About Wazoku

We are an innovative SaaS business helping to change the world one idea at time. We are the global home for all ideas, giving a voice and role to everyone in the innovation process.

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What we do

  • Through our market-leading technology, proven methodologies and Open Innovation Marketplace, we empower organisations to solve complex problems and continually drive innovation
  • Every day we help people find, capture and share ideas to improve our world. From new retail concepts transforming the high street, to new ways to purify water in developing countries
  • We are a global home for all ideas, giving a voice and role to everyone in the innovation process
  • Our Mission is to Change the World, One idea at a time
  • Our vision is to be the world's leading innovation software company enabling problem solving at scale, helping people to find, capture and share ideas to improve our world
  • Our values: Passionate, Customer Focused, Collaborative, Accountable

Wazoku placed 50th in the list and is one of the few first-year entrants to place on the Best WorkplacesTM list, a testament to the company’s focus on creating an empowering and healthy place of work.

“From the very first hire at Wazozku, we have tried to make it a place that anyone would want to work at,” said Simon Hill, CEO, Wazoku. “Any business is only as good as the people that work there, so it’s vital for our own growth to ensure that our workplace is healthy and happy. It’s been a massively challenging year, but we have spent a lot of time talking to employees about what they want from the workplace and how we can make it happen. To be recognised for this is an important moment for me.”

Wazoku scored highly on the Great Place to Work® UK criteria. 100% of employees agreed that people were treated fairly, regardless of their sexual orientation, and that special events at the company were celebrated. 98% of employees said that Wazoku treated people fairly regardless of sex, age and ethnic origin, and 98% also said they were proud to tell others they worked at Wazoku.

See our listing here.

Simon Hill

CEO, Co-founder

Why we do it

  • We see innovation as a positive force for change
  • As a purpose-led, Carbon Neutral company, this is part of who we are and what we do. It is our goal to help you to change the world, one idea at a time
  • Every day we help people find, capture and share ideas to improve our world
  • From natural disasters to new drug development, from solar events to circular economy, our Challenge Driven InnovationTM methodology is a proven approach to delivering tangible innovation and transformation outcomes for global organisations
  • We understand that your innovation and transformation challenges are complex and we have built the tools and frameworks to reduce complexity and support you in building your culture of innovation

Our journey so far

  • Founded in 2011 Wazoku is both a for-profit and a for-purpose business
  • We see innovation and sustainability as the core pillars of our business
  • In 2020, Wazoku acquired InnoCentive, and in doing so created the world’s most comprehensive innovation offering
  • Founded in 2001, InnoCentive is a pioneer in the use of crowdsourcing for innovation, running more than 2,000 challenges with a 78% success rate on behalf of organisations including NASA, AstraZeneca, Enel and VW
  • Together, Wazoku & InnoCentive allow you to create sustainable and scalable innovation success
  • We’ve been named one of the UK’s 30 leading tech scaleups, as part of Tech Nation’s Upscale 4.0! See more of our recent news and blogs

Eshwari Chandrashekhar

Director, Software Engineering

Our people are what truly set us apart

  • Collaboration and growth are not just things we advocate for our customers, they're how we work and develop together
  • We’ve built an incredible and talented team of individuals who love where they work - and we couldn't be more proud
  • As a founder led business, Wazoku is more like a family than a company. Ourvalues are grown from our roots, and include:
  • A deep commitment to diversity
  • Making positive social impact through our work and the way we run the business
  • A commitment to a more regenerative future
  • A passionate belief in supporting and nurturing our team

Sarah Counts

Chief Operating Officer

Our charity partners

We seek to make a positive social impact through our charity partners

  • We select a charity partner every 1-2 years, using our own platform to crowdsource potential charity partners from ideas across the business, typically these are charities who have some personal connection to one or more of the team
  • In the past we have partnered with MS Society, The Princes Trust and our current Charity partner is the Anthony Nolan Foundation
  • Our support includes more than just fund and awareness raising activity, we run a charity hackathon for the partner where the whole company gets involved in solving real challenges for the partner
  • Our Charity partners are gifted access to our platform for 12 months and then continue to benefit from it at a special charity partner rate for life thereafter
  • If you are interested in finding out more about this and registering interest in being a charity partner click here
  • Every day, Anthony Nolan match incredible individuals willing to donate their blood stem cells or bone marrow to people with blood cancer and blood disorders who desperately need lifesaving transplants
  • It all began in 1974. With her three-year-old son Anthony in urgent need of a bone marrow transplant, Shirley Nolan set up the world’s first register to match donors with people in desperate need
  • Now, the charity helps three people each day find that lifesaving match
  • There are over 800,00 people on their UK register. You can join it here

Where we operate

  • Everywhere. Like so many of our clients we are now a truly hybrid & global business
  • We are headquartered in London and have offices in Bristol, United Kingdom, Copenhagen, Denmark and the United States. Interested in joining the team? We’re hiring!

Join the Wazoku Family

At Wazoku, we believe that every individual can have an impact and create positive change through the power of great ideas.

See current openings

Benefits & Perks

We offer benefits including a flexible holiday policy, office hackathons, flexible working, food & drinks, pension scheme, the best summer parties, mental health services, Perkbox, endless training opportunities and much more.

Flexible Holiday

A flexible leave policy which recognises that employees are best able to determine when and how often they need to take time off to recharge their batteries, while still meeting their performance objectives.

Mental Health Services

We've partnered with InsideOut, an on-demand mental health platform, dedicated to breaking down social stigma and opening up the mental health conversation. Everyone has mental health and we couldn't support their mission more. Employees can join at any time.

Team Events

Company offsites, summer & Christmas parties, charity engagement and more. Tune into WazoTV for special company announcements.

Flexible working (flex work hours)

We offer flexible working (flex work hours), as we recognise the positive impacts it has on increasing productivity and reducing stress, as well as promoting a healthy work-life balance.

Perks – discount scheme

We know the right perks are important! We’ve signed up for a scheme that offers free perks and hundreds of discounts across shopping, gym memberships, holidays, learning and much more! Employees can join at any time.

Pension

Investing in a pension is essential to all. We offer an award-winning workplace pension scheme to help you save for your retirement. You’ll be automatically enrolled and have your own personal online account.

You could help solve the World's greatest challenges

Become a solver and you will:

Make a Positive Impact

Solvers have contributed to tackling some of the world’s most pressing problems, from facilitating access to clean water at a household level to passive solar devices designed to attract & kill malaria-carrying mosquitos.

Promote Yourself and Earn Rewards

We’ve awarded more than $40 million to thousands of brilliant Solvers from around the world. The average award amount for a Challenge is around $20,000 but some offer awards of over $100,000 or more. But it’s not just about the financial reward, your accomplishment is guaranteed to attract attention on your CV or social profile.

Exercise Your Brain

Challenges are real problems requiring sustained concentration, critical thinking, research, creativity, and synthesis of knowledge. Developing a solution is incredibly rewarding and an unparalleled mental workout.

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