adASTRA – The STRABAG Intrapreneurship Programme
Transforming ourselves and the industry with corporate startups
At adASTRA, employees get the chance to develop their own innovative business ideas and spin them off as actual startups.
The internal startup programme was successfully launched in 2021 under the patronage of Klemens Haselsteiner and is already entering the second round in 2022.
The exciting business ideas from the programme promise to stir up the construction industry. Startup methodologies are used to test and validate the business models as quickly as possible.
The intrapreneurship teams pitch their startup ideas to a Board of top STRABAG managers. The adASTRA Board members then decide which startup projects they want to support and take forward with funds from their own budgets. Rather than just giving a symbolic thumbs-up, the Board and Division Managers are directly responsible for implementing the startup ideas.
Programme goals
- Develop business ideas and social businesses that shape the future of our industry in a sustainable and innovative way
- Establish new, agile ways of working and design thinking methods
- Found startups that are attractive to external investors and that prove themselves on the market
“As a leading construction company, we want to show how to approach construction in a modern and sustainable way. Our intrapreneurship teams operate like young startups. But they have a decisive ace up their sleeve: STRABAG provides them with the financial resources and technical expertise to develop, test and ideally implement their ideas. With adASTRA, we invest in the innovative strength of our more than 74,000 employees. Because they are the ones who create and shape progress at STRABAG“.
Klemens Haselsteiner
The adASTRA Journey
In the adASTRA programme, small agile intrapreneurship teams develop innovative business concepts and test them in a stage-gate process for benefits and market demand.
In 2022, adASTRA received almost 100 applications from 16 countries. The seven members of the adASTRA Board were spoilt for choice, as they have to select around 30 people and startup ideas to elaborate their submitted proposals in the next phase. In the Qualification Phase, the idea owners get a budget of 30 hours and extra input in joint workshops as well as the necessary methodological tools to validate and present their results.
The next step is to decide which business ideas will be developed in detail and tested in practice. In this prototyping phase, diverse teams work closely together on six selected business ideas for three months, sparring with internal and external experts, e.g. with experienced venture architects within the teams. The STRABAG intrapreneurs can use up to 50 percent of their working time.
The teams then pitch their mature startup ideas to the adASTRA Board and other interested colleagues. Demo Day is the highlight and double D-Day of the adASTRA year because it is the day of decision. The members of the Board decide whether to take a project “under their wing“ and take it forward.
The projects selected for funding will then be further developed in a six-month phase and tested with pilot customers. If this so-called MVP Phase is successful, the search for additional investors and spinning off of the startups begins.
In the adASTRA programme, small agile intrapreneurship teams develop innovative business concepts and test them in a stage-gate process for benefits and market demand.
Impressions of the Programme 2021
MVP Projects 2021
bricksta – Heaters – teamup: these are the three teams that received funding on Demo Day 2021 to bring their business ideas to market as a pilot project in the following six months
Surplus construction resources which would normally be disposed of are sold via an app. This contributes significantly to the circular economy, with huge potential for scaling up. As an anchor client of the app, STRABAG can generate added value for ourselves here. But bricksta also promotes a more efficient use of resources throughout the industry.
Construction sites accumulate a lot of wood, for example as packaging material, which then has to be disposed of – normally. But it can also be processed directly on site into so-called wood chips, which are sold on and used further.
Matchmaking service meets job exchange! Many people seek a job consistent with their qualifications but on a part-time basis. teamup offers a platform that allows people to connect, form job teams and apply for full-time positions together: digitally networked job sharing that benefits both employees and employers. teamup is now the first adASTRA project to spin off their startup.
bricksta – Heaters – teamup: these are the three teams that received funding on Demo Day 2021 to bring their business ideas to market as a pilot project in the following six months
Eine Frage zu adASTRA?
adastra@strabag.com