Company Profile

Brisa is a leader in the Turkish tire manufacturing and mobility industry with major tire brands including Bridgestone, Lassa, and Firestone as well as multiple service models and channel brands. As well as the commercial and manufacturing operations, Brisa has a very active R&D center, a museum, and an academy.

Challenge

Brisa has recently incorporated being the “Pioneers of Mobility” into the mission statements. With a strong background and success in corporate entrepreneurship, Brisa wanted to extend the Pioneers of Mobility brand to the startup and technology ecosystem. Accordingly, a program was needed to structurally identify, assess and engage with startups.

Approach

Workinlot designed a startup program for Brisa with three interim cycles and a final demo day. Each interim cycle would have different challenges for startups and a demo day after the applicants are assessed, selected, and accelerated. The top startups from each round would pitch at the final event with a chance to win rewards and engagement opportunities.

The challenges throughout the program included:

• Future of the Journey
• Tire Recycling & Upcycling
• Smart Manufacturing
• Tire Performance & Lifetime Management

Each cycle would have around 20-30 days for applications, with respective demodays to happen in the next 15 days.

A comprehensive communication and reputation management strategy was also designed and executed, working collaboratively with the corporate communication team and the communications agency of Brisa.

Key Tasks & Milestones

During the Pioneers of Mobility Program, two digital platforms were utilized. First was the branded yolculugunonculeri.com where the program objective, process, rules, FAQ, and branding were presented. The other was the open innovation and entrepreneurship platform of Workinlot (since retired) where the challenges and digital incubation flow were housed. Before launching the communication for application, multiple workshops were held with the innovation and communication teams to build the content and communication strategy for both platforms.

During each of the interim cycles, the innovation team evaluated 10-15 startups and projects to invite finalists to the in-company demo days. The Workinlot team coached each team regarding their pitches. Workinlot handled demo day programming, onboarding of the jury, and all communication with the project teams.

While the interim cycles were in effect, the Workinlot team also delivered two different tasks as a trusted advisor. The first was designing and facilitating a vision and expectation-gathering workshop about the planned maker lab. The second was designing and facilitating a future scenario planning game/workshop on behalf of Brisa during the Global Entrepreneurship Congress, which was being held in Istanbul that year. 

After the interim cycles were complete, 7 startups were invited to the final demo day. Workinlot assisted the Brisa innovation team with planning the public attendance demo day, including programming, startup preparations, and invitations, among other things. 

Outcomes

2019 was the first year of Pioneers of Mobility, which became an established brand in the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem. The program became an annual event.

During and after the program, 5 engagements were initiated with the startups.

Two of these initiatives were able to expand into new markets with foreign investors.

At Workinlot we facilitate similar innovation projects for corporations, supporting different stages of the co-creation process, and drive investment opportunities.

 If you're ready to embark on a similar journey, let's connect.