In this episode of the AlchemistX Innovators Inside Podcast, Ian Bergman sits down with Victor Mulas, the first Chief Innovation Officer at Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC), to unpack a 20-year journey that stretches from telecom deregulation in Europe to shaping startup hubs on three continents. Victor reveals the Panini Effect—his practical framework for sandwiching top-down vision with grassroots momentum—to push bold ideas through even the most risk-averse organizations.
Key takeaways include:
Activate the Glue. Why vibrant “networking assets” (events, mentors, super-connectors) are the real catalyst that binds university talent, capital, and policy into a living ecosystem.
Incentives Over Talk. How Victor aligns systems and rewards so innovation isn’t just a slogan from the C-suite but a career accelerator for project managers on the ground.
From Pilot to Platform. Lessons from scaling CIC’s community model from Cambridge to Tokyo—and how any company can globalize a proven playbook without losing local soul.
The Sandwich vs. The Panini. Tactics for pressing resistance out of large institutions, drawn from Victor’s decade steering billion-dollar World Bank programs.
Whether you’re a corporate intrapreneur wrestling with red tape or a government leader designing the next startup cluster, Victor’s stories deliver a punchy, field-tested roadmap for turning bureaucracy into breakthroughs.
For more episodes and resources, visit https://www.alchemistaccelerator.com/podcasts.
