As Barilla opens applications for its 2026 Good Food Makers program, participating startups risk their entire existence. The corporate partner risks little more than a meeting and a budget line, according to Food & Beverage Outlook. This fundamental imbalance defines open innovation today.
Corporations increasingly launch open innovation programs to unlock deep tech from agile startups. Yet, these partnerships frequently demand startups risk survival while corporations commit minimal resources.
Without a fundamental shift towards equitable risk-sharing and genuine corporate accountability, the long-term sustainability and true innovative potential of these collaborations will remain limited.
Program Structure and Corporate Motivations
Barilla's Good Food Makers program features an eight-week co-development process for selected startups, reports emeoutlookmag. The eight-week co-development process allows corporations to efficiently integrate startup innovation. The Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) notes that such partnerships unlock deep tech for corporations, providing access to cutting-edge technologies without the full R&D burden. Corporations, therefore, leverage startup agility as a de-risked R&D arm.
The Unequal Burden of Innovation Risk
Enterprise pilots often force startups to risk survival. Corporations, however, risk little more than a meeting, a budget line, and internal approvals, reports KoreaTechDesk. The imbalance of risk allows corporations to acquire innovation with minimal downside. Startups face existential threats, making genuine partnership impossible. Programs like Barilla's, with an eight-week co-development process, effectively outsource innovation with minimal corporate skin in the game, potentially stifling the very startup ecosystem they claim to support.
Agile Collaboration: Risk Shifting, Not Sharing
Agile, cross-sector collaborations in Singapore accelerate transformation and help reduce risk in emerging tech, according to the Singapore EDB. Corporations strategically de-risk ventures by distributing development across agile partners. However, this 'risk reduction' is misleading. It implies a shared burden when, in reality, risk is merely shifted from corporation to startup, creating an unsustainable model for genuine partnership. Corporations externalize risk entirely onto participating startups.
True Partnership Demands Shared Responsibility
Genuine partnership requires corporations to adopt shared responsibility. Dr. Woong Hwan Ryu exemplifies this, advocating full accountability for both success and failure in collaborations. Such accountability moves beyond transactional relationships. The primary challenge in open innovation remains the fundamental asymmetry of risk: corporations benefit from innovation without proportional investment in startup stability. Without corporate leaders embracing full accountability—not just for success, but for failure—many partnerships will remain unsustainable, merely leveraging the 'unlock deep tech' narrative without proportional commitment, as reported by KoreaTechDesk.
If corporate leadership fails to adopt truly shared risk models, the promise of open innovation will likely remain unfulfilled, leaving startups vulnerable and corporations with limited, short-term gains.
