INCREMENTAL RADICAL

INNOVATION INNOVATION
Transforms the market,
Improves creates a whole
what exists new market

SALES AND Premium food brand, Second-hand luxury Digital magazine reader
offbeat marketing, strong fashion online Payment account for smartphones and
MARKETING customer bonds marketplace opened at the local computers
INNOVATION Simplicity and quality, tobacconist
at the right price

Web and mobile

PRODUCT, SERVICE, Oil-free fryer
applications for patients
with chronic illnesses
Crowfunding

AND USAGE Smart devices for 3D printing

INNOVATION health tracking and solutions
management

Smart tennis racket

measures athletic Vision Restoration
performance Systems (VRS),
TECHNOLOGICAL Reengineering of A320 Hybrid powertrains for Patented industrial exploitation retinal stimulation
jetliner family (A320neo) cleaner, more efficient and of microalgae to produce
INNOVATION more economical vehicles «molecules of interest»
to restore sight
The companies listed here typically
employ a multidimensional approach
Automation and
to innovation. standardisation of Innovative and flexible
automotive production industrial food packaging Industrial supplies distributor, unites
This table only highlights the type PROCESS AND equipment solutions customers and suppliers in transverse Managerial innovation grounded
of innovation which is the focal point ORGANISATIONAL collaborative relationships on employee autonomy
and open innovation
for each organisation. INNOVATION

Creator of the Electronic mobile

‘online sale’ concept device reconditioning Full-service sushi kiosks Long distance
BUSINESS Payment solution created
inside retail stores and high ridesharing service
for online marketplaces,
MODEL collaborative consumption traffic service areas
and crowdfunding
INNOVATION
L’énergie de bâtir

Promotes direct Professionalisation through

exchange between local historical monument
producers and consumer restoration
SOCIAL Preventative health Non-profit human resources
communities
INNOVATION and well-being programs
using Adapted Physical
recruitment and consulting,
promoting equal opportunity
Activity (APA) and diversity.
Changing perceptions of innovation
through a multidimensional
approach PREFACE

8

An example: BlaBlaCar Next

www.blablacar.com GENERATION INNOVATION! 14

1 CHANGING THE WAY WE THINK
ABOUT INNOVATION 18

BlaBlaCar is Europe’s leading long-distance ridesharing service.
The company connects drivers with passengers willing to share the cost Innovation: an asset for France, and for Europe 20
of the journey. Drivers publish an ad describing their journey, and indicate Innovation is everywhere 24
the number of available seats. Passengers obtain a dedicated list of
The changing face of innovation 28
drivers offering seats using an advanced search engine (departure, arrival,
date, time, driver gender, smoking or non-, driver reputation, etc.)
Next generation innovation:
open, agile, user-centred 48
Today’s innovators:
projects and needs 56

Product, 2 CREATING A FRAMEWORK

service
FOR NEXT GENERATION
INNOVATION! 68
Social Procedure,
innovation organisation
Satisfying the needs of today’s innovators:
a new perspective 70
The six types of innovation 80
Technology Marketing,
sales RISING TO MEET THE CHALLENGES
OF THE FUTURE, TOGETHER 106
Business model

APPENDICES 110

NB: innovative intensity is measured on a scale of 0 (not innovative) to 4 (radically innovative).
PREFACE
 We must constantly
rely on an active vanguard.
There is never a consensus
prior to innovation.
Any transformative
innovation is essentially
a deviation. Innovation is crucial. As France confronts the considerable challenge
of consolidating its position as a key player in the global economy,
and as our businesses are up against ever-increasing competition,
our competitiveness and growth are the two defining factors of
our development.
Edgar Morin,
We need a major cultural shift that will enable innovation to play a
French sociologist and philosopher
decisive role in our country’s economy.

We must learn to be daring, and to accept risk, experimentation

and creativity. Innovation often takes shortcuts, never goes the
way it is planned, and requires multiple trials and errors before
reaching success. Making innovation everyone’s business – from
primary school to university, from factory floor to senior management,
from civil service to private enterprise – is a structural challenge
for France’s economy.

I want to emphasise the central role of business in this paradigm

shift. How can we ensure that innovation is not only the responsibility
of R&D and marketing, but of every employee? How can we
configure organisations capable of generating novel strategic
options over and over again?

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 12

For more than a decade, my company has worked to deploy real
managerial innovation. We have profoundly changed our organization;
we try to ensure that all employees are innovative actors. Our
company is as agile as possible, and part of an ecosystem that
fosters tomorrow’s innovations. We have entirely dismantled our
internal hierarchy, and granted a considerable measure of autonomy
to our employees, including at our factories. There is no organisational
chart; the company is organised by product, expert community
and project.

The primary role of our top executives is to focus on our 10-year

business strategy, while giving more operational autonomy to
employees. Employees actively participate in investment decisions,
recruitment, salary policy and even long-term strategic reflection.

The results of this managerial innovation have been extremely fruitful.

We have fared better than our competitors during crisis after crisis.
We have achieved 2-digit growth rates in a mature market.
Our market share has gone up 5 points in the past 3 years.

Our advice is simple: innovate! Make innovation the bedrock of

your strategy, in service to your own company’s growth, and to
the competitiveness of our country.

Carlos Verkaeren,
President of the Poult Group

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 14

next GENERATION
INNOVATION
Bpifrance finances and supports businesses, with a particular The fruit of the collaboration between Bpifrance, Fing and the
focus on innovative projects. To more fully appreciate the existing French innovation ecosystem is now in your hands. This book
scope of innovative potential, Bpifrance has joined forces with the gives readers the big picture of next generation innovation, and
Next Generation Internet Foundation (Fing), and assembled a group the needs of the new generation of innovators. As a benchmark
of entrepreneurs and key innovation stakeholders. Clusters, reference guide intended to help readers identify and analyse an
entrepreneurial networks, administrative regions, researchers, innovative project (of any kind), the present work chooses not to
investors, and a dozen startups...many have responded to our call. classify projects using rigid categories, but rather organises
project analysis around two common questions: What is new
Similar findings
about the project? and how does it set the company apart from
In the massive upheaval currently underway in innovation, the competition?
traditionally distinct classifications have become intertwined:
We would like to thank those who have contributed to the first
technological/non-technological, product/service/process,
edition of this work. This collective reference manual now
incremental/radical innovation... Digital technology is not the sole
belongs to every innovation actor in Europe; we hope that
vector for innovation and growth: BlaBlaCar and Autolib provide
each of you will want to share and improve upon it, so that the
innovative mobility services, while Sushi Daily has created 1500 jobs
range of possibilities it explores becomes even wider, and a
in four years by locating sushi kiosks inside existing supermarkets.
common vision of innovation – next generation innovation – emerges!
At the same time, the needs of innovators have become increasingly
diverse. Some companies need to invest heavily during the start-up
phase, while others continually adjust their needs to support various
Paul-François Fournier,
stages of development. Some need financing for pre-planned
Bpifrance
R&D tasks, while others need it to build an initial user base that and
will support agile – flexible, responsive – product development. Daniel Kaplan,
Changing the rules together FING

It is time for us to ensure that a greater number of potentially

transformative opportunities are not wasted, by finding novel ways
for French and European innovation support schemes to foster
innovations of all kinds. Bpifrance dedicates itself to this goal,
starting with the development of appropriate financial tools.

The book «Next Generation Innovation» positions Bpifrance

squarely at the heart of a pivotal drive to transform innovation,
innovation policies and support mechanisms. By transforming its
own tools and criteria, Bpifrance wishes to be a catalyst for the
emergence of new leaders – and thus actively contribute to the
economic future of our nation.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 18

1. CHANGING THE WAY WE
THINK ABOUT INNOVATION
1.1
Innovation is crucial to the competitiveness of any business facing
economic globalisation.

Innovation: Businesses that

an asset for France, innovate export more
and for Europe than those who do not.
They export to more
countries. Their exports
grow faster, and they are
less susceptible to changing
economic conditions. (1)
Innovation is an essential source of job creation, enabling
organisations beyond France’s borders to engage with our pool
of creative talent.

(1) Source: Innovation, a major challenge for France (L’innovation, un enjeu majeur pour la
France), Jean-Luc Beylat and Bernard Tambourin, 2013, p. 33.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 22

Investing in innovation
is not enough

In the competitiveness race, France in Europe has a lot going

for itself: a younger, better-educated population than the European
average, high-calibre scientific research programs, economic and
technology sectors with worldwide reach, solid civil infrastructure
and public services...the list goes on. In addition in Europe,
substantial public resources are devoted to research and
innovation. Europe can become an attractive investment destination:
the United Kingdom and France play a central role in terms of
venture capital investment.

To take advantage of our strengths, and build a better future,

quantitative measures of investment is no longer enough: we
have to change the way we think about innovation, and the
methods we use to support it.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 24

1.2 From a corporate and
managerial perspective, (...)
Innovation is everywhere innovation is the culmination
of a comprehensive process.
R&D has to be integrated
into a complex organisational
approach alongside other
concerns and processes. (1)

Many of the innovations that have transformed markets over the

past few years are not technological, in their essence, but rather
use technology as a means to other ends. For example:

• social media networks and Twitter messages – now an

integral part of daily life for hundreds of thousands of people
– have created new forms of communication without using
particularly advanced technologies, or producing significant
technological innovation (at the end of 2013, Twitter held
only 2 patents);

(1) Source: A new vision for innovation (Pour une nouvelle vision de l’innovation)
Pascal Morand and Delphine Manceau (2009, p. 13).

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 26

 • Zara has enjoyed stronger growth than any other fashion Such «agile» and «open» forms of innovation, affecting business
brand worldwide by renewing its inventory on a bi-weekly models or company organisation, are increasing in importance.
basis: no inventory replenishment, no country-specific They even dominate certain sectors. This is the result of three
product lineups; very recent transformations:

• arpooling and car sharing are giving the public transport • Digitisation: ideas and concepts first exist in digital form,
sector a run for its money, based on nothing more than making them flexible and customisable, which facilitates
online community platforms tied to «reputation» systems not only dematerialisation, but also the association of
(user reviews, money transfers); and products with services, and contributes to cycle acceleration.
Data has also become a key economic asset.  
• microcredit loans have given millions around the world the
chance to grow their businesses through a novel approach • Interconnectivity: new ideas race across the globe,
to credit distribution and repayment. inspiring creative collaboration and reproduction. The line
dividing amateurs from professionals is fading. Value chains
Not a single one of these innovations relies on the creation or
are being constantly restructured, often around massive
improvement of advanced technologies to create value, or to
«platforms».
distinguish itself from its competitors.
• The increased importance of «externalities»: mounting
Yet these examples – and many others – do have one thing in
energy and climate concerns, newly recognised limitations
common: national and European innovation systems would not
to «traditional» forms of public intervention and a strong
have been able to support them, at least not their core activity!
emphasis on corporate social and environmental
responsibility… These concerns demonstrate that the impact
of innovation on employment, the environment and collective
well-being must somehow be taken into account, and even
considered as core concepts that underpin «social innovation».

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 28

1.3
Up to now, our innovation systems analysis and dedicated
support schemes have been intended essentially for
technological innovations: until 2005, the OECD’s Oslo Manual(1),
which provides the foundations for most European innovation

The changing face of innovation support programmes, was focused entirely on «technological
product and process (TPP) innovation» (p. 7), defined as «implemented
technologically new products and processes, and significant
technological improvements in products and processes.» (p. 31)

(1) Source: Oslo Manual: Guidelines for Collecting and Interpreting Innovation Data:
Third Edition (OECD, 2005).

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 30

Changing your methods
is innovating!

In its most recent edition (2005), the Oslo Manual (1) noticeably

expands its definition of innovation:

An innovation is the implementation of a new or significantly

INNOVATING
improved product (good or service), or process, a new marketing
method, or a new organizational method in business practices,
workplace organization or external relations.

The OECD actually recognises two forms of «non-technological»

innovation:
ALSO MEANS
• organisational innovation, or «the implementation of a
new organisational method in the firm’s business practices,
workplace organisation or external relations»; It focuses on
the company – how it develops, produces and manages
its products and services  – both as an organisation, and
in its relations with suppliers and partners; and

• marketing innovation, or «the implementation of a new

YOUR ORGANISATION
marketing method involving significant changes in product
design or packaging, product placement, product promotion
or pricing».

(1) Source: Oslo Manual: Guidelines for Collecting and Interpreting Innovation Data:
Third Edition (OECD, 2005).

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 32

Case study The radical reorganization of the Poult Group (biscuit-maker for
other brands, founded in 1883) began in 2006. The objective of

The Poult Group this historic group was to engage, motivate, and empower
every one of its employees toward the firm’s innovation.

Two levels of management were removed, rotating leadership

was introduced in several departments, and an internal project
incubator was created to promote «intrapreneurship»; the creation
Using managerial of Poult Academy, a corporate university, was this incubator’s
innovation to stand out first success.

in a crowded market Thanks to managerial innovation, the company now offers much
higher value-added services to its clients:

• product codesign with customers for whom Poult was

formerly a supplier (Auchan, Michel & Augustin...)

• open innovation between leading high-tech companies

(e.g., nutraceuticals, with Pierre Fabre Laboratories) and
Poult internal start-ups to develop new products, including
the «smart biscuit» - a personalised nutrition supplement
for patients in long-term care, which tracks data intended
for healthcare professionals (compliance, absorption periods
and frequency, etc.) via individually printed QR codes.

In a challenging market, Poult nearly quadrupled in size

between 2005 and 2012, and  recaptured its former ranking as
France’s second-largest biscuit-maker. Their gains attracted a
buyout by Qualium investment (A French Caisse des Dépôts
subsidiary) in 2014.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 34

Case study

Sushi Daily
Added value,
from within

Sushi Daily launched its retail store and high-traffic area sushi
bars in 2010. Its sushi is freshly prepared in front of customers,
who pay for it along with their other purchases, enabling the
hypermarket retail chain to systematically deduct a commission.
Each in-store POS is independent, with the parent company as
a shareholder. By 2014, there were over 250 Sushi Daily points
of sale in 6 countries, and 1500 Sushi Daily employees.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 36

Daring to try a new business model A business model describes how your business makes
money.
is innovating! Steve Blank,
serial-entrepreneur
and Silicon Valley opinion leader
We are entering an era of intensive innovation (...). An era in
which innovative competitors will come out of the woodwork.
Intensive innovation distorts the «standard» laws of economics. Despite the absence of any official definition, analyses converge:
It enables thinking that extends beyond market norms, and the the business model describes how a company will earn money
surprise of unexpected value propositions. over time. More to the point, it reveals a company’s developmental
logic, and its strategies for value creation, capture and sharing.
Armand Hatchuel,
• Value creation: the value propositions made to customers
Professor, Mines ParisTech, in Les Echos (newspaper)
and users, and the way the company harnesses its
expertise, and the expertise of others, to deliver this value.

According to The Economist(1) a majority (54%) of senior managers • Value capture: revenue sources and structure.
«favor[ ] new business models over new products and services
• Shared value: company cost structure, «scalability» – its
as a source of future competitive advantage».
ability to grow profitably – and how value is to be distributed
According to the Boston Consulting Group (2009), business across a complex «value system» including shareholders,
model innovators garner results far «superior» to product and employees, suppliers and numerous other partners (e.g.,
process innovators(2). distributors, providers, and application developers for
platforms who create value from users, etc.).
So there seems to be a new, potentially dominant form of innovation
out there: business model innovation. What does it entail?

THE BMUOSDEILNESS
BUSINESS
(1) Source: Business 2010: Embracing the Challenge of Change (Economist
Intelligence Unit, 2005) – as cited by Raphael Amit and Christoph Zott,
Creating Value Through Business Model Innovation (MIT Sloan Management Review,
2012).
(2) Source: Business Model Innovation (Zhenya Lindgardt, Martin Reeves, George
Stalk and Michael S. Deimler, BCG, 2009).

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 38

• Why is business model innovation becoming
so crucial?
New social solutionsare also
• A business model produces interdependencies that
innovations!
raise the barriers to entry for competitors, and
the barriers to exit for clients: a social network is
free for users, but appropriates their data; Xerox leases Why has social innovation moved centre stage in the last
copiers, and sells services and consumables; Microsoft decade? The main reason is that existing structures and policies
promotes Windows via programs that require its have found it impossible to crack some of the most pressing
operating system, and vice versa... issues of our times – such as climate change, the worldwide
epidemic of chronic disease, and widening inequality.
• Business model innovation identifies new value
sources within existing activities: Amazon.com sells Robin Murray, Julie Caulier-Grice and Geoff Mulgan,
cloud computing services; Apple depends on millions The Open Book of Social Innovation,
of developers for services it could never hope to Nesta/Young Foundation (2010, p.3)
produce by itself.
The impressive growth of microfinance highlights the evolution of
• The most «disruptive» innovations - to borrow
a long-standing practice of social innovation. In line with the above
Clayton Christensen’s term – are the ones that transform
authors, the European Commission equally defines social innovations
a market. These innovations are often developed by
as «new ideas (products, services and models) that simultaneously
new entrants, typically have a unique business model,
meet social needs (more effectively than alternatives) and create
and usually focus on the bottom end of the market,
new social relationships or collaborations», adding that «these
first offering products of poorer quality than their
solutions are both social in their ends and their means»(1). According
established competitors: digital vs. chemically processed
to this definition, how an innovative firm produces and distributes
photography, MP3s vs. CDs, low-cost vs. high-tech...
value is just as important as the innovations it introduces. On this
The real difference between these upstarts and
basis, the EU now plans to support social innovation the same
entrenched market leaders can be found in their
way that it supports commercial innovation.
business models: novel cost structure and customer
relations, a value network that fosters market expansion,
etc. It is precisely because their (outdated) business
model forms the backbone of their activity that
old-school market operators have great difficulty
responding to challengers (e.g., Kodak).

(1) Source: 1. Guide to Social Innovation (European Commission, 2013, p. 6).

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 40

Case study The reason the EU, like France, supports social innovation(1) is
because it expects social innovation to provide new answers to

The Food difficult problems that neither markets, nor public policy, have
been able to address in a satisfactory manner..

Assembly Ashoka, an international network uniting more than 3,000 social

entrepreneurs, describes its members as «changemakers».
It has assigned social entrepreneurship with a sizeable task:

Inspire, encourage, and facilitate new business co-creation

« Let’s get together to buy the that addresses societal issues at large scale, by ‘tearing down
best food available, directly the walls’ between sectors and equipping the younger generation
with the skills needed to change the world.(2)
from local farmers and
foodmakers. »

The Food Assembly connects consumers with local producers

of quality food products. The basic idea is to provide the tools
that enable short distribution channels to scale up, and move to
the next level.

The system is based on the creation of pop-up markets, or Food

Assemblies, hosted by an individual, a group of people, or an
enterprise. These assemblies are facilitated by an online platform
that connects local producers with platform subscribers wishing
to buy their products.

(1) see the Guide to Social Innovation (European Commission, 2013)

(2) Ashoka’s Changemakers (Transmediamix, n.d.,)

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 42

So what does innovating • INNOVATION CATEGORIES, AS SUGGESTED
IN A NEW VISION OF INNOVATION
look like, exactly? (POUR UNE NOUVELLE VISION DE L’INNOVATION)
by PASCAL MORAND and DELPHINE MANCEAU

Practical innovations are typically multi-dimensional: USAGE AND

the iPhone is a new product that continues to generate new USAGE TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY
usages via the innovative iTunes Store business model; BlaBlaCar
enhances the experience of ridesharing while inventing its business
model; the Food Assembly organizes large-scale direct purchase
from producers, which supports local farmers (social innovation)
and encourages the growth of its pop-up network/source of
SUPPLY Marketing and R&D is crucial Design is
income (business model)... INNOVATION product lifecycle (e.g., electric bike, important to
management hybrid cars) ensure the
(NEW are essential technology is
Categorising these dimensions of innovation – use, process, PRODUCT intuitive and easy
(e.g., rental bikes,
organization, business, agile, open, social  – should not lead to OR SERVICE) electric cars, drinkable to use, market
isolated objectives; the categories should be accepted as a fruit purees) analysis of usages
is essential
«suite» of modalities that each contribute to the coherence of (e.g., Google self-driving
any entrepreneurial project. car and Google glasses)

PROCESS Newly organised New processes New job

INNOVATION work and based on new descriptions, new
production technologies skills development
processes (e.g., Sineo car wash) (e.g., Egencia BtoB travel
(e.g., Zara supply agent, any customised
chain model) product)

BUSINESS New pricing Redefines Industry-wide

MODEL structure stakeholder roles reinvention, sector
(e.g., low-cost airline and revenue convergence
INNOVATION companies, Airbnb distribution along (e.g., Google search
flat rental) the value chain engine, video on
(e.g., Apple iPod demand, digital cameras)
and iTunes)

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 44

The challenge: to recognise and support
innovations of all kinds

Following the OECD’s publication of the 2005 Oslo Manual,

«non-technological» innovation has been slowly gaining legitimacy
within innovation support schemes. For example:

• the «Horizon 2020» EU Common Strategic Framework

for Research and Innovation conjoins funding for research
with funding for innovation, with the aim of developing «a
coherent set of instruments, along the whole ‘innovation
chain’ starting from basic research, culminating in bringing
innovative products and services to market, and also
supporting non-technological innovation, for example in
design and marketing»(1);

• in France, the Morand-Manceau (2009) and beylat-

Tamborin (2013) reports agree that «innovation is not
merely invention, and innovation is not only technological»(2);

• and the second round «Investments for the Future»

call for proposals (01/2015), Bpifrance’s recently-
developed French Tech funding program, as well as
other regional innovation support schemes (e.g., PACAlabs,
Pays de la Loire Territorial Innovation fund) explicitly include
provisions for  «non-technological» innovations.

(1) Source : press release for the Green Paper debating the EU Framework funding
for research and innovation: Horizon 2020 (2011).
(2) Source: Innovation, a major challenge for France (L’innovation, un enjeu majeur
pour la France) (Jean-Luc Beylat and Bernard Tambourin, 2013, p. 33).

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 46

Yet, despite the clarion call for a new vision from experts and
stakeholders, interpretations of EU regulations governing innovation,
and the mindset underlying public support schemes, remain
narrowly focused on technological innovation. Marketing and
organisational innovations are accepted as a bonus, but rarely
as innovations in their own right.

Innovation has changed. Public innovation schemes, and those

who operate them, need to think big, and appreciate innovation
in all its diversity and complexity.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 48

1.4
Contemporary innovations also distinguish themselves in how
they develop. Many kinds of innovations break away from the
traditional «funnel» process that moves a company’s products
from research to concept to production.

Next generation
innovation: open, agile, To innovate, be open
user-centric Henry Chesbrough and Open Innovation.
Chesbrough’s theory of Open Innovation suggests that a firm
should look in places other than R&D for the ideas and knowledge
it needs to innovate (upstream), and should also make it easy for
others to create economic value based on their innovations
(downstream). By punching holes in the traditional funnel process
– which allows only a fraction of R&D concepts to make it through
production – he opens the floodgates to innovation.

Internal
knowledge and
ideas

Markets held
by others
(swarming, licensing,
ecosystem)

Our new markets

Our
current market

Subsidiary
and co-investment

External Using
knowledge third-party technologies
and ideas

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 50

Apple iTunes, Google Android, Microsoft Windows and game
console developers each owe their success to the applications
Case study
built for their platforms, and hence do everything in their power
to support developers, and facilitate the development process.

Beyond these «seminal» examples, the core concept underlying

LINAGORA
open innovation, namely that

An open source software

companies can and should utilise external ideas and
paths to market, as much as internal ones
platform to create
tomorrow’s virtual office!
has also found a myriad of different applications: the open APIs
(application programming interfaces) of Amazon.com, BlaBlaCar
or Crédit Agricole (CAStore); crowdsourcing platforms (e.g.,
eYeka, ideXlab, KissKissBankBank, Ulule); or even ‘free and
open-source’, a label no longer restricted to software (e.g., The LINAGORA OpenPaaS platform, a virtual office environment,
Arduino microcontroller boards, the Tabby open hardware aims to provide an industry-level solution to the collaborative
automobile). By following this approach, competitive advantage usage demands emerging among public institutions and in big
is not so much derived from intellectual property as it is from business.
market traction.
Linagora worked to modernize the messaging system at the
Ministry of the Interior, and on the deployment of a new software
environment for France’s National Assembly.

Beyond computer technology, OpenPaaS has fostered a number

of usage and organisational innovations.

This free and open-source, open-API software platform has also

given rise to a growing community of innovators and developers
seeking to create dedicated new services.

Associating the virtue of an open innovation system with viral

propagation lays the foundation for a new generation of ecosystem
– one that provides individuals and companies with a platform
to develop the collaborative tools of the future, faster and more
cheaply.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 52

To innovate, get agile!

By extending to the entire innovation process to include the use

of  «agile» (or lean) IT development methodologies, innovators
can reduce their development cycles, and thus minimize their
risks and reduce initial capital expenditures. No more rigid business
plans, no more striving for perfectionism. A startup
Agile development emphasises the continued deployment of
successive versions of a product or service, alongside measurement is an organization formed
and ongoing assessment of market returns. This can even lead
the company to «pivot», or test new, fundamental assumptions to search for a repeatable and
about the product, the market and/or company strategy and
growth drivers. scalable business model. (1)
For example: in 2005, Criteo was a film discovery service; in
2006 it evolved into an e-commerce product recommendation
service; and in 2008, it became a pay-per-click advertising agency. Steve Blank,
Serial entrepreneur and
This kind of approach is radically incompatible with the sets of Silicon Valley opinion leader
pre-defined specifications or multi-year development plans that
are still the status quo.

(1) Source: web page, What’s A Startup? First Principles (2010).

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 54

To innovate, think «with» The paradigm shift we have
and «for» users
described here – consumer
prototyping and use, followed
Research by MIT’s Eric von Hippel (1) has shown that in many
markets (e.g., sports equipment, medical devices), the most byfiltering for generality
significant innovations are often initiated by advanced or «lead»
users, before being adopted and industrialized by startups or of demand by peers, followed
established firms.
by commercialization of
Even if this kind of bottom up innovating is nothing new, it is now
an increasingly dominant component of product development, generally desired innovations –
simply because digital technology, the Internet and Fab Labs
have blurred the lines that once separated amateurs from
is growing stronger over time.
professionals. Von Hippel invites companies to collaborate with
lead users to develop methods for product co-creation. The
The costs of consumer
typical «top-down» innovation process – from R&D to market – is
simply reversed.
innovation are dropping due
to better and cheaper design
tools, better and cheaper
Internet-based communication
and group formation, and better
and cheaper prototyping
facilities.

Eric von Hippel, Jeroen P.J. De Jong

and Susumu Ogawa,
The Age of the Consumer-Innovator,
(1) See Eric von Hippel: le paradigme de l’innovation par l’utilisateur by Hubert Guillaud, MIT Sloan Management Review (2011, p. 34)
Internet Actu (2012).

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 56

1.5
Traditionally, the innovation ecosystem – which includes public
financing structures – is very familiar with the needs of technological
innovators, and has the tools in place to meet those needs.
However, non-technological innovations have very different

Today’s innovators: characteristics, and do not generate the same needs at the same
junctures as technological innovations.

projects and needs

New kinds of innovative products

Innovation projects that usually do not rely heavily on advanced

technology (but not always!) present three characteristics that
distinguish them from projects based on technological innovations.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 58

 • Competitive differentiation based on usage, rather • Less capitalistic projects, at least initially. Projects
than performance, or pushing the definition of ‘state with low technological intensity do not usually call for heavy
of the art. A «non-technological» innovation doesn’t investment in hardware, software and R&D. However,
necessarily seek to outperform what is already on the similar to technology-based projects, financing needs
market: it might aim for the bottom of the pyramid (low persist until budgets are balanced.
cost), or appeal to a «niche», or just be quirky or offbeat
The most basic need expressed by «non-technological»
(like the marketing and packaging for «kooky cookies»
innovators focuses on human resources recruitment and
Michel et Augustin)
funding, whether for employees, or external collaborators
Another consequence: competitive advantage can rarely like designers, developers, managers, lawyers, recruiters…
be protected with a patent.
At the beginning, many entrepreneurs augment their income by
providing bespoke services (consulting, etc.). This has the
disadvantage of diverting their attention away from the project
at hand, which slows its progression, while it is likely that other,
similar projects are emerging somewhere else in the world.

Impact on key success factors:

• Base the project on an understanding of user needs and
expectations, rather than on technology.

• Collaborate with lead users, if possible as early as the

design phase.
Impact on key success factors:
• Integrate design expertise right from the start.
• Locate (and be able to pay) the right people at the right
• Launch early, and get a feedback loop going as soon as time.
possible.
• Locate operational resources – often difficult to ascertain
• Always try to stay one step ahead of the competition. during the startup phase – as and when necessary.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 60

 • «Agile» projects, supershort time to market
In most cases, these projects do not go through protracted
study and planning phases, but rather through short iterative
cycles that work as closely with users as possible: prototypes
are produced rapidly and immediately tested; «traction»
(engagement with an expanding, viral community of users)
is created as soon as possible; quick, modest, and continuous
improvements are preferred over heavier, less frequent
«versions»... The project is constantly in several stages at
once: design, development, test, launch, operation and
analysis.

Impact on key success factors:

• Break down the project into smaller modules with short
completion times: a few weeks at most.

• Prioritise speed of execution; do not hesitate to buy solutions

PR
that work, rather than develop them.
DU

O
• Experiment quickly and continually, for example by
simultaneously testing multiple versions of the same product
T E SC E
M T
(«A/B testing»).

• Be able to «pivot» quickly, in response to user feedback.

ARKET

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 62

... The new needs of today’s innovators

Entrepreneurs seeking to accomplish more iterative, less

predictable projects – more closely aligned with the market –
express different needs to those whose innovations are mostly
technological.

• First things first: people!

Companies need staff, and talent. This is the top funding
priority for most non-technological (and many technological)
innovators:

• recruit (or subcontract) managers, marketers, engineers,

technicians, web/mobile developers... The scarcity
of these skills – especially in the fields of web and
mobile development – means these hires come at a
premium, and with a certain degree of risk;

• finance the outsourcing of «specialist» skills in design,

communication, web marketing, law, finance...and
recruitment, typically as subcontractors.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 64

• Next comes financing the proof of concept, and each
phase of business development.
Entrepreneurs’ second priority after recruitment is to fund
each stage in the iterative process. Here, marketing is
inseparable from the design and development of the project:

• prototyping and early user testing: although these

costs may be minimal, they are beyond the reach
of some entrepreneurs;

• developing the first release and attracting first-time

users/customers, which requires spending on
marketing, communications and sales; and

• business development, locally or internationally.

• Finance iterative and flexible projects… iteratively

and flexibly
Entrepreneurs want to focus on their projects, not push
paper. Flexibility should be the order of the day when funding
«agile» projects; as financing needs are difficult to measure
during the startup phase, and emerge progressively, funding
will have to be arranged as milestones are achieved.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 66

Case study Launched in 2009, Leetchi is Europe’s leading online group
payment service, where users collect money (in «money pots»)

Leetchi.com for group gifts and events. Since 2013, it’s growth has also relied
on the development of MangoPay, a third-party payment system for
online crowdfunding and collaborative consumption marketplaces.

• During its (6-month) pre-launch phase, Leetchi primarily

needed financing to pay a developer to build the first release.
3 phases, 3 financing needs Recruiting an additional developer would have enabled
Leetchi to accelerate its time to market, and more effectively
respond to early feedback from users.

• During the (12-month) launch phase, financing needs were

still focused on salaries (2 developers), plus media relations
and marketing in France. Again, understaffing curbed
Leetchi’s development potential. Bpifrance financed Leetchi’s
online payment system development.

• During the accelerated development and automation phase

of the MangoPay payment system, financing needs were
focused on marketing expenses and customer support for
both B2C (Leetchi) and B2B (Mangopay) activities.

By early 2014, Leetchi had gained more than 1.5 million users,
and was anticipating 100 M€ in turnover for its services.
The business now operates at a profit.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 68

2. CREATING A FRAMEWORK
FOR NEXT GENERATION
INNOVATION!
2.1
Innovation is in flux, and so are the needs of today’s
innovators. How does this change the way we support
them? Easy: it means we have to adjust our focus, and
adapt our approach.

Meeting the needs • Our focus needs readjustment so that we can learn to

of today’s innovators: identify and analyse projects that are totally different from
those that public and private funders – at least in Europe –

a new perspective are accustomed to.

• We need to broaden our approach to include support for

projects whose development cycles, financing needs, risk
profiles and/or valuation methods differ enormously from
technology-oriented projects.

Recalibrating what we consider to be innovation will enable

support system to back projects that would simply never have
been eligible before: sales and marketing innovation, service
innovation, business model innovation and social innovation.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 72

What do we need to know?

We believe that every innovative project should be approached

with the same two questions in mind:

What is new about the project, and what it affords to its

customers, users and beneficiaries?

• Have potential customers, users and/or beneficiaries been

clearly identified?

• Is its main innovative focus on end users (B2C), other

businesses (B2B), or company employees (process or
organizational innovation)?

• How does the project change users’ point of view: does

it meet a new need, or solve a new problem? Does it
significantly improve the way a particular need is met, or
respond to a known issue? Does it offer a new experience,
a new usage? Does it create a new category of need,
usage or market?

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 74

How does this innovation set the organisation apart from
its competitors?

• Who are the project’s (current and potential) competitors?

What are their strengths and weaknesses?

• Is the proposed innovation likely to make a difference on

the market:

• by providing the company with a significant competitive

advantage? If so, through what factors (functionality,
price, quality, image, increased ease of use, etc.)?

• by creating uncontested market space?

These questions are essential. If the entrepreneur finds it difficult

to respond, this may indicate the existence of a problem: has the
project been fully formulated? Is it more of an invention (the design
of a new technology or a new process without entrepreneurial
vision) than an innovation (new products introduced to the market,
or a new process put into practice, with industrial and/or
commercial potential)?

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 76

Getting clear about innovation type
and intensity

The present benchmark, derived from our research and presented

in the following pages, aims to provide support for the detection
a,
and analysis of innovations within the context of the two questions single are
w i t h in a low
previously raised. Project analysis aims to specify the innovative lace liste
d be Type of
nature of a project in terms of its type and intensity. t a ke p a r eas Innovation
can of t
he
tion e r
a b
ov um
nn n yn
a

.I
....
• Radical innovation (or «disruption»):

s
..

r os
....
creates an entirely new, uncontested market, or

ac
or
revolutionises a market (or markets) completely. • Product, service or usage innovation:
There is a «before» and an «after»; not only for the improves existing products/services/usages
company, but also for its competitors. or introduces new ones.
Example: the Apple iPhone and App Store.
• Organisational or procedural innovation:
• Incremental innovation: changes how a firm, or its supply chain,
improves what already exists, contributes to the is organised.
competitiveness or profitability of a firm without
any significant internal transformation.
Example: the bagless vacuum cleaner. • Sales and Marketing innovation:
alters product presentation, distribution,
pricing, promotions, etc.
.
.....
....
.
-4.
n0

ee • Business model innovation:

b etw reorganises revenue and cost structures.
le
Innovation a sca
Intensity d on
e asure
is m • Technological innovation:
creates or integrates one (or more)
new technologies.

• Social innovation: meets social needs,

L’intensité de l’innovation pourra ainsi être évaluée en la mesurant in terms of its purpose, goals, and processes.
sous l’angle des différentes typologies décrites.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 78

 Product,
Example analysis of innovative service

type and intensity: Social Procedure,

Compte Nickel (the Nickel Account) innovation organisation

With a minimal deposit, and zero conditions, a Compte

Nickel provides users with a payment account, Technology Marketing,
electronic banking details and a debit card. It takes sales
only five minutes to open an account, using a single
piece of ID. It allows withdrawals, deposits, wire Business model
transfers and direct debits, but does not provide
customers with overdraft privileges nor checkbooks. Its
extremely inexpensive operations rely entirely on the web, mobile Innovation Intensity is measured on a scale between 0 and 4.
technology, and the capacity to verify an account balance in
real-time. • Marketing and Sales:
Account opening and funds deposit at partner tobacconists.
This bank-less account (approved, however, by the Bank of
A non-stigmatizing marketing message to attract a socially
France) is primarily intended for banks’ unwanted customers, or
excluded market segment: an «account for everyone», minus
those who have been banned. Easy to open and close, a Compte
income or asset conditions.
Nickel can also meet specific needs: payment of shared expenses,
online payments, international transactions, an account for • Social:
one-time purchases, etc. The founders wished to address the social injustice of banking
exclusion (one founder was himself excluded by a bank).
A Compte Nickel has no income test. Opening an account
does not require customers to divulge sensitive information
pertaining to banking history or prior spending habits.
Where is the innovation?.....................................
• Business Model:
• Product/Service/Usage: Very low, standardised rates (subscription, billing, deposit and
A bankless payment account, opened in five minutes at withdrawal); no additional products: no overdrafts, no credit
participating tobacconists, no conditions, no additional services. nor use of customers’ cash. Fees listed at < €50/year, depending
on use. Another portion of revenue is derived from credit card
• Process/Organisation:
payment commissions.
Opened from a tobacconist using an identity card (scanned
by a «Nickel terminal»). Immediate issuance of bank card and • Technological:
details. Funds deposit online or via tobacconist. All other Two patents: the Nickel Terminal, which allows identity document
account management takes place entirely online. authentication using a basic scanner, and banking detail form
generation via the tobacconist’s point of sale (POS) printer.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 80

2.2 1. Product, service, usage innovation

The Six Types Does the project introduce a new product or service, or a

of Innovation significant improvement in the nature of an existing product

or service, its functionality, or the way it is used?

What do we mean?
This type of innovation primarily impacts clients’ and users’
relationships with the product or service:

• a new product or service satisfies a need, solves a

problem or creates a new market;

• a product or service revision entails improvements to

features, performance, ease of use, quality, appearance, etc.;

• a new usage for an existing product, service or technology

enables clients/users to perform new functions that meet
different needs, or provides clients/users with a different
«experience».

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 82

 Product, service, usage innovation
Where
is the
innovation?
INCREMENTAL RADICAL
INNOVATION INNOVATION
Transforms the market,
Improves creates a whole
what exists new market

Michel et Augustin * Materne Éditions volumiques Velov / Velib

New flavours and original Fruit puree Game combining the tangible Self-service
Does it change how an packaging pouches and the digital bicycles
existing product is used?
GoPro leboncoin.fr
Does it affect Steelcase Caméra Ultra portable for sports E-commerce
client’s/users’ experience Ergonomic office chair enthusiasts for individuals
adapted for users of new Blablacar *
of the product? technologies Long-distance
rideshare service

Neodemia Urban Potager Numa, « Cantines »

Business Automated interior «Third-space cafeteria»
MOOCS garden coworking space
Compte Nickel * Sculpteo *
Does it satisfy Bank-free payment (B2B)
account, opened in Online 3D
an unmet need? less than five minutes printing service
Ulule *
Participatory finance
Micro-finance

Low cost Personalised,

Does it solve a Dyson Ecocup * medical devices targeted gene
Bagless vacuum Sale and (incubators, cardiac therapies
problem experienced rental of stimulators, prostheses, etc.)
by customers, users custom cups

or beneficiaries? Seb Ikea

«oil-free» fryer Flat-pack furniture

Withings ArduinoTM
Smart devices to Open-source Twitter The smartphone
Does it potentially measure physiological electronics Microblogging tool and associated
parameters platform that app distribution
inspire a new need? contributing to wellness/ facilitates platforms
health «smart» object
development Social networks

* Fiche descriptive consultable sur le site internet.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 84

2. P rocess and Organisational
organisational innovation innovation

Does the innovation introduce a new design or production

process, or unprecedented changes to the organization
and management of the company, or in its process, logistics
or supplier relations management?

Procedural
innovation
What do we mean? Managerial
innovation
This type of innovation directly concerns the company and how
it develops, produces and manages its products and services,
both as an organization and in its relations with suppliers and
partners:

• procedural or «process» innovation focuses on • organisational innovation focuses on management

implementing technical tools (new machines, new systems (eg, JIT, 24/7, knowledge management,
technologies, new IT) to improve productivity (reduce costs quality assurance, etc.), work organisation (work methods,
and delays) and quality, make the company more responsive organisational charts, collaborative work, outsourcing,
and production more customisable, reduce raw material etc.) and a company’s external relations (relations with
consumption and waste, etc.; suppliers, logisticians, distributors, and other partners).
Often, it complements process innovation (e.g., a new
technique entails a reorganization) but may also
occur alone;

• managerial innovation is a form of organisational

innovation that focuses on how to distribute information,
power and control within a firm.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 86

 Process and organisational innovation
Where
is the
innovation? INCREMENTAL RADICAL
INNOVATION INNOVATION
Transforms the
Improves market, or creates
what exists a new market

Sineo Telesurgery
Suez
100% Environnement
eco-friendly New water filtration Sculpteo * Non-invasive Flexible
Does it introduce a new car wash technologies rapid 3D surgery automation
technical procedure? prototyping service

Egencia (Expedia subsidiary) Zbis * Cisco Zara

Business travel optimisation Local Fabless industrial Continual fashion
Does it transform micro-factory company collection renewal
through integrated,
the design, production OutilAcier flexible supply chain
or logistics process? Eco-friendly technical sales, Telemedicine management
distribution and industrial supply tool

Does it transform product Stimergy * Recommerce Solutions * « Cradle to cradle »

lifecycle, materials and/or Cloud platform that earns profits Reconditioning of electronic Circular, zero-waste economy
from the heat generated by its servers mobile devices
waste management?

BlueKiwi Happy.co.uk
Does it change business, (bought by Atos) Self-organizing teams
Professional social networking that elect their managers
labor, time or spatial and coworking platform Convergys
organisation? Call centre where employees
choose their schedules («anywhere time»)

Dassault Bee Plane OSVehicle

Does it change the relationship Ingénierie uses concurrent Open innovation Design and sales
engineering to design the Falcon 7 airplane design of «open hardware»
between the company and automobile kits
suppliers, distributors and
other partners? Sushi Daily *
In-store,
fresh sushi kiosks

Seb Biscuits Poult *

Does it transform Company FabLab Repositioning through granting
business management? autonomy to employees

* Fact sheet available on our website.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 88

3. Sales and marketing innovation

Does the innovation change the way the product or service

is presented, marketed, promoted or priced, or the customer
relations dedicated to the product or service?

What do we mean?
This type of innovation concerns how the product or service is
aimed at the market, and at its clients, customers or users:

• branding, positioning, marketing and promotion;

• packaging and presentation;
• sales and distribution methods, channels and forms
• pricing levels, models, degree of customisation;
• customer relations content, channels and quality.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 90

 SALES AND MARKETING INNOVATION
Where
is the INCREMENTAL RADICAL
innovation? INNOVATION INNOVATION
Transforms the
Improves market, or creates
what exists a new market

Carrefour, Décathlon
store brands
Does it suggest Nailmatic 
1st ever automated
a new image, nail varnish machine
a new market Jolis Mômes Michel et Augustin *
Health and beauty shop Premium food brand, fun and offbeat
positionning for for 0-12 years marketing, strong customer relations
the firm or its product?

Milka Ikea Netflix, Amazon

Does it change «The Last Square» Enriched online Personalized
emotional marketing catalogue that lets recommendations
how a product/service campaign you visualize how a
piece of furniture Fitle
is promoted? would fit in your home Virtual home dressing room
(3D avatar)

Amazon Autorip Daddy ColaLife OSVehicle

Download The pink sugar Antidiarrheal kit inserted Open source car kit
Does it introduce MP3 versions of CDs box «goes green» in cola crates without loss of
novel packaging, purchased (eco-packaging) space, delivered to the poor
or new product/service Auchan
presentation? Products sold in bulk,
zero packaging

Darty The Food Assembly * Compte Nickel *

Does it change how « Connected Store » Group purchasing from Payment account opened
the product/service is sold: equipped with Sushi Daily * local food producers at the local tobacconist
interactive kiosks Supermarket
channels, networks, and tablets sushi bar Voyages-sncf.com Online commerce
methods, etc.? «Trips with friends ...» (since 1990)
social commerce app

Does it propose a new Orchestra Aviva, AXA Deezer 20 minutes

pricing policy: price Low-cost apparel « Pay as you drive » «music» option Free daily newspaper
by subscription insurance with GPS in mobile plans
levels & range, pricing device Freemium
formulas, personalized model (for video games,
professional social networks,
prices, etc.? news, etc.)

Does it change the relationship Crédit Agricole BandSquare « TrocHeures » Auchan

Centre-Est Gig/concert Castorama «Drive»,
between the company and Select and rate crowdfunding Customer DIY-hours online shopping
your bank advisor exchange and personal pickup,
its customers: service channels, self scanning
availability, interactions, etc.?
* Fact sheet available on our website.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 92

4. BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION

Is the innovation based on a new cost or revenue structure,

a new way of making money? Key
partners Key
activities

Supply
What do we mean?
The business model describes how the company makes its
money and aims to increase profitable growth. It describes the
value delivered to customers, the revenue and cost structures,
and how the firm will manage future growth. It also describes
how the company works with its «ecosystem» – suppliers,
partners, customers and other stakeholders.
Customer
Business model innovation takes many forms, which can be relations
broadly classified as follows:

• competition differentiation using novel cost structures Clients

and revenue streams (eg. low-cost);

• new value creation from of company resources (e.g.,

reselling heat generated by a data center); Revenue

• new relationship definition between clients, suppliers,

distributors, advisors and other partners to create value. Key
Costs resources
Channels

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 94

 Innovation de modèle d’affaires
Where
is the INCREMENTAL RADICAL
innovation? INNOVATION INNOVATION
Transforms the
Improves market, or creates
what exists a new market

EcoCup * Vente-privée.com « Freebie

Is business revenue Customisable glasses Limited online promotions  marketing »
for event hire a.k.a. «the razor
or cost structure
and blades»/Gilette
differentiated Salesforce
Modèles low cost model)
Management software
from competitors? as a service (SaaS) Compte Nickel, BIC, Easyjet Sell cut-price goods
plus consumables

Does it enhance Stimergy * Amazon Web Services Open innovation

the company’s resource Value-creation Value-creation from ecosystems
from heat generated company information system
value, identify new by datacenter
sources of revenue, 23andMe
or penetrate Personal DNA testing partly
funded through data resale
new markets?

Does it raise barriers Xerox Blablacar * Apple, iTunes,

to entry for competitors Sells copies, not Carpooling as a novel Apple Store
copiers (leased) form of public transport Link a device
and to exit for to a marketplace
customers?

Does the Leetchi * Ulule * ArduinoTM

Commission earned for group Crowdfunding Open source microcontroller cards
company’s success gifts and «money pots»
rely on customer and Apple and
third party contributions its Appstore
to create value? leboncoin.fr Google, Facebook, etc.
E-commerce Free services financed
Is it a «platform»? between individuals by targeted advertising

The Food Assembly * OSVehicle

Does it enable the firm’s rapid Platform facilitating direct Open source,
expansion minus the usual exchange between local food customizable automobile;
producers and collective assembly by end users
hurdles? (recruitment, customer «assemblies» or small garages
financial resources, etc.)

* Fact sheet available on our website.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 96
5. Technological Innovation

Does the project rely on new technology development and/

or integration, or the significant advancement of existing
technologies?

What do we mean?
Technological innovation creates or uses one or more new Technological innovation may take the form of:
technology(gies) which, (when compared to existing technologies),
• new technology development;
affords users with:
• existing technology enhancement;
• superior performance (function, capabilities, power,
speed, ease of use, etc.); • an original combination of largely advanced
technologies (e.g., bioinformatics).
• a better price-performance ratio (investment, use,
energy consumption, etc.); Technological innovations often emerge as a result of public
and/or private R&D. However, most of these tech-driven
• or entirely new usages.
innovations also require usage development, so that they can
be adopted by users and customers effectively, and thus
generate business and organisational success. Technological
innovation must therefore be complemented by product/service,
sales/marketing or business model innovation: a technological
innovation with no practical application is not an innovation.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 98

 TECHNOLOGIcal Innovation
Where
is the
innovation?
INCREMENTAL RADICAL
INNOVATION INNOVATION
Transforms the
Improves market, or creates
what exists a new market

IRLynx * Elvesys *
Advanced human « Lab on a chip » detects any
activity sensing modules virus or bacteria in a blood sample
Does the innovation in less than 10 minutes
provide a significant
improvement in
Surgivisio
performance over Surgimages* 3D imaging Rhenovia Pharma *
the state of the art? and integrated surgical Timbre transdermique intelligent
navigation technologies pour administrer des médicaments

Ergosup * Adionics * Wandercraft *

Carbon free hydrogen Desalao* project: low cost, Revolutionary
Does it improve production and storage low-energy water desalination exoskeleton for the
disabled and elderly
an organisation’s
price-performance FROV, filiale d’ACSA
Projet Fibre* Light,
ratio (investment, inexpensive, easy to deploy NawaTechnologies *
operation)? remotely operated submersible Supercapacitor integration into vehicle
structures and electrical systems

Snips * PhageX *
Predictive modeling Innovative intelligent antibiotics
Does the innovation of urban behaviour that eradicate targeted pathogenic
bacteria while leaving intestinal flora intact
solve a previously
unsolvable problem, Biométhodes * Multiposting
or, open up Biorefining of non-food agricultural and SmartSearch project*:
forest harvest residue for biofuel and database and BI applications
new possibilities? chemical compound production integration to design a recruitment
search engine

New or improved technologies Technology integration

* Round 1 winner, «Innovation 2030» Global Innovation Challenge (July 2014).

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 100

6. Social innovation

Does the project respond to poorly-satisfied, or unmet

social needs? or create novel social relationships or
collaborations?

What do we mean?
A social innovation should primarily be defined according to the
Oslo manual definition: a product/service, process/organization,
sales/marketing or business model innovation, with two extra
dimensions:

• include a social and societal mandate in its purpose:

• respond to poorly or unmet social needs, usually in • be «social» in practice, as much as in mandate.
favour of disadvantaged or vulnerable populations:  the Specifically, social innovation:
excluded or poorly-housed, migrants, the elderly, • seeks to involve its users, beneficiaries and
children, etc.; stakeholders during every stage of the project,
• address societal challenges by integrating economic, from needs identification, to solutions, to impact
social, environmental and territorial dimensions: mobility, assessment;
housing, social cohesion, energy, recycling, etc.; • seeks to share the economic value produced
• address systemic challenges by introducing with all of society, not just concerned shareholders
structural changes that involve a large number of and entrepreneurs.
stakeholders. e.g., develop a circular economy; A social innovation can be carried out by any organization,
non-profit, or member of the social economy, or by a
conventional company (corporation, Llc, etc.).

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 102

 SOCIAL Innovation
Where
is the
innovation?
INCREMENTAL RADICAL
INNOVATION INNOVATION
Transforms the
Improves market, or creates
what exists a new market

Solar Ear Microfinance

Solar battery powered, digital hearing aids
manufactured by the Brazilian deaf community

Does the innovation Voisin-Age Simplon.co

Links people with their elderly neighbours, Free training for web/mobile developers
seek to respond favors bartered exchange
to poorly met or unmet
social needs? Compte Nickel * La Tournée
Payment account Home delivery of local merchant purchases
without a means test by long-term unemployed persons

EasyLatrine Recommerce Solutions * Zbis *

Compost-producing public urinals Workforce integration programme Local Fab Lab
that are easy to manufacture locally participants recondition used electronic microfactory
mobile devices  resold by telecoms
Does it seek to address
societal challenges?
Siel Bleu * inControl (UK)
Preventative health and well-being programs Enable social assistance
using Adapted Physical Activity (APA) beneficiaries to manage
their own budget

The Food Assembly* Urban Farm Lease Sol Violette

Local, participatory, farm-to-table platform Developing urban Local currency
agriculture in Brussels to promote community
Does it address systemic
challenges?
From Waste to Wow!  Mozaïk RH Fair Trade
Fashion pieces made from Successfully recruit
Milanese designer scraps younggraduates from
diverse backgrounds
Circular
economies

* Fact sheet available on our website.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 104

In addition, to qualify a social innovation project, it is important
to ask some additional questions:

• Is the social and social mission part of the project’s mandate

(i.e., included in the company purpose statement and
part of the business plan; subordination of other, purely
economic objectives)?

• Will the economic value generated be captured by the

company, or distributed (e.g., earnings reinvestment,
profit and salary caps, intellectual property sharing, etc.)?

• Does the project involve its users, beneficiaries and

stakeholders in several of its stages, from identifying the
need to production?

• Does the project explicitly and rigorously measure its social

and societal impact?

To learn more about the various types of innovation, please refer

to the definitions and sources listed in Appendix 2.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 106

RISING TO MEET
THE CHALLENGES OF
THE FUTURE, TOGETHER
What is new about the project, and how does its innovation
set the organisation apart from its competitors?

This «benchmark» reference manual is based on these two

pivotal questions, which enable innovation supporters to broaden
their focus, and thus more easily identify innovative projects,
better understand projects that may have previously escaped their
notice, and more appropriately support today’s innovators.

However, project analysis – no matter the type of innovation – does

not stop there. Relevance is not everything: the project’s success
depends on the ability of innovators and their firms to seize
opportunities and manage risk. Any business is, first of all, a human All these issues must be addressed by every single entrepreneur,
endeavour: team quality, organization, management and investor and actor supporting innovation. They impact key success
complementarity all make a huge difference. Every innovation is factor implementation, as well as project risk analysis.
a bet on the future: entrepreneurs and innovation supporters
Public innovation support programmes have a mandate to
alike must have the ability to assess the opportunities and
encourage companies to take innovative «risks», and support
conditions for success as accurately as possible, while at the
entrepreneurs as well as they can on the path to success. By
same time be capable of identifying the unexpected, and
improving their current understanding of innovation, they can more
responding as events unfold.
fully play their part alongside entrepreneurs, private investors and
Finally, an innovation is nothing without its clients or beneficiaries, entire innovation ecosystems.
and entrepreneurs must arrange to receive their feedback –
Encouraging innovation in all its forms: that’s
or even secure their participation – as early and as often in the
innovation lifecycle as possible.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 110

Appendices
1.
Project analysis examples

Find the following project analyses

on our website: bpifrance.fr

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 114

 TYPE OF INNOVATION

PRODUCT, PROCESS, Marketing, Business

service, organisation SALES Model TECHNOLOGICAL Social
usage
Project name Description
Where artists and fans create unique
Bandsquare concert experiences together

Managerial innovation based on employee

Biscuits Poult autonomy and open innovation

BlaBlaCar Community rideshare service

The first bankless payment account,

Compte Nickel available at tobacconists

A «personal cloud» that enhances people’s digital

Cozy Cloud experience by giving them control over their own data.

A platform to evaluate and recommend mobile

DMD Santé health applications and smart devices

«From disposable to sustainable»: eco-friendly,

Ecocup customisable and reusable cups for events

Artisanal furniture integrated with high-tech

Iota Element (sound, internet, multimedia, etc.)

«Let’s get together to buy the best food available, directly from
The Food Assembly local farmers and foodmakers»

Leetchi «The perfect solution to collect money for group gifts and events»

Premium and innovative food products, original marketing

Michel et Augustin and strong customer bonds

Recommerce Return and resale solutions for used mobile phones

«Your 3D design turns into reality

Sculpteo with 3D printing»

Preventative health and well-being

Siel Bleu programs using Adapted Physical Activity (APA)

Cloud services provider reduces costs

Stimergy by monetising the heat generated by its servers

Sushi bars located inside

Sushi Daily existing hypermarkets

Ulule Crowdfunding platform

Zbis Local shared microfactory in the Vendée

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 116

2. 1. P roduct, service, usage innovation

To find out more: • Official definitions:

OECD (Oslo Manual): «the introduction of a good or service
that is new or significantly improved with respect to its
characteristics or intended uses. This includes significant
improvements in technical specifications, components and
materials, incorporated software, user friendliness or other
functional characteristics.»

• For further information:

• on product and service innovation categories:
Rowley, J., Baregheh, A., & Sambrook, S. (2011).
Towards an innovation-type mapping tool. Management
Decision, 49(1), 73-86. (available via Google Scholar)

• on product innovation processes: Industrie Canada

(2010). L’état de la conception de produits: Le
rapport canadien 2010.

• on design-driven innovation: Verganti, Roberto

(2009). Design-driven Innovation. Boston: Harvard
Business Press.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 118

2. Organisational and 3. Sales/marketing
process innovation innovation

• Official definitions: • Official definitions:

OECD (Oslo Manual): OECD (Oslo Manual): «the implementation of a new
Process: «the implementation of a new or significantly marketing method involving significant changes in
improved production or delivery method. This includes product design or packaging, product placement, product
significant changes in techniques, equipment and/or promotion or pricing.»
software.»
• For further information:
Organisation : «the implementation of a new organisational
The SCOPS awards (University Paris Dauphine -
method in the firm’s business practices, workplace organisation
Credoc) locate and reward the best business
or external relations. »
innovations on an annual basis. See also an analysis by
• For further information: Credoc: Quelles innovations commerciales au regard des
attentes des consommateurs? November 2012.
• on the distinction between «process» and «product»
innovation: Sheynkman, K. (2011). Process vs. product. • the annual Dupont Packaging Awards;
Passionate Intensity (blog), http://blog.thansys.com/
• a reference manual: Meyronin, B. & Munos, A. (2012).
innovation-process-vs-product/
Manager l’innovation par le service. Paris: PUG.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 120

4. Business model innovation 5. Technological innovation

No official definition of business model innovation exists. The • French government list of priorities regarding technological
«Business Model Canvas» is the tool most widely used to describe innovation
the components of a business model:
• the 34 roadmaps for The New Industrial France
• the website of the concept’s founder, Alexander Osterwalder : www.economie.gouv.fr/nouvelle-france-industrielle
www.businessmodelgeneration.com
• the 7 strategic ambitions of France’s Innovation 2030
• For further information: Commission:
www.innovation-2030.entreprises.gouv.fr
• Amit, R., Zott, C., & Pearson, A. (2012). Creating value
through business model innovation. MIT Sloan • For further information:
Management Review, 53.
• Callahan, J. (2008). Patterns of Technological Innovation.
• Christensen, C. (2013). The innovator’s dilemma: when
new technologies cause great firms to fail. Boston:
Harvard Business Review Press.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 122

6. Social innovation 1. Through their activities, the enterprise aims to
provide support to people in situations of fragility either
due to economic or social status, or due to personal
• Official definitions: circumstances, and specifically their health or need
for social or medical support. These people may be
• European Commission: «Social innovations are employees, users, customers, members or beneficiaries
new ideas (products, services and models) that of this enterprise.
simultaneously meet social needs (more effectively
than alternatives) and create new social relationships 2. The enterprise aims to fight against social
or collaborations.» The EU definition adds that «these exclusion and health, social, economic and cultural
solutions are both social in their ends and in their inequalities, and for civil education, including the
means.»  public education system, and the preservation and
development of social ties or of the maintenance and
• Conseil Supérieur de l’Économie Sociale et strengthening of territorial cohesion.
Solidaire (the Higher Council for the Social and
Solidarity Economy, CSESS) : «Social innovation 3. The enterprise contributes to sustainable
consists of developing new answers to emerging or development in economic, social, environmental and
poorly met social needs by the current market and participatory dimensions, to energy resource transition
social policies, involving the participation and and to international solidarity, provided that their
cooperation of stakeholders, including users. These activity is equally related to one of the objectives
innovations relate to both product or service, as well referred to in the first 2 points.
as modes of organization or distribution, in areas such
as aging, child care, housing, health, the fight against
poverty, exclusion and discrimination. […]» ;

• France’s Loi du 31 juillet 2014 (law passed 31/07/2014)

relative to the social economy: «Companies whose
corporate purpose is concerned primarily with at least
one of the following three conditions are considered as
pursuing a social utility within the meaning of this act»:

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 124

• For further information:
• The European Commission’s Social Innovation Guide
(2013);

• The European Social Innovation competition:

www.socialinnovationcompetition.eu

• Phills, J. A., Deiglmeier, K., & Miller, D. T. (2008).

Rediscovering social innovation. Stanford Social
Innovation Review, 6(4), 34-43.

• A good article from the American point of view, which

provides a definition of social innovation as «a new
solution to a social problem, which is more effective,
efficient, durable, and more just than existing solutions
and whose value creation is intended for society as a
whole rather than individuals in particular.»

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 126

3. Official publications
Oslo manual: Guidelines for collecting and interpreting innovation

References and data. (No. 4.) Statistical Office of the European Communities,
Publications de l’OCDE (2005).

practical information Guide to Social Innovation. European Commission (2013).

Public sector reports

«Innovation Union Scoreboard 2014.» European Commission
(2014).

Beylat, J-L & Tambourin, P. (2013). L’innovation, un enjeu majeur

pour la France. Ministères du Redressement productif et de la
Recherche, La Documentation Française.

Un principe et sept ambitions pour l’innovation. The Commission

for Innovation, presided over by Anne Lauvergeon, La Documentation
Française (2013).

Morand. P. & Manceau, D. (2009). Pour une nouvelle vision de

l’innovation. La Documentation Française.

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 128

For reference
Christensen, C. (2013). The innovator’s dilemma: when new
technologies cause great firms to fail. Boston: Harvard Business
Review Press.

Christensen, C., & Raynor, M. (2013). The innovator’s solution:

Creating and sustaining successful growth. Boston: Harvard Bu-
siness Review Press.

Kim, W. C., & Mauborgne, R. (2005). Blue ocean strategy: How

to create uncontested market space and make competition
irrelevant. Boston: Harvard Business Press.

Von Hippel, E. (2009). Democratizing innovation: the evolving

phenomenon of user innovation. International Journal of Innovation
Science, 1(1), 29-40.

Murray, R., Caulier-Grice, J., & Mulgan, G. (2010). The open book
of social innovation. National Endowment for Science, Technology
and the Art.

Essential browsing
Bpifrance : www.bpifrance.fr

FING : www.fing.org

Innovation Union, the European Commission website dedicated

to innovation:
www.ec.europa.eu/research/innovation-union/index_en.cfm

The ‘Innovation’ tab on the Ministry of Productive Recovery website

(French): www.redressement-productif.gouv.fr/innovation

French innovation clusters: www.competitivite.gouv.fr

NEXT GENERATION INNOVATION Bpifrance 130

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