Episode 49 – Ryan Edwards of Naked Innovations

In this podcast, Catherine Weetman talks to Ryan Edwards. Ryan is Co-founder of Naked Innovations, an eclectic mix of entrepreneurial “co-creators, fresh-thinkers, disruptors, shakers and provocateurs” that create and connect agrifood ecosystems to re-align the planet, business and people.

Ryan is passionate about transforming and innovating the agrifood industry by developing successful businesses, communities and teams. His background includes over 15 years international leadership experience at Cargill as European Marketing & Innovation Leader and as Managing Director of allfoodexperts.

While working for Cargill, Ryan noticed how the quality of innovation was affected by the diversity of people’s backgrounds and thinking.

He tells us about some of the systemic issues that companies face in trying to innovate, and how in many large organisations, people end up working in silos. What’s more, they often focus on the innovation or the technology itself, rather than what the world – and their customer – actually needs.

Ryan explains how Naked Innovations combines human-centred design and circular design to work on solutions that understand the needs of people and our planet. Ryan talks us through a major project at the French food manufacturer Danone, where Naked Innovations brought a wide range of people together to co-create solutions, avoiding the restrictive thinking that can happen when teams operate in silos.

Ryan also tells us how, after working with over 200 startups over the last few years, it’s become clear that startups also fail because they’re too focused on the technology and following the latest trend. Naked Innovations is helping solve this through a program called Team Up, matching startup founders to people with specific business expertise, to build a solid foundation for the business.