Creating value: alliances between companies from different sectors

Alliances between companies have a greater capacity for innovation and social transformation when the companies that are associated belong to different sectors. These are collaborations that not only profoundly boost creativity and competitiveness, but also have great potential to contribute to a more sustainable world.

Here are some of the benefits of joining forces from different and complementary fields:

• Accelerated innovation: the combination of knowledge and technologies from different sectors stimulates the development of innovative solutions that would be difficult to see the light of day if each company went its own way. The diversity of perspectives and skills promotes the generation of new ideas.
• Optimization of resources: companies share infrastructures, knowledge and technologies.
• Access to new markets: Strategic cross-sectoral alliances facilitate the integration of complementary knowledge and networks.
• Improved competitiveness: by going hand in hand, companies offer more complete and attractive products and services, taking advantage of the complementarity of unique capabilities developed in their respective sectors.

In addition to generating economic value, these alliances can make a difference in society by promoting sustainability.

Ford + Google. Together, these companies are developing smart and sustainable mobility solutions. Ford brings its expertise in automotive, while Google contributes its mastery in technology and data analytics. Integrating advanced data and analytics technologies into smart vehicles helps reduce fuel consumption and improve urban traffic planning.

Enel (Endesa) + Nissan. The energy company and the automotive company have launched Second Life, an energy storage system that uses used electric vehicle batteries. This circular economy project improves energy efficiency and grid stability to meet the needs of an isolated electricity system such as Melilla’s.

Unilever + Veolia. Unilever, a multinational consumer products company, and Veolia, which specialises in resource management, have joined forces to develop circular economy solutions for the management of plastic waste from packaging.

Siemens + SAP. The digital solutions they have co-created improve the efficiency of industrial processes, which in turn drives sustainability. Siemens has contributed its know-how in industrial automation and digitalization, and SAP, its expertise in software and data analysis.