This presentation was held at the Corporate Incubation and Acceleration Summit in Berlin 2017 to illustrate how an innovation ecosystem can look like using an intrapreneurship approach.

1. DB Systel GmbH | Matthias Patz | Berlin | 07.02.2017
Challenges of Intrapreneurial Incubators & Accelerators

2. What are we talking about today?
2
INTRAPRENEURSHIP is the act of behaving like an entrepreneur while working within a large
organization. Intrapreneurship is known as the practice of a corporate management style that
integrates risk-taking and innovation approaches, as well as the reward and motivational techniques,
that are more traditionally thought of as being the province of entrepreneurship. (Wikipedia)
INTRAPRENEURS are "dreamers who do. Those who take hands-on responsibility for creating
innovation of any kind, within a business“ (Pinchot)
They are employees within a large corporation who take direct responsibility for turning an idea
into a profitable finished product through assertive risk-taking and innovation. (The American Heritage
Dictionary)
DB Systel GmbH | Matthias Patz | 07.02.2017

3. Intrapreneurs need to break out of a structured
environment and engage in networks
• Acts in an open environment
• Most entrepreneurs work full time and are
fully dedicated to their idea
• Entrepreneur envisions a company from
start to finish
• Works for self-fullfilment and being his own
boss but at his own risks
• Acts in corporate boundaries (hierachy &
processes)
• Has a job description and a supervisor and
folllows the goal of the organization
• An intrapreneur has a broader vision for an
established company.
• Has the comfort of knowing that failure does
not have a personal cost since the
organization absorbs losses arising from failure
3 DB Systel GmbH | Matthias Patz | 07.02.2017

4. Why do we forster intrapreneurship and why should you
care?
INTRAPRENEURS ...
... are the „secret weapon“ of the business world and
have a positive impact on organizational growth
and profitability
... foster renewal from within and master the digital
transformation by focusing on innovation and creativity.
... drive cultural change and a majority of millenials are
embracing the intrapreneurial style of work.
4 DB Systel GmbH | Matthias Patz | 07.02.2017

5. Our approach is to create an ecosystem for intrapreneurs
similar to those of entrepreneurs
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Incubation Acceleration Venturing
DB Systel GmbH | Matthias Patz | 07.02.2017
?Get your own
business unit
• 400 employees have been
trained in creativity and
innovation techniques
• 70 ideas generated in the last
year
• 50 managers have been
educated about inrapreneurship
• 29 ideas have been
presented at last pitch event
• 5 teams working in the current
batch on topics of AI, AR / VR,
IoT and drones

6. Challenges of Intrapreneurial activities can be grouped
into three domains
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Corporate
Immune System
Reward System
Methodological
Knowhow
DB Systel GmbH | Matthias Patz | 07.02.2017

7. The two phases and three domains span six fields of
action to implement intrapreneurial activities
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Incubation Acceleration
Corporate
Immune System
• Educate management about the need
for entreprenerual attitude
• Establish a physical space for lateral
thinking and build communities
• Be transparend and use an open call
for ideas and give clear framework
• Be open and involve other
departmens
Methodological
Knowhow
• Offer creativity workshops to solve
business problems
• Support prototypes and customer
interviews
• Involve mentors to help intrapreneurs
• Use a guided set of workshops days
secure progress
Reward System
• Make results of experiments and
prototypes visible within the
organisation and invite real customers
• Give the intrapreneurs a platform to
stand out
• Celebrate learnings (positive and
negative)
DB Systel GmbH | Matthias Patz | 07.02.2017

8. Build a common understanding of entrepreneurial attitude
with employees as well as managers and make it tangible
8 DB Systel GmbH | Matthias Patz | 07.02.2017
Skydeck – a physical place for events,
communities & prototyping
Intrapreneur-Starter-Box – „Innovation self-
service“
Startup Safari – employees and managers sit in on
a startup for a week
Workshops using creative problem solving
techniques like LegoSeriousPlay and others
Incubation Acceleration

9. 9 DB Systel GmbH | Matthias Patz | 07.02.2017
Apply iterative methods like LeanStartup, Design
Thinking and Customer Interviews
Incubation Acceleration
Don‘t let participants out of the driver seat and give
them a platform to show off (Pitch, Demo Day)
Build on the shoulders of others (involve HR,
Legal, Sales, Ops, etc) and share the success
Guide the way through structured program that
fits in day-to-day work (12 days in 10 weeks)
A structured series of workshops with clear outcomes
limited by time & money to validate business ideas

10. Tel. 030 297-58752
Mobile: 0170 4508218
Matthias.Patz@deutschebahn.com
DB Systel GmbH
Marktstraße 8
10317 Berlin
www.dbsystel.de
Matthias Patz
Vice President
Innovation & New Ventures
Thank you
for your attention
#SkydeckAccelerator