The Bouygues Group, with 115,000 employees, in 90 countries and a group turnover of £33 Billion is a significantly large organisation.

It is well acknowledged that large organisations are slow to react and respond to market changes. In France, Bouygues identified this challenge and launched a matching up event whereby start-ups are connected with an employee that has an interest in an idea to create an innovative solution. So far 165 teams have taken part with 232 employees resulting in 6 ideas that have been developed and deployed in the business in France.

The success of Matching Up has lead Bouygues UK to launch the first UK challenge which included support from Colas Rail, Colas Ltd and the Midland Metro Alliance. This was officially launched on the 18th April with a short introduction to each business and 8 ‘innovation’ themes that have been selected by the group. These included intelligent city – how data and technology can be used to create, monitor and report on efficiencies in the design, delivery and operation of the Midland Metro. Chris Barnard, Innovation Coordinator presented for the Midland Metro Alliance said,

“It was an excellent opportunity to engage with local people and allow them to develop ideas that could support the MMA to deliver the tram extension to the West Midlands.”

Julie Pickering; Bid Manager for Urban presented for Colas Rail UK and said “It was an excellent event which allowed businesses to talk to us about our challenges and see how they can develop solutions.

We had a number of people come up to us after the presentation with that would be useful to the business.

“The event was attended by senior management across the group including the managing director of Bouygues UK. It is hoped that this will be the start of innovative collaborations within the Bouygues Group.”

To find out more please click on the matching up image below: