Innovating from trust: key takeaways from the conversation with Ezequiel Navarro

At INDPULS, we keep fostering spaces for conversation that help us look at innovation from a practical, ambitious perspective, connected to the real challenges companies face. In this context, the conversation with Ezequiel Navarro allowed us to share a particularly valuable reflection on how innovation ecosystems are built, how collaboration between organizations is activated, and what role artificial intelligence plays in business transformation.

One of the key takeaways from the session was understanding that innovation doesn’t come from technology alone. It comes, above all, from a certain way of relating to others: through trust, generosity, and admiration. In an increasingly competitive business environment, it’s especially inspiring to hear an idea as simple as it is powerful: trade envy for admiration.

Admiring what others do well doesn’t make us any smaller. On the contrary, it lets us learn, raise our own standards, and ask ourselves honestly what we do better than the competition. Far from being defensive, that question can become an engine for growth. Because innovating also means recognizing the talent around us and finding spaces where capabilities can add up.

During the conversation, the value of building shared projects between companies that, in other contexts, could be competitors was put on the table. This vision breaks with an all-too-common logic: protecting knowledge to the point of limiting its impact. Instead, a collaboration-based model was proposed, one where trust makes it possible to tackle challenges that would be difficult to take on individually.

The experience of Innova IRV – Fundación Ricardo Valle – shows exactly that possibility: bringing together companies, institutions, and talent around transformative projects, with clear governance and shared ambition. The key isn’t just bringing actors together, but creating the conditions for them to want to build together. For collaboration to be real, it needs purpose, rules of the game, and a vision ambitious enough that everyone feels it’s worth taking part.

Another especially relevant idea was that innovation isn’t always about being the best, but about daring to be first. Being first means taking on uncertainty, blazing a trail, and accepting that not all the answers will be available from the start. In many cases, the real differentiator isn’t waiting for the perfect solution, but mobilizing sooner, learning sooner, and reaching the market sooner. Being fast.

This approach connects directly with how to frame major innovation projects. To raise investment or funding, it’s not enough to ask for resources for one specific organization. The key question is what collective problem you want to solve, what impact it can generate, and what value it brings to the ecosystem as a whole. In other words: the strongest projects don’t ask “for me,” they propose building something that makes sense for many.

The conversation also addressed the role of artificial intelligence as a lever for transformation. Beyond the technological fascination, AI came up as a tool for gaining speed, efficiency, and autonomy. Its potential lies not only in automating tasks, but in allowing teams to develop internal solutions, reduce dependencies, and get closer, faster, to the real needs of the business.

Here, the discussion got especially interesting: what happens when a company can use AI to create tools that used to require long procurement, implementation, or adaptation processes? What changes when teams stop being merely users of technology and start becoming the protagonists of their own digital transformation?

The answer points to a deep cultural shift. Technology only creates impact when people adopt it with judgment, responsibility, and business vision. That’s why innovation can’t be delegated solely to a technical department. It has to become part of how every team looks at problems, makes decisions, and proposes solutions.

The value of open-source software and open models as accelerators of knowledge also came up. At a moment when the pace of change is enormous, making use of what already exists, adapting it, and building on top of it can be a competitive advantage. Innovation isn’t always about starting from zero, but about combining intelligence, judgment, and collaboration to go further.

The conversation left an underlying reflection very much in line with the spirit of INDPULS: innovating requires ambition, but also humility. Ambition to imagine big projects, mobilize resources, and aspire to compete on a global stage. Humility to learn from others, share knowledge, and recognize that the best solutions tend to emerge when different perspectives meet.

Ultimately, the session with Ezequiel Navarro reminded us that innovation isn’t just a matter of technology, investment, or methodology. It’s a culture. A way of looking at competition, activating trust, and building projects that go beyond individual interests.

In a context where artificial intelligence is accelerating every transformation process, ecosystems that know how to combine collaboration, courage, and generosity will have a decisive advantage. And perhaps that’s one of the most important messages from the event: innovation moves faster when we stop watching each other from a distance and start building from admiration.

Thank you, Ezequiel!

About Ezequiel Navarro