The kick-off

On Thursday, April 20, 2017, the kickoff of the new innovation lab Novum of the Social Insurance Bank took place. The concept of innovation was central during this opening. A somewhat critical atmosphere was noticeable in the room towards the new innovation lab. After all, the SVB is already working on innovation.

What can an innovation lab like Novum add to SVB?

This question was quickly answered by Tim van Dijk and Jeroen Vonk, members of the Novum core team.

At the SVB the demand arose for a new place for innovation where ideas could be developed without the limitations of current systems within the SVB. Novum is the answer to this question. The innovation lab has an office within the SVB, but has no further connection with activities of the SVB. Novum is going to develop new products and services for the citizen. For this they will use new technologies from inside and outside the SVB. New ideas and challenges can be put forward by, among others, employees and customers of the SVB. Novum is going to implement these ideas through Design Sprints, among other things.

Bindi Karia

After this clarification from Jeroen and Tim, the word was given to Bindi Karia, also called "queen of startups". Bindi was also active at another SVB, namely the Silicon Valley Bank. Bindi gave an extensive presentation about the importance of innovation for large companies and governments. Due to the lightning-fast rise of new technologies, large companies are quickly overtaken by smaller startups. Bindi ended her presentation with the phrase "David and Goliath can collaborate" and emphasized that the collaboration between startups and large companies offers even more opportunities for rapid innovation.

After the Bindi presentation, the participants were ready for the various workshops. Workshops in which Innovation, new technologies and new ways of working were central. It was emphasized to enter into this with an open vision. This became clear during the Mixed Reality workshop, among other things. During this workshop the possibilities of mixed reality for the SVB were investigated.

Workshops

After two workshop rounds, a joint closure took place during which the new Novum website was presented. The central place where employees and customers can register ideas and challenges for the Novum team.