Corporate venturing's clock cannot be turned back and corporations are refining their strategies for the next generation.

Global Corporate Venturing talks to and analyses more than 550 corporate venturing units round the world and this privileged position throws up a number of similarities about the groups that have been successful.

Above the people, the organisation and even the aims of the corporate venturing unit is whether the culture at the parent is receptive to the ideas and deals that will be brought back through interactions with external entrepreneurs.

The corporate venturing unit, therefore, can act either as…