16 Venture Building: Nurturing Startups on Demand Venture building is the process of systematically creating, launching, and scaling new startups within a structured organization. Think of it as a nursery for startups that provides shared resources, capi- tal, and operational support to increase the chances of success. The corporation identifies the domain of interest, and the startups are nurtured either by an internal venture building team, or by an external party, such as a university or a standalone ‘venture studio.’ Ten years ago, venture building was a novelty in the corporate landscape. However, our data suggests that the practice is growing in popularity. According to Figure 1 above, more than 20% of companies in our sample report Venture Building programs. For instance, Airbus created a special unit, Scale, whose mission is “to build and launch new businesses that will support the company’s future growth.” Scale first attracts Airbus’s human and financial resources, but then it seeks external funds and talent to develop the company’s assets and pioneer new markets. Scale aims to spin out viable startups to create established companies that will generate revenue or equity for Airbus, supporting diversification and growth. Takeda Pharmaceutical runs an internal venture program that supports researchers in launching startups, while Société Générale identifies intrapre- neurial talent and helps them develop FinTech start- ups. Academic institutions also play a significant role in venture-building collaborations. Deutsche Post Figure 5. Forbes 500 Companies’ Engagement with Venture Building by Industry* Engagement (%) Industry 40% 20% 25% 30% 35% 15% 10% 5% 0% Construction 7 Manufacturing 26 Pharma & Healthcare 10 Retail & Trading 11 Transportation 2 Technology 13 Financial 25 Energy & Utilities 19 * The numbers above the bars represent the total number of companies engaged.