In 2019 Amadeus, a leading tech company in travel, started its journey into corporate venturing. Who would have thought that only a year later, a global pandemic would shake the world?

In this presentation, Marion Mesnage will share her experience leading Nexwave, the Amadeus Business Incubator. Four years after its creation, Marion reflects on her attempt to turn a crisis into an opportunity, and will share lessons learnt – the hard way - incubating innovative businesses in a large corporation.

Marion Mesnage leads Nexwave, Amadeus' business incubator, whose mission is to identify, incubate and grow the next generation of Amadeus businesses with the potential to transform travel experience and fuel the company long term growth.

Nexwave counts on + 150 employees across multiple locations and with diverse profiles – including intrapreneurs, business developers, UX, software engineers, digital marketers and innovation experts.

Marion is based in Nice, and she reports to the Corporate Strategy Senior Vice President. She joined Amadeus in 2011 in the strategy team and moved in 2013 to become chief of staff for the Amadeus Research & Development unit. In 2017, she took the lead of the global Amadeus Innovation, Research & Ecosystems division, which she shaped into what Nexwave is today.

Prior to Amadeus, she spent 10 years managing research & innovation projects in Accenture Technology Labs. She graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique. A technical background with a good business acumen, her pragmatic approach combined with a forward-looking mind, and her collaborative mindset enable her to engage people into co-creating great businesses and driving change for the travel industry.