Historically, companies want to own. And so build and buy decisions dominate. Making partnering decisions with - and especially start-ups is less well understood. How do companies approach the Build vs. Buy vs. Partner trade-off? How to deal with political factors that influence the decision-making process? Hear first-hand from Danilo Raponi (Group Head of Innovation, Generali) and Susana Jurado (Head of Telefónica Open Innovation Campus at Telefonica) as they share personal experiences, and bring your own approach and open questions as well.

Danilo is the Group Head of Innovation at Generali, where he is responsible for driving and scaling innovation throughout the Group, as well as leading the investment and management of Generali’s Innovation Fund. Danilo joined Generali from Munich Re, where he held a number of innovation-related roles, including the Lead of Munich Re’s Global Innovation Framework project. Danilo was also a co-founder of one of Munich Re’s largest innovation initiatives: SaveUp/garden, a behaviour-based personal finance app that aimed to redefine insurance companies’ offering of investment and savings products to young customers. As Senior Manager at Capital Partners, he formulated a comprehensive response to Covid19 challenges. Danilo has extensive experience in both Life and Non-Life (Re)Insurance, having held a number of roles in Swiss Re, Hannover Re, and Ernst & Young over more than 12 years, in addition to advisory roles in several Fintech start-ups. He has taught at the University of Zurich and at the University of Frankfurt, and has also worked as a consultant in the innovation/Insurtech space as well as having entrepreneurial experience. Danilo holds a MSc summa cum laude from Luiss University in Rome, a PhD from the University of Cambridge and an MBA from the Bocconi School of Management. Susana Jurado is Head of Open Innovation with Academia at Telefónica, fostering collaboration models that allow to generate impactful innovation together with the academic world, as well as providing a way to address new challenges and opportunities we identify in the company. Previously, until March 2020 and during more than seven years, she was Head of Innovation Portfolio at Core Innovation also at Telefónica, her role there was running and evolving the innovation model, carrying out the internal ventures portfolio analysis and running the intrapreneurship program.