Whitespace announces another collaboration agreement, this time it's with Sideways 6!
After 6 weeks of solution sourcing, a rigorous two-phase down selection and an internal solution showcase, the Shell Digitalisation team has come to a decision.
In June earlier this year, Whitespace's own Ocean Allen hosted the Shell Digitisation Innovation Challenge Showcase alongside Helen Dawson (Digital Transformation Lead, Shell Retail) where five finalists took to the stage and pitched their solutions in a last bid to win a paid proof-of-concept project with Shell.
You’re probably wondering how we got here?
Well, after 6 weeks of searching the UK for the most talented SMEs to solve Shell's innovation problem we received over 30 applications. Through a rigorous two-phase down selection process that culminated in a selected few receiving one-to-one calls with our Shell x IBM x Whitespace challenge team, we had our final 5: Redu Group, Mobiry, Eagle Eye, Jigsaw Business Solutions Ltd and Tillo.
To decide the winner of the paid proof-of-concept project, these 5 teams pitched their solution to an audience consisting of a number of key stakeholders including Shell’s UK Marketing Manager, Payment & Loyalty Operations Manager and Global Digital Payments Lead.
Following each pitch the attendees had the opportunity to ask questions to the finalists and dive a little deeper into the solution.
So, who won the Innovation Challenge?
Following a final workshop with each of the finalists, to make sure Shell and the teams were clear on the objective and resources required for the next step before a collaboration is started, the stakeholders cast their votes.
Jigsaw Business Solutions Ltd came out on top and was awarded the paid POC project working alongside Shell’s Digital Transformation team to prove their solution can meet the capability requirements to roll out across the UK and in the future worldwide for Shell’s network of 45,000 service stations.
The Whitespace team would like to thank all candidates for participating in the challenge and to congratulate Jigsaw Business Solutions on their achievement - we look forward to seeing the winning solution in practice! 🚀
If you are a corporate or NGO interested in collaborating with Whitespace on an Innovation Challenge of your own, please email [email protected]