If one runs a Google search for the word “innovation”, the world’s number one search engine — and portable operating system provider, and email services provider, and video streaming platform provider, etc — will list more than 4.1 billion results in a fraction of a second — 0.6 sec to be precise. Astounding result for a passion project that started from a garage a bit more than two decades ago.

Since then, the online world has reshaped how we think about our lives and businesses alike. Innovation — or (the use of) a new idea or method, according to the Cambridge Dictionary — has come a long way since the wheel was invented, or the first Ford Model T hit the streets rolling rather loud and slow.

Fast forward to today; innovation appears to be both an end result and also a practice. “As a practice, innovation to me is about understanding ourselves as living systems in constant cycles of creation and closure whereby we see the closing of a phase as feeding into a new one. We make our organisations and businesses more resilient if innovation is an embedded and ongoing practice. There are techniques and methodologies with which organisations can ensure a continuous cycle of innovation,” Tatiana Glad, founder and director of Impact Hub Amsterdam, tells Business Malta.

Kicking off at 08:30 in the morning of 10 October, the Co-Design Session will be organised by the ENISIE Project which is funded by INTERREG Italia – Malta Programme, as part of the Malta Innovation Summit 2019.

Innovation can be driven by “creating both safe and provocative spaces for people to think out-of-the-box […]”

For innovation and design, out-of-the-box thinking has increasingly become a skill of importance, even if the notion is becoming commonplace for some. Still, how can innovation be driven? “By creating both safe and provocative spaces for people to think out-of-the-box and experiment with putting new ideas into practice,” according to Ms Glad. “As well as honest conversations about failure! External facilitators can help keep the innovation workshops neutral and unbiased in order to maximise the contribution of the diverse contributors,” she adds.

It is a commonly accepted fact that great ideas are rarely sparked in a vacuum. Dialogue and open discussions can lead to the inception of intriguing brain pickings and provide the social network for collaborations developing a bold concept into reality. “My team is currently focussing on spurring innovation in specific societal issue areas and working with diverse stakeholders in an ecosystem approach. Just as the expression says ‘it takes a village to raise a child,’ we believe it takes an ecosystem to raise an innovative idea or startup. We do this in the areas of food, inclusion, circularity and plastics, as well as city-wide with the city of Amsterdam,” Ms Glad tells BM.

Impact Hub Amsterdam, as part of the global Impact Hub network of impact entrepreneurs and innovators with more than 16,000 members in over 100 cities around the world, invests great effort in making change happen. The hub says it facilitates entrepreneurial solutions to society’s biggest challenges, supported by access to its network and business expertise. Additionally, the hub can provide resources and capital in need, organises events, hosts a collaborative working space, and runs a series of accelerator programs. 

Driving innovation

Lately, Malta has been positioning itself as a real innovator on the brink of the European continent. Since 2007, the country has become one of the leaders in terms of regulating and supporting online gambling development, and more recently, with enhanced focus on blockchain and distributed ledger technologies, crypto, artificial intelligence, digital games and eSports, as well as progress related to medical cannabis, the island nation is making efforts in the field of state-of-the-art innovation. “There is real on-the-ground commitment such as The Malta Innovation Hub at the Malta Life Sciences Park as a provider of support services to stimulate social innovation among Maltese stakeholders,” Ms Glad says about Malta’s role in innovation.

Despite the 21st century delivering such a fertile ground for innovation, projects will bump into difficulties down the road. One of the most important challenges, Ms Glad says, is how to translate a bigger vision for positive change to the society into a product or service that meets real needs. Then the next challenge is to “access the capital it requires at various stages of its growth trajectory without compromising on its values. From the innovation point of view, established enterprises and public services need to be open for innovation from outside sources. Innovative SME are more agile to develop innovative products, processes and services and a pilot contract for such innovation within the established organisations can have a real impact,” she says.

No matter how good an idea is, however, if it finds no surrounding support it might not blossom into a working project. “The lack of support or space for experimentation, coupled with an impatient demand for results or return” can undermine innovation easily, Ms Glad says. “It is important to have support for innovation within an organisation through regular innovation workshops. Participation in innovation workshops needs to include staff, shareholders, customers and community representatives to ensure a successful, positive social impact. Innovation sometimes needs time to follow its natural path and allow something surprising to emerge,” she adds.

Nevertheless, Ms Glad has a strong message to all the startups that are caught up in the storm of pressure by high expectations and myriad of chores to be handled to make their project operate and deliver added value at the same time. One should “not be afraid to collaborate with others whether they be peers that help you learn faster together or partners who can bring valuable know-how and resources to the table. Don’t go at it alone,” Ms Glad concludes.

The post Innovation as ongoing practice can support resilience in businesses first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

Best-selling author and successful entrepreneur, Mr Ankersen has been the Chairman of FC Midtjylland — his childhood football club in Denmark — and director of the English club Brentford FC. His entrepreneur career allowed him to incorporate two fundamental life elements: work and passion.

Yet, how do business and football come together? “I believe that both worlds can learn a lot from each other. Running two football clubs today I take a lot of inspiration from best practices in the business life, especially in the way I think about business models and KPI [key performance indicator] systems,” Mr Ankersen says.

“At the same time, I believe business can learn a lot from sports, especially in terms of how athletes have to innovate to stay ahead of the game.”

Rasmus Ankersen, Brentford FC Co-Director of Football

Working with two clubs in two different countries, Mr Ankersen has to deal with cultural differences, especially in a sport such as a football, where connections between people are significant. Different countries have different approaches to playing sports, which is very visible when we see the national teams competing against each other during international events.

“I think there are some great cultural differences which you need to take into account when leading people. In the United Kingdom, there is a lot more respect for hierarchy than in Denmark for example,” the professional says. “But overall, I would say that the mechanics of running a football club are not too different. It is pretty much the same strategic challenges that both clubs face,” he says as he recounts his own experiences.

Tech bets its boots

Mr Ankersen appears to be highly enthusiastic about the possibility to improve the gameplay of football through technology.

In recent years, football has changed. What used to be more about passion, nowadays is often accompanied by figures and more and more by statistics. It is fundamental, therefore, to analyse a football club in different ways, and not just to talk about the ability of the players and the managers. Through the use of analyses, one can give a more objective idea of what the game is and how we should deal with it in this modern era.

“Football is a very emotional industry, and unfortunately, too many important decisions are still based on emotions rather than rational thinking. Analytics is a way of trying to take the emotions out of a decision, and if used correctly, I think it can make a huge difference to the quality of the decisions you make in a football club,” Mr Ankersen says.

His innovative vision of football is rooted in the inclusion of big data and is heartfelt across all his operations. He says big data analysis helps him to cut through all the evocative narratives created by media and fans. Since everyone has an opinion about how players play and how coaches manage — or should do so —, Mr Ankersen clarifies that analytics and hard facts can provide a much more objective answer, hence improving the decision making.

Celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, Business Leaders Malta is organising the Breakthrough – From Good to Great conference by Business Leaders Malta on 14 June at Teatru Manoel, Valletta. If you want to hear what Mr Ankersen has to share, come and see him in action at the event.

Business Leaders Malta started life as an alliance between three diverse companies in 2009 — Mdina International, Jugs Malta and Konnekt, fusing capabilities, experience, professionalism and creativity to pursue their original goal of creating a forum where thought leaders and professionals could come together to share knowledge and ideas.

The post Tech kicks off in football for better scoring first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

“In my opinion, it all boils down to one word: results. Does coaching work? Yes, it does. How do we know? We see, and critically, we can measure the results using science-based tools,” Ms Martin tells BM. “As I see it, the bottom line is that coaching has produced and continues to produce significant results, without which companies would simply be unwilling to invest. Without evidence to support their investment, companies would look elsewhere for their desired results,” she adds.

Coaching — as an industry — is growing fast. Advocates say the activity can be a powerful resource and vehicle for growth, development and change for individuals, as well as businesses. As life is speeding up, leading to a hastier business world than ever, Ms Martin sees coaching as an “invaluable support” rather than a “crutch”. In her own words, “essentially, coaching is like consulting your inner compass and using the knowledge you find there to align cognition, emotion and behaviour.”

Nevertheless, coaching is not an instant cure; the client’s involvement is crucial. Additionally, the relationship between the coach and the coachee, the time invested in coaching and related activities, as well as belief in the process, are key elements for success. Ms Martin says that both the parties of the coaching process should share what she tags as “strong rapport” as a solid foundation. Also, in today’s culture of always being busy, coaching should be scheduled for slots of undivided attention, which often means prioritising well. What she pinpoints as the factor of “buying-in” basically means the coachee’s commitment and ownership of the process; as having a coach is not a stigma nor would be the sign of weakness. With these building blocks in place, coaching is likely to bear tangible fruit.

Ranging benefits

Given that all the aforementioned factors are established, benefits are expected on a wide spectrum, according to Ms Martin. “From a leadership perspective, coaching goals range greatly, often encompassing a focus such as improving communication, productivity and professional relationships, identifying and leveraging strengths, improving cognition and moving from reactivity to proactivity in challenging situations — to name but a few. Crucially, the benefit which produces long-term change and further development is heightened self-awareness — the point from which sustained change can flow,” the professional says.

“Sometimes people have a result in mind but are not sure how to get there, how to propel themselves forward. Coaching assists them in sifting through their options to find their own golden ticket,” says Ms Martin.

“Coaching helps bring them to their psychological and behavioural tipping point, cut off all other possibilities, find the best route forward, and enable them to make their goals become a reality,” she adds.

At the same time, in order to boost operations of a business, leaders must have an understanding of where they are. “Before embarking on any journey, knowing your starting point is central to calculating the voyage. Assessing the present reality — leaks, current fuel, strengths and weaknesses — help us better establish what is needed to get us to our desired finish line,” Ms Martin describes. Although the destination might not always be clear, establishing a desired outcome is as necessary as establishing the starting point.

“Start and end point clear? Now let’s decipher the best route to get there — assessing potential risks, obstacles, challenges and mishaps. Self-awareness is the starting point of any great journey of personal or professional change,” Ms Martin says.

Facing challenges

The quickly-changing business world brings grave challenges to leaders, who need to be at the top of their game. As Ms Martin talks about it, this really is the survival of the fittest, with coaching serving as a mental, emotional and cognitive workout to maximise “fitness” for modern leadership challenges.

“Social, political, geographical, economic challenges; it is certainly not an exaggeration that the current pace of change across various spheres is phenomenal, bringing with it a great opportunity and of course, a great challenge for individuals, leaders and organisations alike,” Ms Martin says. Therefore, the most important challenges leaders need to face today include engagement, redefining leadership and communication.

Celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, Business Leaders Malta is organising the Breakthrough – From Good to Great conference by Business Leaders Malta on 14 June at Teatru Manoel, Valletta. If you want to hear what Ms Martin has to share, come and see her in action at the event.

Business Leaders Malta started life as an alliance between three diverse companies in 2009 — Mdina International, Jugs Malta and Konnekt, fusing capabilities, experience, professionalism and creativity to pursue their original goal of creating a forum where thought leaders and professionals could come together to share knowledge and ideas

The post Coaching could aid leaders toward business growth first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

“With this event, we want to bring together high potential start-ups and scale-ups in our Malta office in an informal setting to share our knowledge, our expertise and our network to boost your business,” the agency says on the official website of the event. “In three rounds, you get a chance to ‘speed date’ highly-qualified Anchovy experts from various disciplines and specialities on topics of your interest and ask questions relevant to your business,” the event description adds.

After the speed dating session, participating businesses will have the opportunity to network with fellow founders within the start-up community.

For further information see the official website of the event.

The post Anchovy to hold ‘speed dating’ event in Malta first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

In the European Union, slightly more than half (51%) of the enterprises with ten or more employees reported about innovation activities during the period 2014-2016, just a bit more than in the preceding period of 2012-2014 (49%), the press statement by the Eurostat says.

During the period of 2014-2016, the highest proportion of enterprises with innovation activity were recorded in Belgium (68%), Portugal (67%), Finland (65%), Luxembourg (64%) and Germany (64%). The low-performers included Hungary (29%), Bulgaria (27%), Poland (22%) and Romania (10%).

The Community Innovation Survey 2016, published by the Eurostat in March 2018, contains a broad set of indicators on innovation activities of enterprises.

Businesses spend €192.8m on innovation in 2016

In 2016, technological innovation expenditure reached an estimated €192.8m, according to data published by the Maltese National Statistics Office (NSO) at the end of September 2018.

Some 66.6% (€128.4m) of this was spent on acquiring machinery and equipment, which was followed by 16.8% (€32.4m) being spent on intramural research and development.

Between 2014 and 2016, some 27.1% (511) of the total enterprises employing a staff of at least ten engaged in innovation activities, NSO figures reveal.

“Results show that 85 enterprises were engaged solely in technological innovation, 148 enterprises were engaged in non-technological innovation and the remaining 278 were involved in both technological and non-technological innovation,” the NSO says in its release published in September.

NSO also found that 9% of all technologically innovative enterprises believe that cooperation agreements with suppliers of equipment, materials, components or software are highly crucial in boosting innovation.

“Low demand for innovations in the market and no need to innovate due to previous innovations were the two main obstacles which hindered non-innovative enterprises from engaging in innovative activities,” the NSO says in its earlier report.

The post Maltese businesses underperform EU average in innovation in 2016 first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

While the year 2016 saw the average number of new firms registered standing at 22.2 per day, slightly rising to 22.7 per day in 2017, last year saw a hike to 25.3 on average a day, according to a report by the Malta Chamber. Some 99% of these registrations in 2018 were private limited liability companies, the Malta Chamber says in a post that originally appeared in the Malta Business Observer.

A dropping number of dissolutions also supported the rising figure. In 2018, the number of dissolved firms was 1,232, down from 1,603 in 2016.

Figures by the registrar show that 23,405 foreign or partly-foreign owned firms — with at least one non-Maltese shareholder — are quickly closing the gap, nearing 26,762 Maltese-owned enterprises.

“Maltese business legislation and the regulatory environment are among the most proactive and business-friendly ones in Europe,” says David Xuereb, Deputy President of Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry Deputy President. Mr Xuereb says he believes the local legislative framework provides a “safe and competitive” corporate environment, which is vital for boosting the number of successful applications.

Provided that all the requirements set by the Company Act are satisfied, a company can be established in the archipelago within two or three days by applying to the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) and RoC Malta, the Malta Chamber explains.

“The process is also inexpensive; a minimum share capital for private limited liability companies of €1,165 is decreed, of which only 20% has to be paid up front. This can be denominated in any currency, and there are no exchange control restrictions, thus encouraging the use of Maltese corporate vehicles for businesses trading internationally,” the press statement issued by the Malta Chamber says.

Mr Xuereb notes that the corporate environment in Malta is highly similar to Europe in general, which makes the island an attractive spot for companies planning to set up operations in here. He believes this also encourages the international corporate sector.

“We might see emerging segments in the economy attracting new investments and companies to Malta, especially in the fields of fintech, blockchain and distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) and, eventually, artificial intelligence,” Mr Xuereb says. “The motivation and energy seem to be coming from the services industry at this moment,” he adds.

Mr Xuereb notes that the regulatory framework, as well as institutions, should further be strengthened for ensuring sustainable growth in here, adding that the Malta Chamber has a vital role in such progress.

The post Maltese-registered company numbers grow by the day first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.