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Case study
5
Number of business units engaged in the process.
38
Number of identified prospective innovation areas.
30
Number of delivered potential technological solutions categories matching the client’s needs.
Takeda is a patient-focused, values-based, R&D-driven global biopharmaceutical company committed to bringing improved health outcomes for people worldwide.
While Takeda is mainly focussed on the development of pharmaceuticals, it is also consistently in pursuit of potentially life-changing treatments for rare diseases. It has a holistic approach to patient care, from medicines and pharmaceuticals, to the care delivered by doctors and nurses. It also aims to improve and speed up diagnostics. In Poland, the company's core business is its proprietary prescription drugs for gastrointestinal disease, cancer, pain relief and tissue regeneration. The company has a small but growing team responsible for innovation.
The Takeda staff wanted to know in which areas of their work they could look for innovative solutions for various types of stakeholders.
They were keen to embed innovation into the company in a structured way and to create lasting processes which would enable ideas to be implemented with greater ease.
As the Huge Things team we designed and conducted innovation needs mapping workshops based on a combination of our methodology with best market practice. We met with five key internal teams, based around the different medical areas which they represent: immunology, hematology, IBD, oncology and GD.
For each team, we conducted a mapping exercise in the form of a workshop which included identification and prioritization of current, near-future and more distant future needs. The teams already had a whole list of current needs from both patients, doctors and caregivers, gained during the interviews. With us, they then sorted through these, gave each need a priority level and checked whether it was still relevant. They also added new needs that hadn’t previously been noted down.
The Huge Thing Team’s methodology allowed the Takeda teams to delve deeper into the challenges and ideas submitted during the workshops. Thanks to the tools provided to Takeda’s team, they are able to collect the demand for innovations cyclically – thanks to this, the process of innovation can be better embedded throughout the company.
The next important stage was implementation. We mapped out the steps that needed to be taken to bring the highest priority innovation plans to life.
We also defined some strict KPIs, which would enable the company to track how it was performing against its targets.
It was evident that the workshops were useful not just for identifying innovation needs, but also for internal knowledge sharing and inspiration.
We had highly positive feedback from the internal team. One of the senior managers who we worked with at Takeda said that it would be great to get more people involved in planning and speculating about the future, including shareholders from outside the company.
The mapping that we conducted with Takeda resulted in the identification of areas and needs common to various business departments. This meant that the innovation team could propose technological solutions that addressed more than just a single need. This, in turn, taught people in the organization that problem solving should be approached together with other business units. The ongoing challenge will be to find technological solutions tailored to Takeda’s needs, and then to implement them.
Check out other examples of our projects
Monika Synoradzka
CEO and Managing Partner at SpeedUp group
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Maryla Wojcieszek
Interim Head of Knowledge, Innovation Shaper
As Innovation Shaper at Huge Thing, Maryla supports large organizations in processes related to innovation. That includes, among others: ‘as is’ diagnosis, analysis and (re-)design of processes, innovation framework design, structuring the work of innovation teams, and facilitating cooperation with startups. As the Interim Head of Knowledge, Maryla is responsible for the materialization and transfer of knowledge as well as talent management within the Huge Thing team. She designs and creates new products/services based on internal knowledge resources as well as new models of delivery and dissemination. She’s also a workshop designer and facilitator.
Experienced designer of (public) programs supporting the startup ecosystem in Poland. In her professional experience, as an Expert in the Startup Development Department at PARP, Maryla co-created, among others, the Scale UP program – the first public acceleration program connecting startups and corporations.
A gardener and a LEGO fan.
Mateusz Szymański
Junior Program Manager
Tech and innovation enthusiasts, especially those with positive social impact, Greentech, and health tech solutions. In Huge Thing, Mateusz is responsible for co-running acceleration programs. In 2022 he was co-running the 12th edition of the Google for Startups pre-acceleration program.
Previously he worked in the sales and product departments, where he was responsible for outreach activities and product communication. He’s also gained experience in project coordination and internal communication, working as a Spokesperson for Poznań’s department of NGO organization The Polish Forum of Young Diplomats. He was a co-creator of the social campaign “Paragraphs without blunder” which mission was to educate high school students about their rights.
During his spare time, he likes to read about international politics and the economy. Strategic games enjoyer. He’ll surely like to play chess with you.
Kaja Kulas
Program Manager
Kaja joined the Huge Thing team in May 2022. For several years she’s been connected with the startup ecosystem. She helps international startups in growing their businesses in Poland and across Europe.
In Huge Thing, Kaja is responsible for project management which include running educational programs for startups in their development and acceleration phase. She organizes events, workshops and trainings for the program participants. She monitors their growth and connects with partners and technology recipes. Also, Kaja takes care of relations, community building, recruitments and explorations of startups’ needs to bring them the best value of our programmes.
Before Huge Thing, she gained her experience in Poznan Science and Technology Park developing international projects funded by the European Commission. Kaja was a part of the PSTP Capital Fund and Regional Contact Point for Research Programmes of the European Union. She is passionate about travels, sports, music and dogs. Kaja is a happy “dog mom” of our team member – Nala whom you can pet while visiting us. :)
Zuza Kowala
Innovation Manager, Program Manager
Zuza joined Huge Thing in 2021. She is responsible for acceleration programs like GovTech Inno_Lab and Żabka Future Lab.
Also as Maryla, Zuza supports large organizations in processes related to innovation. That includes, among others: design of processes, innovation framework design, structuring the work of innovation teams and facilitating cooperation with startups.
Before joining Innovation Monsters, Zuza led projects at Żabka Polska, earlier connected with automotive at Volkswagen Group Polska. In Żabka, she was responsible for project management, coordinating the teamwork according to the best practice – she was looking for the best way to keep the process alive.
Zuza is also a sportaholic, innovation seeker, and book lover.
Magda Stachowiak
Project Manager
Magda joined Huge Thing in 2021. Responsible for our Gov Tech inno_Lab acceleration programs and cooperation with the public administration. She runs projects for smart city. She is also responsible for building bridges between innovators – corporations, startups and the administration.
Previously, since 2015, she cooperated on our projects for Gov Tech and corporations. Connected with the Poznań Startup Community. Experience in organizing events for the MedTech community. She worked in advertising and interactive agencies, creating brand campaigns and loyalty programs. She helped implement technologies into the organization.
Passionate about personal development, psychobiology, and supporting women in creating businesses. The creator of the projects Kobiecy Poznań Przebudzenie and Joy of Life.
Damian Wielechowski
Senior Marketing and Communication Manager
Damian manages the external and internal communications of SpeedUp Group, including Huge Thing. He joined the team in 2017 and since then has been working with business representatives, business environment institutions, public administration, media, and the academic community.
In addition to activities related to Speedup Group, Damian supports the fund’s portfolio companies in the area of marketing and PR. He has served on the jury of many competitions, including ImpactCEE, and acted as a mentor at startup events such as hackathons and Startup Weekend.
Damian is also the author of the Poznan Startup Guide and co-author of the Krakow Startup Guide, as well as organizer of many events dedicated to startups and investors.
Agnieszka Cichocka
Head of Acceleration
Agnieszka joined Huge Thing in 2021. She is responsible for our acceleration programs. She is passionate about art, technology, and gendered innovations. Previously, Director of District Hall Warsaw and Startup Development Department Manager at Incubator Starter.
Co-creator of Techseed.me technological acceleration program and the first coliving space in Poland for digital nomads.
Natalia Sadownik
Delivery Lead, Senior Program Manager
Natalia joined Huge Thing in 2019. As a Senior Program Manager, she implements acceleration and educational programs (Poland Prize, PlusJeden do Rozwoju) in line with Huge Thing’s standards.
As a Delivery Lead, she focuses on the operation of Huge Thing as an organization, financial issues, team planning, and quality of activities carried out by the company. Natalia loves to sail around Masuria and Croatia, and on gray days eats sushi and watches tennis.
Monika Synoradzka
CEO of Huge Thing and managing partner at Speedup group
Monika together with the HT team is responsible for the company’s development in startup acceleration and activities aimed at supporting organizations from the private and public sectors in their work with innovations.
She specializes in implementing innovations in organizations and building a culture of innovation in companies from various sectors. For years, she has supported the development of Poland’s startup environment.
Monika is also a Managing Partner at SpeedUp Venture Capital Group. Thanks to her knowledge and experience, she helps portfolio companies to understand the operation of large organizations and corporations and prepare to work with them. She also supports them in building business relationships.
