Orange Fab
Despite the pandemic, the start-up market in Poland has seen a period of growth. According to the Polish Start-ups 2021 report, the business impact of the pandemic was positive for 37% and virtually imperceptible for 40% of start-up firms. Simultaneously, the venture capital market was very active. Docplanner became a Polish unicorn company, and most corporations developed programmes for co-operation with start-ups. For us, it was a period of continuation of the digital transformation of our business. We also worked on new projects, mainly related to 5G. Our efforts aimed to both meet Orange Polska’s internal needs and develop products and services for our customers.
While continuing the digital transformation of our business, which was initiated in 2020, we started to co-operate with an e-commerce firm, which had developed a solution offering new opportunities in the on-line customer service area. It enables consultants to switch between fixed line and mobile devices without interrupting customer calls.
Furthermore, after an acceleration period, we strengthened relations with a number of start-up firms in various areas, including IoT, virtual reality training, and energy. In the latter area, we focused on delivering the Smart Energy Controller. It is a device that monitors and manages energy consumption from traditional or renewable sources. It also increases the efficiency of photovoltaic panels, thus reducing the pay-back period. We also launched the CoreFlow system streamlining the IT environment maintenance and development processes.
The CoreFlow software, developed together with CoreDF, provides for a quicker data flow analysis, thus reducing the time to solve problems or implement changes in the Company’s integrated data environment.
We are also looking for new solutions, particularly using the 5G technology. So far, we have meticulously reviewed over 200 projects and, as a result, decided to establish co-operation with five start-ups. The products they have been developing are related to interior locations, virtual reality, video analytics or manufacturing process visualisation (‘digital twin’). We are also analysing drone-based solutions and testing services that use virtual reality to support field technicians.
We have put a lot of energy to promote Orange Fab start-ups outside Poland, intensifying collaboration within the Orange Group, which has already benefitted our start-ups. For example, SEZO has joined the group of IoT technology partners recommended by Orange and listed at foreground orange.com; and talks have started with Orange in France regarding the potential implementation of a VR solution by another Polish start-up. Furthermore, like every year, Orange Fab start-ups could participate in the Viva Technology conference in Paris, where many of them established new, valuable business relationships.
We are constantly developing our start-up support system and searching for new solutions for co-operation within Orange Fab. We have initiated talks with Orange Ventures in order to increase the activity of this Fund in Poland. We are also expanding co-operation with other business support institutions. Good examples are the S5 – 5G Technology Accelerator and Space3ac Poland Prize II programmes.
Our activity in an ecosystem supporting both technology recipients and start-ups offers a great value to Orange Fab and the Company’s business units. Together with the Space3ac accelerator, we have completed many successful projects, e.g. implementing the Smart Energy Controller and CoreFlow solutions.
Orange Fab’s operating model is based on careful matching of start-ups with Orange Polska’s business units at the very start of co-operation. Together with additional benefits offered to start-ups by Orange Fab, it contributes to highly efficient relationships and a high success rate. Over the last three years, we have started to co-operate with 22 start-ups. We are still co-operating with 13 of them. This corresponds to almost 60% effectiveness in developing business with Orange.
