The Big Score: what are Bridgestone and Orange looking for at Belgium’s corporate sourcing and VC event?

How do you innovate when your core-business is tyres? And with what application for their new mobile network can you surprise one of the largest telecom providers? To find out, we spoke with the innovation czars of both tyre manufacturer Bridgestone and mobile operator Orange Belgium. Both will present key operational challenges to tech startups at The Big Score with one clear goal: score tech solutions. 

Connecting VCs and corporates with B2B startups

The name says it all. The Big Score is an event organised by Scale-Ups.eu, where B2B tech startups can score big in funding or corporate deals. Its track record of attending international ‘deep pocket’ VCs and big corporations boosts deals for the most convincing and impactful early-stage startups and rocket growth scale-ups. 

The 2019 edition brought together over 400 international VCs, corporates and founders from 75 VC selected, pitching scale-ups from all Europe. This resulted in confirmed deals originating at one of the 1400 one-on-one meetings organized. In addition, on the entire first day of this years’ edition, The Big Score presents 35 pressing corporate challenges. Two of the corporates eagerly joining are Bridgestone and Orange Belgium.

Innovation of ‘the black doughnut’

Bridgestone is one of the largest tyre brands with about thirty billion USD in sales. It might not sound like the most cutting edge industry at first, but Johan Van Langendonck, Head of Market Intelligence & Strategic Initiatives, begs to differ. “Sure, a tyre is a black doughnut, and it’s been like that for over a hundred years. Most of our revenue comes from selling tyres, and it will stay that way for the foreseeable future.” So instead of reinventing the wheel, Bridgestone is trying to innovate in the space of mobility which is closely related to its core business. 

According to Van Langendonck, some significant trends in mobility involve IoT, for instance for fleet monitoring, and AI, to enable predictive maintenance on their tyres among other things. The company is also looking for ways to better predict the demand for car tyres, to optimise manufacturing. One of the biggest challenges Bridgestone is currently facing is to marry its new digital solutions with its physical retail network for an enhanced customer experience.

The Future of Mobility: ‘convenience as a differentiator’

If COVID-19 proved anything, says Van Langendonck, it is that customers want to do business online. “Around 10 per cent of aftermarket tyres are sold online. But 70 to 80 per cent of customers conduct research for a new purchase online. COVID only reinforced this. That’s where we need to create a positive experience.”

“Vehicle maintenance is often considered a necessary evil. So how can we flip that and turn it into a delight? By knowing when maintenance is necessary before something breaks? And by letting customers order a repair at their location, with just the click of a button? Tyres are a commodity right now. By offering next-level convenience, we wish to stand out from the crowd again.” To do so, they previously connected with an AI-startup to launch the My Speedy, that predicted tyre and vehicle maintenance. Van Langendonck: “We’re not the biggest risk-takers, so it is good to challenge ourselves this way and be more progressive.”

Bruno Vandegehuchte, organizer of The Big Score & Head of Investor Relationships at Scale-Ups.eu applauds Bridgestone’s participation: “In the recent investor survey conducted by Deloitte and Scale-Ups.eu we concluded that for instance, new mobility challenges offer huge opportunities for scale-ups. Thanks to The Big Score’s partners Deloitte and Voka we scouted plenty of new challenges, often linked to remote monitoring or customer & employee interaction, more pressing than ever due to the COVID-crisis. By disclosing their challenge, Bridgestone is already tapping into the future of mobility of both goods and people. Most definitely creating a competitive advantage in time.” 

Orange Belgium is all about 5G

Carriers of broadband connections mostly notice this acceleration in the shift to online and changing mobility of people. Michaël Peeters, Director Innovation and Business Development for Orange Belgium, sees a whole range of trends and innovations that will likely emerge soon. Working from home is going to be of lasting importance. And making sure factories can do remote maintenance, doctors can see patients without the need for visits. All of these developments hinge on the roll-out of a fast and reliable network. So Orange Belgium is eager to boost a new generation of 5G solutions and ideas for Industry 4.0. 

“We started with our 5G project a year and a half ago”, says Peeters. “We believe 5G will initially be important mostly for the industry, and that’s the area we focus on. So that companies  can finally realise a fully digitized ‘industry 4.0 in which robots, vehicles and people work seamlessly together.” To do so, Peeters sees a future with AR glasses and cloud and edge-computing in a digital factory of the future, only made possible by ample bandwidth and low latency on a reliable network that’s available everywhere.

‘5G is a code for the startup community’

For The Big Score, Peeters will specifically call out innovators on 5G network technologies: “Our call to the startup community is focused on innovations that support different 5G use cases. We want to assess and evaluate those innovations that make use of devices, platforms and applications. Partnering with innovators is important for Orange because the main challenge with 5G is that everything is still at a very early stage of maturity. Chipsets and software are not yet largely available on the new technology. That offers many opportunities for innovators on the new 5G technology that are ready to scale-up together with Orange.” 

Bridgestone will also challenge startups at The Big Score with a problem the company itself can’t easily find a solution for, says Langendonck: “We want to know how we can build a bridge between our digital mobility solutions and the analogue, physical world of repair shops. It is a relatively traditional business; many of these shops are not very far in the process of digitisation.” 

Bridgestone is looking for a solution to bridge the gap between tech-savvy consumers and offline garages, to bring the coveted convenience to life. And they are willing to move fast, says Van Langendonck. “If we spot a startup at The Big Score that can do that for us, we want to move quickly to a pilot or proof of concept.” 

Funding or Sales? Don’t miss The Big Score in December 

Startups looking to score big and connect with some of the worlds largest companies should look no further. The Big Score takes place on 1st, 2nd and 3rd of December. On December 1st, 35 corporates live-stream pressing challenges towards startups. On December 2nd and 3rd, 50 VC selected scale-ups live-stream their pitch towards growth stage VCs & corporate sourcing profiles.