The Sabesp Entrepreneur Prize Program to enhance Corporate Innovation

Abstract

The Sabesp Entrepreneur Award aims to stimulate the generation of ideas and proposition of innovative projects by company employees and thereby reduce inefficiencies and propose new solutions for the market, expanding their competitive capacity. The changes are stimulated, on the one hand, by the possibility of increasing competition due to changes in the regulatory framework and, on the other, by the growing demand of its consumers for new products and a better level of services. However, the finding of a still incipient culture of innovation at Sabesp could be a restrictive factor that would need to be addressed. The proposed solution was materialized in the Entrepreneur Sabesp Award, which receives ideas and good practices or technical experiences from employees. The solutions are evaluated and the best ones are awarded, and the qualified ideas are submitted to a feasibility study to become a technical project and the practices and experiences are shared with the company’s areas for replication. The program is continuous and applied in annual cycles. As an evolution, it is envisaged that the program will constantly adapt its model in order to reduce compensation stimuli and increase natural and autonomous engagement with entrepreneurship. The work reinforces the strategic role that can be played by a people management area, by boosting business results through organizational transformation actions.