Open Innovation

Developing collaborations with stakeholders through a holistic approach enables companies to better address current social and environmental issues.

In the scope of our open innovation culture embedded in our way of doing business, we collaborate with different stakeholders such as startups, universities, suppliers, and companies from across industries. This creates diverse ideas and perspectives, which helps ensure our business is ready to make the most of society’s changing needs. Our open innovation approach creates value through our intellectual capital, R&D know-how and infrastructure.

İYİ-GE Platform

At the IYI-GE platform, which stands for goodness development, we develop ideas and projects that will help create a better world. The platform consists of scientists, representatives from NGOs, activists, and artists. By including IYI-GE in our decision-making processes, we create a multi-voiced, transparent structure in our sustainability activities. As a responsible company that operates by considering the future of our planet and the environment, we aim to grow and develop our activities in this field by reasoning together.

The platform has two important short-term goals. The first is to develop a project that will involve all of Arçelik's stakeholders and society, aimed at protecting nature and the planet, and sustainable consumption. IYI-GE took the first step towards achieving this goal with the “Climate Friendly Movement”. The second goal is to demonstrate IYI-GE’s contribution to responsible production while seeking an answer to the question “What can be done?”.

Climate Friendly Movement: The movement aims to raise awareness of the climate crisis and encourage joint action to mitigate it. We believe that the Climate Friendly Movement will inspire change that individuals and families will experience, starting from their own homes through every moment of their lives.

Arçelik Garage: Fast and Early Failure Leads to Success

Arçelik Garage is one of Turkey's largest open innovation and prototyping centers, with a daily capacity of between 50 and 100 products. Garage uses high levels of digitalization, advanced prototyping, and multi-layered production processes to reduce the time between idea and test production to mere days, greatly expediting the go-to-market process. Garage workspace brings stakeholders, universities, and non-governmental organizations together to create a marketplace where knowledge is multiplied and creativity is encouraged. With its annual accelerator program, the Garage acts as a hub that makes it possible to mass produce new products and sell them through our dealers. The Garage also technically and financially supports Arçelik employees to turn their ideas into reality.

Next Big Story

Next Big Story is a program in which multidisciplinary teams from employees and external stakeholders create new product ideas in special product segments focused on consumer needs. Through this method, we aim to remove risks early, by building various competencies in project processes, and to produce products that will provide the company with the greatest profit.

In 2021, we completed our user-oriented new concept development studies for built-in ovens and TVs with the participation of teams from within the company. We have developed products with the concept of FlexiCrisp, CookReady and PerfectForm to get better cooking results in new-generation ovens and to offer ease of use to users according to consumer habits and needs. In addition, we offer an enhanced user experience in our television category products, with online education TV, the smart mirroring application, and integrated camera and night mode concepts.

Bigg Arçelik Garage 

Springing from our vision of being a game changer and a support organization in the world of entrepreneurship and innovation, BİGG Arçelik Garage contributes to the expansion of our innovation ecosystem. With this Program, we aim to closely follow new technologies that may affect Arçelik, to recognize and support planned activities at an early stage, and to establish strategic partnerships.

BiGG3 supports entrepreneurs with Arçelik mentors on technical feasibility; KworksBiGG3 ran four cohorts in 2021. In these cohorts, the Arçelik Garage Innovation Center provided technical mentorship and information support to 166 entrepreneurs, 51 of whom finalized their applications to TÜBİTAK. A total of TRY 6 million in grants was awarded to 30 successful business plans at the end of the incubation programs. The last BiGG3 program focused on the theme of sustainability and green growth. We accepted entrepreneurs who produce technology-oriented solutions for green growth into the program. As part of this incubation cohort, we held the “Arçelik Talks on Sustainability” event in 11 application areas with the support of different Arçelik business units.

Garage Innovation Hub (GIH)

The Garage Innovation Hub (GIH) is a digital platform that connects companies, mentors, and institutions with the right match. We have released a beta version of the Garage Innovation Hub web platform which includes information about what matters to us, calls and applications for our programs, portfolio of our startup network, internal projects, mentors, partners, contents and events for the community. In November, we launched the Good-Breaking Innovation program in collaboration with the consumer brand unit. Through this program, we aim to create eco-friendly house concepts and a design oriented thinking methodology.

Arçelik Innovation Champions

Although there are single startup collaborations established in different departments in Arçelik, Innovation Champions is a unique example of handling the subject more systematically in respect to the strategic partnerships within the program. To create such a community and ensure cultural change, the program supports the innovation ecosystem through mentoring, establishing relationships and potential collaborations with startups. Innovation Champions include mentors from different departments in Arçelik, and they are involved in numerous aspects of the program, including:

• Training and case studies about innovation, mentorship, entrepreneurship, and social skills with different ecosystem partners and individuals

• Mentorship sessions organized with the idea and mid-stage startups through the Mentorship Program and BİGG

• Garage talks and webinars with the ecosystem experts and investors

• Participation in partnership events for potential collaboration with mature startups such as Demoday, as well as panels and workshops.

For the detailed information about open innovation and R&D programs carried out in 2021, please check the Open Innovation section of Arçelik 2021 Sustainability Report