World Open Innovation Conference 2025

WOIC 2025 Keynote

Wicked problems are defined by uncertainty, dynamic complexity, and value conflict. They involve multiple stakeholders-each with distinct values, frames, and interests-that often diverge or even clash, raising questions of coordination and acceptance. Under such conditions, firms may struggle to innovate alone due to knowledge gaps, difficulties in gaining stakeholder support, and the substantial resources required to make progress.

These challenges call for a deeper understanding of how open innovation can be harnessed to collectively address wicked problems. Drawing on empirical research in clean energy, decarbonizing heavy industry, and the emerging field of carbon removal, the keynote presentation explored how open innovation can be leveraged to tackle such complex societal challenges.

Open innovation at HEINEKEN

The HEINEKEN Brewhouse is an open innovation program that transforms bold ideas into scalable solutions. Since 2019, it has attracted over 350 applicants, hosted more than 30 finalists, and launched 11 pilots, resulting in multiple global partnerships.

Guided by the principle of "learn fast, fail fast, scale what works," it connects HEINEKEN with startups, scale-ups, and partners to co-create real solutions across the entire value chain. This is not lip service to open innovation but a proven model that delivers tangible results and accelerates enterprise-wide transformation.

UEFA Champions Innovate

UEFA presented "Event Gravity," a best practice for making corporate innovation visible and impactful. By aligning the final of the 'Champions Innovate' program with the UEFA Champions League Final, UEFA has overcame the common challenge of siloed innovation.

The model uses a major event's energy to attract key stakeholders who are already present. A five-phase recipe ensures solutions are business-driven and validated through live pilots. The high-profile showcase presented proven outcomes, not just ideas, sparking collaboration, accelerating decisions, and embedding innovation into the corporate culture.

Würth Innovation Intelligence

Würth Italy's Customer Intelligence initiative introduces scalable methods for engaging customers in open innovation, rapidly identifying their needs, and enabling zero-latency proof-of-concept (POC) adoption.

Through tailored workshops and innovation audits, both corporates and SMEs are involved in a "customer innovation pool" and offered immediate access to a proof of concept catalogue. The approach fosters collaboration, accelerates solution testing, and demonstrates high scalability across diverse sectors.

NRL Magic Round

Corporate accelerators are increasingly tasked with delivering both short-term strategic innovation and long-term ecosystem development. This paper investigates how innovation intermediaries navigate this dual imperative through a qualitative case study of the 2025 NRL Magic Round Tech Sprint—a hybrid corporate accelerator co-delivered by the National Rugby League, Advance Queensland, and the Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN).

In sectors such as sport, where rapid technological change intersects with complex public policy agendas, innovation intermediaries face growing pressure to reconcile corporate priorities with broader societal goals. Despite this shift, limited empirical research examines how hybrid acceleration programs are designed and enacted—particularly those operating under tight timelines and involving diverse stakeholders.

Drawing on interviews, archival documents, and observational data, three mechanisms were identified by which ASTN facilitated hybrid acceleration: balancing strategic fit and ecosystem emergence, dynamic reconfiguration of intermediary roles, and enabling sector-coupling and institutional alignment. The findings of the NRL case study extend corporate accelerator typologies and offers practical implications for intermediaries, corporates, and policymakers designing open innovation programs in complex, cross-sectoral context.

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