Julia Hitzbleck is an innovation expert at Bayer, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical and life sciences companies. She works at the intersection of internal innovation programs and open innovation, including her work at Lifehub Berlin — Bayer's co-working and incubation space designed to connect the corporate with the startup world.

What We Cover

• What Julia's role at Bayer involves and how she got there
• Why large companies struggle to innovate internally — and what to do about it
• How the Catalyst Entrepreneurship Program develops entrepreneurial mindset inside Bayer
• What Lifehub Berlin is and how it connects corporate teams with the startup ecosystem
• What makes a successful corporate-startup collaboration
• How to measure culture change inside a large organization

Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction

01:00 – Julia's path to innovation at Bayer

04:00 – What open innovation means inside a 100,000-person company

07:30 – The Catalyst Entrepreneurship Program: building intrapreneurs

12:00 – Lifehub Berlin: co-working, incubation, and startup connection

17:00 – What makes corporate-startup collaborations succeed or fail

22:00 – Measuring culture change and what success looks like

Key Takeaways

1. Culture change at scale requires a portfolio of programs. Bayer combines structured entrepreneurship training, physical spaces like Lifehub Berlin, and open innovation partnerships to create multiple entry points for the innovation mindset.
2. The best corporate-startup collaborations start with a clear problem. When a corporate comes to a startup with a vague mandate to "innovate," it rarely works. When they come with a specific, unsolved problem, both sides have something real to work on.
3. Intrapreneurs need protection, not just support. Training and permission aren't enough if incentives still punish failure. Creating genuine space for experimentation means protecting people from the consequences of trying something that doesn't work.

Resources & Links Mentioned

Bayer: bayer.com

Lifehub Berlin: lifehub-berlin.de

Where to Find Julia Hitzbleck

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/juliahitzbleck

Where to Find Yaniv Corem

Link in bio: sleek.bio/yanivcorem

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yanivcorem

Subscribe & Follow

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to The School of Innovation so you never miss a conversation.

Listen on Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/5VOBVkueP7zg5ErNYtrmPL

Listen on Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-school-of-innovation/id1498420449

Have a guest recommendation or want to be on the show? Email [email protected]

For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected]