As part of SAP.iO — which aims to accelerate and scale startup innovation while also fostering employee initiatives — new collaborations and products are developed for German enterprise software giant SAP. Organisations from every geographies, industries, and line of businesses come together at SAP.iO to improve the way businesses run their operations. As of 2017, the global startup support program of SAP has assisted more than 400 external startups and internal ventures in accelerating their growth, while also providing access to thousands of SAP customers to cutting-edge technologies.

Last November, six international tech firms were accepted into SAP.iO’s sustainability startup program where they could leverage next-generation technologies to help organisations in the Asia-Pacific and Japan region reach their goals of preserving socially responsible supply chains, combatting climate action, and transitioning to a circular economy.

In Japan, SAP.iO began in 2019 as a “practical” program that connects companies with the transformative needs of the Japanese industry while also encouraging co-creation with startups. To date, the initiative has completed five cohort programs, with a sixth on the way. (InsideSAP Asia often references articles from websites in other languages to bring you as much information as possible.) 

Hirofumi Suzuki, President and Representative Director at SAP Japan Co., Ltd., shared in a statement on LinkedIn:

“I am pleased to share with you that we selected six startups to participate in the first half of the FY 2022 cohort program of the SAP.iO Foundry Tokyo, SAP’s global startup support program in Japan.”

“For this year’s program, we were looking for B2B startup companies to work with SAP Japan under the theme of “Sustainable Enterprise”. Congratulations to the six companies that were successfully selected,” Suzuki further said.

Accelerating Innovation Through the SAP Global Startup Initiative

Astamuse Co., Ltd., Babel Co., Ltd., Eitoss Co., Ltd., Latona, Inc., Pirika Co., Ltd., and Sutainacraft, Inc. will officially participate in SAP.iO Foundry Tokyo. Mentors, who will primarily be product specialists and significant individuals from SAP’s sales teams, will provide guidance to the six companies. The cohort program, which will be conducted over the course of the next 13 weeks, will cover the topics listed below:

• Sharing knowledge and experience to contribute to business-to-business (B2B) strategy 
• Integrating SAP products using APIs
• Developing joint proposals to solve issues faced by SAP enterprise customers

Meanwhile, this week also saw last-mile delivery software company Milkman Technologies being chosen for SAP.iO’s startup program for resilient supply chains. The firm was selected by a panel involving SAP and Accenture professionals, as well as SAP partners and customers. Launched by SAP.iO Foundries in Munich and Tel Aviv, the initiative is primarily focused on building a resilient supply chain by harnessing partnerships with innovative startups that incorporate their advanced technologies with SAP product lines.

Furthermore, Milkman Technologies is the only organisation operating in the last mile category. For the duration of its participation in the program, the company intends to broaden the scope of the SAP Digital Supply Chain portfolio by offering improved order visibility and earlier shopper involvement. This is in addition to contributing to a better customer experience through automated governance of the last mile.

Thrilled to be announcing the news, Milkman Technologies Chief Executive Officer Antonio Perini, Milkman Technologies CEO, remarked:

“I am very excited for this opportunity to integrate the Milkman Home Delivery Platform with the SAP Digital Supply Chain portfolio. Thanks to SAP experts, partners, and customers for selecting our innovation in the last mile category for organisations with direct-to-consumer (D2C) operations.”

The post SAP Global Startup Program to Support Six Sustainable Ventures in Japan appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.

SAP 1BL Ventures—launched in 2018 in parallel with SAP’s business strategy—was first developed at SAP APJ under Adaire Fox-Martin’s leadership. The SAP Executive Board Member (who is reportedly departing the company at the end of the month) explains SAP 1BL’s purpose:

“Despite the challenges in today’s world, I believe humans are inherently good. This program gives SAP employees an opportunity to live large, and demonstrate that faith in humanity.”

The SAP 1BL Ventures program cultivates social intrapreneurs by offering the stability of an established business and the speed and innovative thinking of a startup. 

A look at SAP Global 1BL Ventures

According to Deb Kaplan, head of SAP 1BL, the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has provided greater motivation for SAP global teams to develop social and environmental solutions. Kaplan comments:

“This year’s teams have been put to the test to solve social and environmental problems focused on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and COVID-19 in a fully virtual environment. With a global pandemic displacing many teams from one another due to lockdowns and quarantines, these teams continued to push themselves to find new ways to work together, solve problems, communicate more effectively, and complete the journey that they started and refused to give up on.”

Over 2,000 SAP global employees participated in the 2020 SAP 1BL program. In this article, we’ll look at teams that presented the most developed and impactful social innovation ideas focused on addressing the growing issue of unemployment.

Social Recruitment

The SAP 1BL Japan team found a solution that proposes to solve Japan’s poverty issues by helping disadvantaged citizens find work through a customizable digital job-matching platform.

Led by SAP Value Advisor Expert Satoru Ota, the team worked with SAP Fieldglass and came up with ‘Social Recruitment Platform.’ The team is also working with Grameen Nippon to further develop the solution.

According to Ota, in the future, their team hopes to roll out the solution globally to poverty-stricken areas. Moreover, Ota aspires to use the venture to also help professionals whose industries may offer poorer visibility into open positions (such as artists and independent contractors).

Athena

Team Athena from SAP China hopes to create ways to improve differently-abled people’ lives through meaningful employment. The team collaborated with Taicang Inclusion Factory to build and deploy an intelligent production planning application. They are also working to develop more intelligent tools to help recruiters effectively find differently-abled individuals and also support individuals in overcoming personal barriers.

Jason Sun, a principal support engineer with SAP China, explained:

“We hope to really help these people improve their lives in every way.”

Sebenza

The Sebenza team decided to create a mobile-first job search approach to help blue-collar workers who still struggle to find available employment opportunities, especially with the challenges created by the current global pandemic. Through its partnership with the Southern Caribbean Islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the team was able to engage IT students on the islands and identify ministries within the country with which they could further partner with.

The post SAP Global Teams Drive Social Impact with SAP 1BL appeared first on InsideSAP Asia.