Innovation
Innovation is not reserved to a specific team: it’s lived and created by each and every one of us.
We brought two of the Group’s innovation experts in conversation: Clarissa Hack, Head of Digital Transformation at SPIE Germany Switzerland Austria and Pierre-Jean Alès, Group Innovation Manager.
How has innovation shaped SPIE’s past, and what role will it play in SPIE’s future?
Pierre-Jean Alès: As a service company, our customers have always expected us to innovate to provide original solutions to their needs. In recent years, new technologies have offered perspectives that will change the way we work, opening up new possibilities. Innovation is and will remain one of the levers to reach our strategic objectives and meet the needs of our clients.
As members of the SPIE Group, we can all leverage the developments of our colleagues with similar challenges. To support this in the future, we plan to put stronger emphasis on the sharing and scaling up of innovations.
Clarissa Hack: Innovation is key to ensuring our competitiveness and further growth by tackling existing challenges – like skill shortages or demographic changes. As a market leader, we must embrace cutting-edge technologies such as AI, robotics, and dataspaces as opportunities to improve our services. Our unique technical expertise and customer proximity form the basis for innovations that generate tangible added value and increase our margins.
How does this culture of innovation translate at SPIE?
Clarissa Hack: Innovation is a mindset. At SPIE, we are curious by nature and driven to integrate new ideas into our work. We’re intrinsically motivated to innovate, supported by use case development workshops or idea management.
SPIE also focuses on emerging technologies, like the industrial metaverse, which build the foundation for future adaptability, requiring centralised initiatives and the commitment of our management. A great example of our innovation culture is the collaboration at research campus ARENA2036, where innovation is accelerated through a strong ecosystem and platform, enabling the rapid development and integration of solutions into everyday life.
What sets SPIE apart from its competitors in terms of innovation?
Pierre-Jean Alès: Our strength lies in having the agility of a small company combined with the power of a large group. One of our key advantages is proximity: at SPIE, we have in-depth knowledge of our clients thanks to the close relationships we build with them.
This enables us to better understand their needs and provide them with tailor-made developments. Nowadays, cutting-edge solutions require the integration of independent technologies. This is exactly where SPIE makes the difference: building strong relations with partners and suppliers enables us to develop customised responses, to select the best technology available to address our clients’ issues.