Vallourec Innovation Days 2021 bring all teams on board to generate more value faster
Over two days, Vallourec held pitches, round tables, networking events and workshops, all with the aim of fully engaging everyone in innovation.
Vallourec’s 2021 Innovation Days featured a packed schedule and an appropriately new format, as the event took place 100% online and was split over two days.
Course of the Innovation Days
Day 1 kicked off with “Voice of the customers,” an event that invited clients to share their views on the evolution of the market and their needs. The schedule continued with “Voice of the regions” and an event called “We are doing it” event, during which project managers shared their experiences. These talks were followed by a networking event. The day ended on a high with the pitches for our Winnov internal challenge, after which participants were invited to vote to decide the winners.
Day 2 opened with a quiz on the different types of innovators, ranging from clarifiers to ideators, and developers to implementers. The activity highlighted that Vallourec needs all these different players to go from identifying trends to developing a sustainable and profitable business. This quiz was followed by conferences about the industry and product lines.
Next up was an interactive online workshop. Participants were asked to brainstorm and note down concrete examples that demonstrated their commitment to innovation. After a short break and the innovation fair, the event continued with the three pitches selected for the Open Innovation Challenge.
A high point of the day was the announcement of the two winners of the Innovation Awards:
• Innovation Award n°1: VAM® Sprint-SF
• Innovation Award n°2: Intelligent Drift Solution (IDS)
The day – and the event as a whole – ended with a brief note from Sylvie Dubois-Decool, Innovation Director, Edouard Guinotte, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer, and Didier Hornet, Senior Vice President Development and Innovation, on the Group’s future perspectives in innovation.
Energy transition and Artificial Intelligence on the Winnov menu
The fifth edition of Winnov, the internal innovation challenge for our coworkers, was launched in June this year and received a total of 55 ideas. This long list was narrowed down to four finalists who were invited to present their ideas on the first of the two Innovation Days.
Winnov projects are evaluated against two main criteria: the value for Vallourec and for its customers, and how easy the project will be to implement. This year, the jury and voters settled on two winners that they felt met these exacting standards. Thus, we have highlighted projects dedicated to carbon recycling and artificial intelligence.
Open Innovation Challenge makes breakthroughs
Our Open Innovation Challenge is in its fourth successful year, and 2021’s three calls for pitches once again attracted participation from great companies. This year, 45 startups submitted projects in the categories “New power generation solutions,” “Pipe and pipeline reuse,” and “Automatized and digitalized pipeyard.”
