Fusing Ideas For Innovation

With increasing talk on the promotion of innovation and innovative practices two companies that The Independent spoke to, showed how that can be done.

Unilever Foundry, a company whose business is about creating opportunities for start-ups and innovators to engage, collaborate and explore business ideas is teaming with Padang & Co; a business unit that prides itself on providing private, public and people sector partners the space to adopt a range of open innovation practices to solve problems to develop new opportunities.

Both companies today launched Level 3, today launched LEVEL3, a co-working and collaborative programme that pushes the boundaries of collaboration and corporate innovation.

By redefining the traditional concept of workspaces, LEVEL3 brings together Unilever, start-ups, and entrepreneurs to encourage innovation and create new partnerships that promises to deliver real and meaningful business impact.

LEVEL3 stems from our mission to make sustainable living commonplace. It offers our business a direct connection with disruptive technologies and changemakers to shape the way we work — ultimately impacting people’s lives,” said Pier Luigi Sigismondi, President, South East Asia and Australasia. “LEVEL3 is the springboard for startups to scale and build successful businesses.”

Within the Unilever regional headquarters in Singapore, the 22,000-sqft workspace provides proximity to Unilever brands and functions and access to existing Unilever Foundry programmes. In a boost to its credentials some 15 international and local start-ups have already established themselves at LEVEL 3 including Adludio, ConnectedLife, Datacraft, EcoHub, GetCRAFT, Next Billion, Olapic, Snapcart, TaskSpotting and Try and Review.

“The set-up of LEVEL3 in Singapore – a global first for Unilever – is a strong testament to the growing vibrancy of Singapore’s startup ecosystem,” said Dr Beh Swan Gin, Chairman, Singapore Economic Development Board. “LEVEL3 represents an emerging corporate innovation model that is aligned with EDB’s efforts to encourage collaborations between multinational companies and other enterprises such as startups.”