For this year’s Pioneers Programme we are happy to announce three winning teams, whose ideas are:
LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) as a Service
Workwear for Women
Smart Safety Helmet & PPE (Personal Protective Equipment)
We are proud that these project ideas will receive extra funding to embark on an exciting three-month acceleration phase to test their prototypes on with selected customers.
The Pioneers Programme is at the core of Lyreco's global innovation strategy and harnesses the boundless creativity of its 12,000 employees. This intrapreneurship programme serves also as a platform for colleagues to showcase their passion and imagination, placing them at the forefront of innovation within the company.
The Demo Day is the culmination of the Pioneers initiative. This year, the six selected teams (out of 250 submissions) presented their insights and final prototypes, which they prepared during a four-month journey accompanied by online courses, user research and individual coaching. Each team had maximum six minutes to pitch to a jury panel and eight Lyreco managing directors who selected the winning projects - quite a challenge regarding the large amount of research each team has conducted. These victorious teams get the opportunity to accelerate their first projects prototypes into functional MVPs (Minimum Viable Product) to be launched for our customers in the coming months.
Congratulations to the winning teams!
The Winners
The challenges for the 2023 edition of the Lyreco Pioneers Programme were:
1. "What new products or services could we create that can accelerate the safety sector?" and
2. "What new ways of creating revenue can you imagine that does not depend on selling products?"
The winners of the Lyreco Pioneers Programme presented three ground-breaking projects that correspond to one of the challenges:
First up is LCA as a Service, a game-changer for suppliers seeking to calculate their products' climate impact by Life Cycle Assessment, often held back by high costs. With the demand for CO2 emissions data on the rise, this service provides expert support and streamlined data calculation in a more cost-efficient solution, enabling Lyreco to expand its Sustainable Selection and guide customers towards more environmentally friendly choices. LCA as a Service is a project idea developed by Johanna Jigmo-Linde and Ellen Söderlund (from Sweden) and Camilla Rasmussen (from Denmark).
Workwear for Women is a pioneering initiative that aims to educate and raise awareness about properly fitted workwear and equipment for women in the workplace. By emphasizing the importance of correct PPE, this project not only enhances safety but also positions Lyreco as a brand that can lead the way in removing gender bias in workwear. This winning project was presented by Deborah Berglund (from Sweden) and Martyna Kujawska (from the UK).
Lastly, the Smart Safety Helmet & PPE utilizes IoT (Internet of Things) technology to digitize risks by connecting work equipment, such as safety helmets, to a monitoring platform. The goal is to enhance safety measures through the collection of data; such as position, height, temperature inclination, hours of equipment usage, and more. The aggregation and assessment of this crucial data enables a timely response in an event of risk or accident. Overall, technology has the potential to minimize the number of accidents happening in various workplaces today. This winning project was presented by Josep M. Corbella (from Spain).
These winning projects exemplify Lyreco's commitment to innovation and its dedication to providing cutting-edge solutions for a safer and sustainable future.
All Teams did an Excellent Job
Although not every team will proceed to the next phase, all our Lyreco Pioneers presented project ideas with potential and showcased their in-depth knowledge. Yang Yang flew in all the way from South Korea to present his project, Virtual W&W (Wellness & Welfare) Simulation Tool. Michael Mattern, from Germany presented his workplace meeting space project called Space+++, and from France, Patrick Mounier, Mathieu Lison and Guillaume Prevost presented their project, DigitalizePro.
The Pioneers Programme fosters engagement and a new mindset
The Pioneers Programme aims to foster a new mindset and problem-solving approach within the company. The idea is to start from a clear customer-focused problem perspective and identify the pain points, before developing a first prototype. From prototype we can then move towards a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) before developing a full solution in order to align step by step the product concept with the most urgent customers' needs.
In just four months, the participating teams embarked on a journey from their own general idea to customer-focused validation, conducted thorough research, such as online surveys and customer interviews, and leveraging Lyreco's extensive network of clients and suppliers.
All participating teams exhibited remarkable engagement and creativity while validating their problems and developing initial prototypes. They were challenged to pivot their ideas multiple times and brought their deep knowledge and insights together in a short pitch. Some teams worked across countries and learned about the different markets and cultural contexts. It was like an exhilarating rollercoaster ride that provided candidates with new skills and abundant opportunities for personal and professional growth.
“At Lyreco, we empower all our employees to get involved, and the Lyreco Pioneers Programme provides a great opportunity where employees can contribute hands-on, to be innovative and create real solutions for our customers." Maxime Chabaud, Group Strategy Director.
Stay tuned for more updates on our exciting innovation initiatives!