Nearly all big corporations glance with envy at the speed, agility and rebelliousness of startups where possibilities are endless and ambitions to change the world feel like a very real opportunity. Meanwhile, startups look at corporate giants and wish they had their global footprint, financial strength, brand credibility and long-standing customer relationships. So how can we bring out the best of both worlds and avoid it becoming an exercise of mixing oil with water?
Björn talked about Husqvarna Group’s approach, finding complementary capabilities and having key people who can bridge across the two cultures to drive truly differentiating innovation.
Björn Axling leads Husqvarna Group’s forward-leaning innovation activities aiming to build new business opportunities outside its current core business. Exploring adjacent or new industry verticals, new business models, new types of partnerships and working in a highly accelerated and agile mode.
Björn leads Husqvarna Group’s efforts in engaging with startups and in the leading innovation clusters around the world and is a convinced advocate of open innovation and cross-fertilizing capabilities and ideas to bring out the best from the involved partners.
He has a background from co-founding a nano-tech startup in the semiconducting industry, working as a management consultant specialized in innovation management and business development as well as leading innovation teams in senior industry positions. He has a double MSc from Chalmers University of Technology and, as a passionate believer in life-long learning, has continued to study at leading institutions like Stanford, Berkeley, London Business School and MIT.
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