge.
What we did
Given how specialised the problems were, DSM ran two targeted campaigns inviting around 450 of its scientists and engineers. Nosco worked alongside the internal team to coach the top ten idea teams: over a two-day bootcamp, researchers traded lab coats and formulas for value propositions and business-model canvases, then presented them to a C-suite panel.
Results
Across the two divisions, the campaigns generated 151 ideas (46 on the environmental challenge, 105 on nutrition), with participation rates of 55% and 59%. Five ideas went on to receive funding — and DSM built a community of innovators across both divisions. Just as importantly, the first campaign managers pledged to coach colleagues running future campaigns, so the know-how spread rather than dispersing once the campaigns closed.
