The goal of this work is to investigate and examine the landscape of start-ups in the energy sector and how established companies are applying the open innovation mechanisms of acquisitions and corporate venture capital investments to acquire the value created by these young and flexible ventures. The energy industry is facing a radical change pushed by trends such as the increased awareness of the climate crisis and consequent need for an energy transition, the liberalization of the energy market, digitalization, and decentralization. These drivers are opening new opportunities for new entrants, in particular for small and innovative start-ups. At the same time, large energy incumbents are facing an enormous threat. They are not able to bring innovation fastly enough to the market. These corporations were used to compete only on price and leveraged on economies of scale to keep margins and market share. Thus, they are threatened today by new entrants that are introducing to the market-disrupting innovations both from a technological and a business model point of view and they are changing the rules of the competition shifting them towards differentiation factors. As a result, these companies need to explore new ways of doing innovation. Acquisitions and corporate venture capital investments are proving to be effective tools. In the thesis, a quantitative analysis is carried out of three samples: - 1027 independent energy start-ups founded between 2016 and 2020 in Europe, the United States, and Israel; - 42 Acquisitions of energy start-ups signed between 2018 and 2020 in Europe, the United States, and Israel; - 188 CVC deals signed between 2018 and 2020 by power utilities situated in Europe, The United States, and Israel. The analysis is divided into two parts. The first takes the perspective of the start-ups. We analyze the independent, acquired, and investee ventures to understand the main technological and business model trends in the energy sector with a threefold temporal perspective and where these trends are geographically distributed. The start-ups were classified and grouped according to geographical location, technological area, technological sub-area, and type of offer. In the second part, the perspective shift towards established companies applying open innovation. The deals of acquisitions and CVC are classified according to the strategy behind the deal. Given the peculiarities of the phenomenon of Corporate venture capital, these investments have been also classified through syndication and governance. The work aims at giving a complete overview of the technological and business model trends that will influence the energy sector in the more and less near future and to understand how established companies are exploiting and/or exploring the value of new start-ups to keep a competitive advantage. The results of this study can be of great use to anyone who is willing to interact with innovation in the energy sector, today or in the foreseeable future, including entrepreneurs, investors, companies, and policymakers.
L'obiettivo di questo lavoro è quello di indagare ed esaminare il mondo delle start-ups nel settore dell'energia e come le imprese già consolidate applichino i meccanismi di innovazione aperta delle acquisizioni e degli investimenti di venture capital per acquisire il valore creato da queste imprese giovani e flessibili. L'industria energetica sta affrontando un cambiamento radicale spinto da trend quali la maggiore consapevolezza della crisi climatica e la conseguente necessità di una transizione energetica, la liberalizzazione del mercato energetico, la digitalizzazione e la decentralizzazione. Questi driver stanno aprendo nuove opportunità per i nuovi entranti, in particolare per le start-up piccole e innovative. Allo stesso tempo, i grandi operatori storici dell'energia stanno affrontando un'enorme minaccia poichè non sono in grado di portare l'innovazione abbastanza rapidamente sul mercato. Queste società sono abituate a competere solo sui prezzi e hanno fatto leva su economie di scala per mantenere margini e quote di mercato. Perciò oggi sono minacciati da nuovi operatori che stanno introducendo sul mercato innovazioni sconvolgenti sia dal punto di vista tecnologico che da quello del modello di business e stanno cambiando le regole della competizione portandola verso fattori di differenziazione. Di conseguenza, queste imprese necessitano di esplorare nuovi modi di fare innovazione e le acquisizioni e investimenti corporate venture capital si stanno dimostrando strumenti efficaci. Nella tesi si effettua un'analisi quantitativa di tre campioni: - 1027 start-up energetiche indipendenti fondate tra il 2016 e il 2020 in Europa, Stati Uniti e Israele; - 42 acquisizioni di start-up energetiche firmate tra il 2018 e il 2020 in Europa, Stati Uniti e Israele; - 188 accordi CVC firmati tra il 2018 e il 2020 da power utilities situate in Europa, Stati Uniti e Israele. L'analisi è divisa in due parti. La prima prende la prospettiva delle start-up. Analizziamo le ventures indipendenti, acquisite e partecipate da corporations per comprendere le principali tendenze innovative in termini di modello tecnologico e di business nel settore energetico con una triplice prospettiva temporale e un’attenzione alla provenienza geografica. Le start-up sono state classificate e raggruppate in base alla posizione geografica, all'area tecnologica, alla sub-area tecnologica e al tipo di offerta. Nella seconda parte, la prospettiva si sposta verso imprese consolidate che applicano strategie di open innovation. Le operazioni di acquisizioni e CVC sono classificate secondo la strategia alla base del deal. Date le peculiarità del fenomeno del Corporate Venture Capital, questi investimenti sono stati classificati anche attraverso syndication e governance. Il lavoro mira a fornire una panoramica completa delle tendenze del modello tecnologico e di business che influenzeranno il settore energetico nel più o meno lontano futuro e a capire come le aziende consolidate stanno sfruttando e/o esplorando il valore delle innovative start-ups per mantenere un vantaggio competitivo. I risultati di questo studio possono essere di grande utilità per chiunque sia disposto ad interagire con l'innovazione nel settore energetico, oggi o nel prossimo futuro, compresi imprenditori, investitori, aziende e policymakers.
Open innovation in the energy sector. Overview on the trends of acquisitions, corporate venture capital deals, and independent energy start-ups
BERETTA, MARCO
2020/2021
Abstract
The goal of this work is to investigate and examine the landscape of start-ups in the energy sector and how established companies are applying the open innovation mechanisms of acquisitions and corporate venture capital investments to acquire the value created by these young and flexible ventures. The energy industry is facing a radical change pushed by trends such as the increased awareness of the climate crisis and consequent need for an energy transition, the liberalization of the energy market, digitalization, and decentralization. These drivers are opening new opportunities for new entrants, in particular for small and innovative start-ups. At the same time, large energy incumbents are facing an enormous threat. They are not able to bring innovation fastly enough to the market. These corporations were used to compete only on price and leveraged on economies of scale to keep margins and market share. Thus, they are threatened today by new entrants that are introducing to the market-disrupting innovations both from a technological and a business model point of view and they are changing the rules of the competition shifting them towards differentiation factors. As a result, these companies need to explore new ways of doing innovation. Acquisitions and corporate venture capital investments are proving to be effective tools. In the thesis, a quantitative analysis is carried out of three samples: - 1027 independent energy start-ups founded between 2016 and 2020 in Europe, the United States, and Israel; - 42 Acquisitions of energy start-ups signed between 2018 and 2020 in Europe, the United States, and Israel; - 188 CVC deals signed between 2018 and 2020 by power utilities situated in Europe, The United States, and Israel. The analysis is divided into two parts. The first takes the perspective of the start-ups. We analyze the independent, acquired, and investee ventures to understand the main technological and business model trends in the energy sector with a threefold temporal perspective and where these trends are geographically distributed. The start-ups were classified and grouped according to geographical location, technological area, technological sub-area, and type of offer. In the second part, the perspective shift towards established companies applying open innovation. The deals of acquisitions and CVC are classified according to the strategy behind the deal. Given the peculiarities of the phenomenon of Corporate venture capital, these investments have been also classified through syndication and governance. The work aims at giving a complete overview of the technological and business model trends that will influence the energy sector in the more and less near future and to understand how established companies are exploiting and/or exploring the value of new start-ups to keep a competitive advantage. The results of this study can be of great use to anyone who is willing to interact with innovation in the energy sector, today or in the foreseeable future, including entrepreneurs, investors, companies, and policymakers.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/181706