Perspectives on Innovation

Anything with the word “NASA” attached to it instantly conjures up phrases of “rocket science”, “aerospace engineers”, “scientists” and “astronauts”. But many of you may also imagine “Star Trek” and “Star Wars”, works of imagination and science fiction, as far removed from the reality and practicality of the scientific and technologically advanced aura of NASA as can be. Or are they? NASA is about space exploration, the need to discover the unknown and to create the instruments and vehicles to make such exploration happen. But before such technologies can exist, you need imagination, ideas, creativity, innovation, and dreams.

Such is the beauty of the TEDxNASA event, where aerospace engineers, musicians, artists, authors, innovation consultants and neuroscientists come together to explore what it means to be creative and innovative. Steve Shapiro, our VP of Strategic Consulting, was one of the presenters to speak about innovation. His session was titled “Open Innovation for Rocket Scientists”

This six-minute presentation is packed with humor, insightfulness and a compelling argument for looking outside your area of expertise for the big breakthrough solutions to your problems: someone else may have solved your challenge. He cites an example where he asked a printer cartridge company “Who has solved this problem,” the problem being, “Who has sent something to the customer and they have returned it?” The answer, when you see the video, was a little unconventional.

Steve’s session reminds us about the power of experiences. It is not always those with the traditional educational qualifications and expertise who have all the answers, but those that have had experiences in similar scenarios and the ability to connect the two seemingly divergent situations who can contribute to the solution. The key, Steve stresses, is to make connections to different areas. Creative people are those who have more experiences and ideas and are able to connect the “dots”. Some of the most creative solutions really aren’t rocket science.

We recently announced the posting of the first InnoCentive for Startups Challenge, called “The Internet of Things“, by Precyse Technologies. We asked John Stopper, Co-Founder, CEO and President, to talk to us a bit about the Challenge and about being InnoCentive’s first InnoCentive for Startups Seeker.

Precyse Technologies is leveraging InnoCentive’s open innovation solution for startup companies. How will this benefit small companies? Would you recommend this?

Shifting from core product development to the high-growth stage in a startup’s evolution requires the company to scale rapidly while maintaining a lean and flexible structure. InnoCentive’s new offering targeted at startups allowed us to gain immediate access to a global talent base at a dramatically lower price point compared to the classical model of recruitment, training and execution. The InnoCentive approach also gave us greater control to sort through the different solver solutions, picking the best of breed approach with a very short time to market. The price advantage, time to market, control over the solution and the immediate access we gained to a global talent base makes InnoCentive a great choice for Precyse, both in the R&D and in the business development domains. I would recommend InnoCentive for startups to any company focusing on rapidly growing its market and product offering while maintaining an innovation advantage.

Your current Business Challenge is called “Enabling the Internet of Things“. Can you please explain the meaning behind the name, and explain a little bit about the Challenge.

Precyse offers its customers a wireless network solution, dedicated for asset and machine communications. This asset network allows inanimate objects, such as engines on an automotive manufacturer’s line, to wirelessly communicate their location, sensory status and even get remote instructions to take action. N3, the first bi-directional, wireless asset network standard from Precyse takes a lip forward in RFID evolution. Coupled with the Precyse Smart Agent, a ‘cell phone” build for assets, Precyse offers an out-of-the-box solution with the promise to build a world of networked and interconnected made-smart devices. Everything from engine parts, home appliances or cars may be in communications range, heralding the dawn of a new era; one in which today’s Internet (of data and people) gives way to tomorrow’s Internet of Things.

Following a successful technology cooperation with SAP, we decided to launch a first business challenge in the SAP pavilion on InnoCentive. The objective of this challenge is to identify exciting new opportunities, integrating the Precyse real time asset visibility product suite with legacy software solutions from leading supply-chain management vendors. We wish to incentive the community to help us indentify new partners and new end-customer opportunities, embracing this innovative approach for real-time supply chain visibility.

What appealed to you about posting your Challenge on InnoCentive?

We are always searching for new and innovative ways to enable fast growth and a smarter use of the company’s capital resources. Precyse found both with the Innocentive offering for startups. The impressive short term impact we experienced and the excellent support we have been receiving from the InnoCentive team contributed to making this a successful experience – one I would recommend to any fast-growth business to explore.

Last week, our friends at SAP held their world-wide technical conference in Phoenix.  A highlight of the conference was the Demo Jam, where 50 SAP “Imagineering” teams presented innovative SAP solutions.  The team that won the grand prize, as determined by audience applause, gave a demo that was both compelling and completely charming,  showcasing the Precyse Smart Agent.  In this demo, we learn about an application that incorporates SAP technology into the protection of a very important asset – a keg of beer.

In their presentation, Tobias and Sebastian, two engineers who seem to be straight out of central casting, demonstrate the Smart Agent – a small handheld device which can sense where the demoer is on stage and responds to his movements.  An asset tag is placed on a the aforementioned valuable asset, which is then “locked”.  The asset number is loaded into SAP’s Live Enterprise and certain security parameters are assigned.  The asset, in this case the keg, is always locked, unless someone with the correct Smart Agent tries to access it.  When Sebastian initially approaches the keg,  he can’t tap it and is understandably frustrated, until Tobias reminds him that he left his Smart Agent on the other side of the room.  When Sebastian returns to the keg with his Smart Agent, the keg unlocks itself and he is able to pour himself a draft.

Take a look at the demo – it’s a bit lengthy but the payoff is worth it.