Open Innovation

Open innovation is a model that combines an organization's internal research and development capabilities with external knowledge, technologies, and ideas. 

Instead of innovating solely with their own resources, companies collaborate with startups, universities, research centers, entrepreneurs, and other players in the innovation ecosystem to identify opportunities, validate new solutions, and accelerate their entry into the market.  

The difference compared to traditional models is simple: it is no longer a matter of developing everything within the same organization, but of connecting complementary capabilities. 

Large companies bring industry knowledge, infrastructure, operational experience and market access. Startups contribute agility, technological specialization, flexibility, and new ways to solve problems. When both capabilities are combined, innovation can advance faster and with less uncertainty.

Open innovation is characterized by a number of key elements that differentiate it from traditional closed innovation models.

• External collaboration: it is based on collaboration with external partners, such as  startups, universities, other companies and customers to develop new ideas and technologies. 
• Exchanging knowledge: encourages the transfer of knowledge and technologies both into and out of the organization.
• Flexible business models: allow companies to better respond to changes in the environment and new market needs.
• Diversification of sources: uses a variety of sources for innovation, including new participants in the R&D and Innovation process.
• Use of digital tools: benefits from the use of digital tools to facilitate collaboration and information sharing.

The energy transition is one of the greatest technological and industrial challenges of our time. Achieving a lower-emission economy requires developing new solutions in areas as diverse as renewable fuels, renewable hydrogen, CO₂ capture and use, electrification, circular materials, and the digitalization of industrial processes.  

Many of these technologies are still evolving. Some are in the early stages of development. Others have already shown potential, but need to be validated and scaled up to become commercial solutions. 

In this context, open innovation offers four key advantages.

1. Enables earlier access to emerging technologies 

Startups are often one of the main drivers of technological innovation. Many are born precisely to develop highly specialized solutions that solve specific problems. 

Working with them allows large companies to identify promising technologies at early stages and better understand their potential before they reach the mass market.  

2. Reduces development time 

In complex industrial sectors, time is a critical factor. Collaborating with external partners makes it possible to incorporate existing knowledge and avoid starting each project from scratch. 

Open innovation enables technologies developed by third parties to be accelerated through tests, validations and real-world application, reducing development time and technological uncertainty.  

3. Reduces risks 

Validating a technology in the laboratory is important. Checking that it works under real-world conditions is essential. 

Collaboration between startups and industrial companies makes it possible to evaluate the behavior of new technologies before making large-scale investments, facilitating more informed decision-making.  

4. Facilitates scaling up 

One of the biggest challenges for many startups is overcoming the so-called “valley of death”: the complex transition from a promising innovation to a commercial solution capable of being deployed at a large scale.

Large companies can play a decisive role in that transition by providing infrastructure, testing capabilities, regulatory knowledge, and access to customers. 

At Repsol, open innovation is part of a broader strategy aimed at accelerating the development of solutions for the energy transition. 

The company combines its in-house research capabilities with an extensive collaboration network comprising startups, universities, technology centers, and other companies. This model seeks to turn the major challenges of the energy industry into viable and scalable solutions.  

The nerve center of this ecosystem is Repsol Technology Lab, the company's research and innovation center, located in Móstoles (Madrid). 

With more than 50,000 square meters dedicated to research, 20 specialized laboratories, and 35 pilot plants, Tech Lab acts as an environment where science, technology, and industry converge to accelerate the development of new solutions. Nearly 230 scientists and technologists specializing in fields such as renewable fuels, carbon management, circular economy, artificial intelligence, advanced mathematics and biotechnology work in it.

But perhaps one of its most distintive features is that it also serves as a meeting point between internal R&D and the external innovation ecosystem.

Open innovation is not just about identifying interesting startups. The real challenge is ensuring that technologies become solutions capable of delivering real impact. 

Open innovation at Repsol does not begin when a startup capable of providing a technological solution is identifed or invested in. It starts much earlier, when scientists, technologists, entrepreneurs, universities, and industrial partners work together to solve complex technological challenges.

This process begins with technology scouting activities and collaboration with universities, research centers, and entrepreneurs to detect technologies with the potential to contribute to the energy transition.  

Subsequently, these technologies can be validated through proofs of concept and industrial pilots. One of the tools driving this process is IdeAction, the open innovation proof-of-concept platform powered by Repsol Technology Lab. 

Since 2021, more than 70 proofs of concept have been carried out through this initiative and more than half have progressed into new developments or been integrated into projects and business units.  

When a technology demonstrates its potential, other instruments come into play, such as Repsol Corporate Venturing, the corporate investment vehicle specializing in disruptive technologies aligned with the company's strategy. Its objective is not only to provide funding, but to support startups through their industrial validation and subsequent scaling.  

Repsol's relationship with startups has great value, as it combines three elements that are especially relevant to them: real technological validation, access to an industrial customer such as Repsol, and the ability to scale.

Collaboration is not limited to the relationship between a company and a startup. 

In recent years, initiatives have emerged that expand this concept and bring together companies from different sectors to address common challenges. 

This is the case of All4Zero, the industrial innovation hub initially promoted by Repsol together with ArcelorMittal, Holcim, and Iberia, which aims to detect, test and scale technologies related to decarbonization and the circular economy.  

This model allows startups, universities and technology centers to access industrial infrastructure and validate solutions in real operating conditions, thus multiplying their development possibilities.  

A good example of how open innovation is evolving is All4Zero, the industrial technology innovation hub powered by Repsol along with ArcelorMittal, Holcim, and Iberia. Since its creation, the hub has grown to over twenty members, including partners, collaborators and strategic alliances. Beyond connecting startups, technology centers, and industry, the hub has established itself as a real experimentation platform, with several proofs of concept already executed and new initiatives underway and defined to accelerate technologies related to CO₂ capture, renewable hydrogen, waste valorization, and water management. In addition, All4Zero has driven intense activity to foster the innovation ecosystem through calls for technological challenges, events and meetings between collaborating partners that facilitate technology transfer and the joint development of projects. This model makes it possible to bridge the gap between innovation and its industrial application, one of the great challenges of the energy transition.  

In just two years, All4Zero has evaluated more than 430 technological proposals, shortlisted more than 170 solutions with industrial potential and mobilized more than 140 experts, 60 technicians, and 15 large corporations around decarbonization and circular economy projects.

• Repsol Foundation Entrepreneur's Fund: we support entrepreneurs and startups that develop innovative solutions in the field of energy, which are in the early stages of development, in order to promote them. 
• Corporate Venturing: our corporate investment vehicle through which we invest in startups with technological solutions aimed at decarbonization. These investments help drive technologies in the early stages, but with high potential for the energy transition.

• Net Zero Ventures: an investment fund that we have created together with Suma Capital to promote startups that develop mature technologies aimed at decarbonization and the circular economy, with the goal of accelerating their application on an industrial level.  
• Cardumen Capital: an investment fund specializing in disruptive technologies, through which we support startups with high potential for impact. 
• Climate Investment (OGCI): we participate in this startup  investment fund whose objective is to reduce methane and CO₂ emissions. This fund is part of the Oil & Gas Climate Initiative and brings together 12 companies in the sector to invest in decarbonization technologies.

• Participation in incubators and accelerators: we support the development of new technology companies through incubators, accelerators, and venture builders. Some outstanding collaborations include: the Deep Tech Alliance Initiative, a European alliance that connects corporations, Deep Tech startups and investors through sectoral programs (Clean Energy, Advanced Manufacturing, Public Utility, etc.); BAT B Accelerator Tower, the global innovation ecosystem and acceleration program promoted by the Basque Government, Provincial Council of Biscay and Bilbao City Council, aimed at connecting corporations with specialized startups, investors and key stakeholders to accelerate their transformation, generate new business opportunities and boost their competitiveness; EIC (European Innovation Council), the European Commission's instrument that connects and accelerates the most promising deep tech startups and scale-ups in Europe, facilitating their access to financing, corporations and investors; or Eureka, an international collaborative innovation network that connects companies, startups and R&D entities for the development of technological projects.  
• Innovation networks and events: we participate in innovation networks and events to encourage the exchange of ideas and collaboration.

Open innovation has ceased to be a complementary practice and has become one of the main tools with which companies, entrepreneurs and research centers face the great technological challenges of the 21st century. 

The growing complexity of the energy transition requires combining capabilities that are rarely found within a single organization: scientific research, industrial knowledge, entrepreneurial talent, digitization, and market access. 

That's why, more than a trend, open innovation represents a new way of understanding innovation. A way based on collaboration, in which the best solutions emerge from connecting different talents, disciplines and organizations. 

The experience of companies such as Repsol shows that when science, technology, startups and industry work in coordination, it is possible to bring solutions to market faster that contribute to decarbonization, efficiency and the transformation of entire sectors. Because the great challenges of the future can hardly be solved alone. But they can be addressed when knowledge is shared and innovation is networked.