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ESADECREAPOLIS, an international centre for Open and Cross Innovation set up by ESADE Business School and other partners, was inaugurated this afternoon by the Spanish Minister of Science and Innovation, and the Catalan Counsellor for Innovation, University and Enterprise.

The innovation park is the first of its kind to be created by an international business school and already houses over 50 companies, including BBVA, Roca, Laboratorios Esteve and FlowLab, all of whom share the common objective of getting results out of Open and Cross innovation. This innovation process is open to its environment, involves interaction with very different companies and considers elements beyond the company itself, such as suppliers, clients or the community.

Belonging to a wide range of sectors and of very different sizes, the representatives from the ESADECREAPOLIS resident companies get together for regular guided innovation and best practice sessions, round tables, and other activities. The crossover of ideas and sharing of experience in such sessions generates the kind of more disruptive, creative ideas, necessary for business development in today’s changeable global environment.

Companies housed in ESADECREAPOLIS’ Googlesque building not only attend specific workshops, but also network informally thanks to the building’s design features specifically thought out to promote socialization and knowledge exchange between the different companies. The state-of-the-art building includes many different environments intended to assist in the creative process such as Coffee Brain Corners, Open & Cross Innovation rooms, Focus Group rooms, open balconies and communal gardens and play areas.

The project also hopes to leverage the synergies between the business school and ESADECREAPOLIS‘ innovative residents. The purpose-built 20,000m² park is strategically located on ESADE’s new San Cugat campus allowing residents easy access to ESADE’s innovation experts, research centres and Executive Education programmes. Similarly, ESADE students and professors will benefit from having the opportunity to watch innovation at work close at hand.

In an initiative that adapts the idea of Speed Dating to a business school environment, an event held at ESADE Business School today is bringing students from ESADE’s popular MBA programme in direct contact with scientists and their innovative ideas.

Similar to traditional Speed Dating, both parties will have a short period of time in which to get to know each other and consider the possibility of a future relationship. Both the MBA students and the scientists stand to benefit: Many ESADE MBA’s are looking for innovative ideas to form the basis of entrepreneurial activities, while the scientists and inventors are looking for dynamic business people to help them commercialise their ideas.

Prior to the event, the students were supplied with information on each of the scientists’ projects through the ESADE MBA net, giving them a chance to consider who they are most keen on making contact with. Once the contacts have been made through the Innovation Speed Dating event, it will be up to the students and the scientists to decide whether they want to take their relationship to the next stage.

For the MBA’s taking the entrepreneurship elective, which includes the design of a business plan, the event will be invaluable, particularly since a new requirement introduced this year means that all the business plans must be focused on an innovative idea.

Innovation is one of ESADE’s key areas of expertise and the school has been working on a number of initiatives to ensure that new ways of thinking and working are woven through their courses. This year the ESADE MBA introduced three new elective courses on innovation (Applying Creative Thinking to Generate Novel Solutions, Managing Innovation and Strategic Innovation) and ESADE students are increasingly encouraged to take part in initiatives in this area.

Beyond the MBA programme, next week ESADE will inaugurate their Open and Cross Innovation centre, ESADECreapolis, (see here for more information) housing the innovation cells of over 50 companies in a state-of-the art, Googlesque building on the school’s new campus in the Barcelona suburb of San Cugat. Also last June, in partnership with The Art Center, College of Design in Pasadena, California, the school offered an executive education programme on Design Thinking, “Beyond Pretty” and the two schools continue to work together to integrate innovation into other programmes.