Innov8rs Zurich

Some four years ago, Amadeus – one of the top 10 software companies and a key IT provider for the global travel and tourism industry – set up Nexwave, a business Incubator. Nexwave should discover and create next-generation of growth businesses for its target industry and the ecosystem. Initial successes demonstrated that Nexwave’s approach was working.

However, Nexwave’s Incubation Office (NIO) – headed by Steve Kopp – found that there was room for improvement: A more systematic approach to business building, more entrepreneurship, more clarity on leaps-of-faith, more effective progress management and more corporate context were top-priority items. While doing research on Best Practices in business building, Steve came across Frank Mattes and the Lean Scaleup. In this talk, Steve and Frank outline the cornerstones of the Lean Scaleup and how NIO implemented this Best Practice framework.

Steve is a visionary, result-oriented senior leader with 25 years of experience in designing and building new digital solutions and businesses. At Amadeus, Steve heads the Nexwave Business Incubation Office, responsible for strategy, portfolio management, business-building methodology, marketing communications and operations. In addition, Steve is the Chairman of the Amadeus Executive Incubation Board, the governance committee overseeing the incubation portfolio, and of the Travel Innovation Club, a travel industry-wide association of corporate players collaborating to improve the overall traveler end-to-end experience. Prior to joining Amadeus, Steve held various design and innovation related roles at SAP and Business Objects.