Cargill program is incubating innovation in a corporate culture

David Patchen wants to see some failure. Otherwise, he’s not doing his job properly.

"If we don’t fail, then we are not taking enough risks," said Patchen, managing director of the Emerging Business Accelerator (EBA) at Cargill Inc.

With the bravado of a venture capitalist and the discipline of a veteran corporate executive, Patchen and his small team is charged with the task of turning employee ideas into new businesses for Cargill.

Cargill isn’t the first company to do this: Major corporations like Medtronic, IBM and Whirlpool also have programs meant to pluck the best ideas from employees. At Medtronic, the company goes so far as to offer grants to employees who want to chase a far-out idea for a while. Winners get up to $50,000 for whatever they decide they need, including hiring outside experts or contracting with research universities, and they can devote part of their regular workdays to their project.

But Cargill’s EBA, which Patchen describes as an "intrapreneurial" investment fund, stands out for a different reason — its strict adherence to speed and the rules of venture capital. Good ideas are rushed to market. Bad ideas meet swift death.

The goal is to create independent business units within Cargill that can immediately contribute to the bottom line.

Thomas Lee, Star Tribune

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