Not much time left but you can still apply for being the Director for Tech Watch & Business Innovation at Volvo IT.
I am acting right now but have no plans at all to continue, so please apply for one of the most interesting jobs at Volvo 
Read more: http://bit.ly/xUWeQD
Image by Edwin Lee, www.fotopedia.com
Earlier this year, September, I got an opportunity to be part of the Pure Insight, Innovation Leader program. It was held at Manchester United’s arena Old Trafford. During their annual member summit I held a presentation about Tech Watch & Business Innovation; how we work and have worked during the last 7 years to identifying new innovation opportunities. This presentation was one of many but it was really interesting to listen to the the other participants from companies such as, Phillips, Unilever, Astra Zeneca, Ericsson etc. It seems that we all have similar challenges and barriers independent of the type of business, type of customers and also type of corporate culture. It also seems as we are developing in the right direction for exploring new business opportunities though innovative usage of new IT. Our slogan at TWBI is Small Scale -big impact and Fail Fast Fail Cheap. This is becoming more and more valid as the speed of change are increasing for each month.
You can find some interesting reads on the subject here:
Challenges for Business Innovation Units
Innovative Leadership to Navigate Uncertainty
Finding Creative People Is Easy (and Here’s How)
Google was late to search.
Facebook was late to social networking.
Apple was late to the MP3 Player.
Where would we be if they listened to everyone who said they were too late?
It’s never too late. Just do it better.
We all know that the pace is high – the world seem to radically change with each roll-out of devices, software etc. But the focus on the “new” may hinder us from understanding that just beacuse someone has launched something it is not too late to build business value or even business success. Over the last month the web has been bursting with thought about Steve Jobs who recently passed away and his ability to “connect the dots”. I must say that it is inspirational to honor his boldness and I guess sometimes stubborn way of working and to “Just do it better”.
A qoute that relates to this line of thought is:
“The task is…not so much to see what no one has yet seen; but to think what nobody has yet thought, about that which everybody sees.”
? Erwin Schrödinger
Image via Wikipedia
I have been reading and following a lot of discussions on how fast 3D printing is evolving and I definitly think that this technology will make a big difference for the future.
Imagine a scenario when we don’t have to ship spareparts, just send the 3D model and print the part locally – amazing.
We have started a LinkedIn group to discuss this and other near-future technologies, please join and feel free to express yourself and discuss emerging IT Technologies.
Image via Wikipedia
The world seems to be so much focused on media tablets now so we seem to forget the alternatives.
Son: I bought a Google Chrome Computer the other day
Me: Why?
Son: Why not?
Me: If I remember right you can only run it through the Google Chrome browser. No applications, no storage…?
Son: So what? Of course I have applications but not locally stored. Everything is on the web in “the cloud”
Me: Ok, ok but where do you save all your files?
Son: What files? I have no files.
Me: ?
Me: You have more files than I have!
Son: I have content. Pictures at Flickr and Picasa. Videos at YouTube and others. Documents at Google Doc. Programming and source code at github.com and so on.
Me: Hmmm. But you have some files that are not so easy to categorize right?
Son: I also have for instance Dropbox or box.net if I want.
Me: But what happen if you have no internet connection?
Son: In that case I can’t do much but there are HTML5 applications that can be run offline. I can answer emails and work with documents offline. I am almost never offline and I have other computers. In fact I have my own server!
Me: Gotcha!
Son: I don’t think so. 99% of the time I can use my Chrome Computer without problems.
Me: Why not just buy an media tablet with a keyboard and get all the Apps as well?
Son: The best question so far! Yes, I thought about it but I wanted to try this concept when “everyone” else is trying iPads.
——-
I suddenly felt very old but I’m recovered now
Well, Google have a point with their cloud computer but maybe a bit early for enterprises. From a security standpoint the Chrome computer is more secure than anything else. There are some shortcomings of course. The available applications are not even close to iPads and Android tablets. With the HTML5 the situation will probably slowly change however.
The comparison with media tablets is not so far off. They are both internet focused. They both start up and close down immediately. I have a feeling that we will see combinations of both these concepts in the future.
Two years ago, was the first time I came in contact with Volvo IT and the Tech Watch & Business Innovation department. It was the start of a one year master thesis and we left the meeting with one question to answer: How can we create paperless assembly factories. The task seemed simple at first; simply display the work instructions in a digital form. Half a year of academic research proved the task was much more complex than that.
In future assembly systems extreme flexibility will be needed in order to handle the rapid changes in customer demand and mass-customization. Thereby the amount of information surrounding the assembly personnel is vast. This information flow requires the attention to be at a maximum at every moment in order not to compromise the quality.
When trying to push new information to the operators we need to make sure only to focus on the most important information and let all other information be within reach. Information is quickly ignored if repeated and irrelevant.
This research led to a prototype called iMont, where we used an iPhone to display information to the assembly operator. A consumer product like the iPhone has the advantage of mobility, intuitive user interface and social acceptance from the users (Using consumer gadgets Vs Industrial specific equipment). By using a mobile device to unify information we can avoid ambiguity in the information and use attention triggers such as the vibrator to alert important information.
Advantages of mobile information services:
IT solutions are not always positively experienced by the production personnel. In this case however, we included a test group from the assembly line that where involved in several steps of the development of the prototype. This way of working proved positive as all users that tested the application wanted to see the application realized.
Other mobility prototypes that I have been involved in:
At the moment I am working on a commuter gamification that will help in “Keepin’ the world cool”, this prototype was awarded best prototype at http://www.travelhack.se/ earlier this month. More information about this project at http://www.greenbits.se/.
Since this year, Volvo IT has become a partner of Innovation Pioneers, a network founded in 2008 by innovation practitioners from various industries. Some colleagues from Volvo IT (Peter Fransson, Lars Bogren (TWBI), Robert Valton (AD PM, TravelHack participant) and Sandra De Lobel (Jam IT) had the opportunity to participate in the symposium Innovation in Action 2011 where it was possible for us to:
How can you develop a food providing system to implement in a social community? A challenge given by Ikea.Or how can we create a business model to make an application that contains all user manuals worldwide virtually? What would that be like?
It was a lot of hard brainstorming and work but at the same time it was very inspiring and energizing! Within Volvo IT, we try to build our Innovation Culture via the Jam IT events and by asking you to spread and communicate all your creative ideas!
Read more about this network and about the event via www.innovationpioneers.net!
Image via Wikipedia
A large part of my latest prototypes have had the same theme. That theme is “using consumer products (smartphones) instead of industrial specific devices”.
Smartphones are the most intelligent gadgets we are normally using these days. It give us far more information than the pc. For instance by using GPS, compass, camera, gyroscope combined with patttern recognition, touch screen interface and so on.
The advantages of using smart phones instead of special made hardware are many. For instance:
The cost of a custom made device is often a factor of 10-100 times a smartphone.
Sometimes I get the argument that within a factory or workshop environment, you need a robust hardware that is when you lose it and that can withstand oily fingers. Sure, but a typical smartphone can actually be ruggedized with a cheap enclosure that makes it more durable. So the question is if the smartphone can do the same job as a special made gadget. If it can or if it only lacks a small portion of the functionality. Go for it!
Following are some of my prototypes with this theme:
Image via Wikipedia
Volvo IT is the official supplier of an IT platform to the Volvo Ocean Race that will start in little more than a month from now.
Read about what they are doing all around the globe!
Here follows their own statement:
Follow the Volvo IT crew’s stories as they embark on their mission around the world, where they’ll implement IT solutions from places like the desert of Abu Dhabi to the tropical climate of Sanya, China.
Find it here: http://volvoitblog.com/vor
Following up on last succesful JAM where our employees generated 274 really good ideas, we decided to start our 2011 global innovation jam, “JAM IT” this week.
All employees around the world (35 sites) are invited to collaborate together virtually to generate new ideas.
Our employees have the possibility to contribute with ideas, comment & build upon each others ideas and also invest in the best ideas – i.e. the “crowd” will decide upon the top 20 ideas that will move on to the next stage.
It’s so exciting to follow & contribute to this event, a lot of really good ideas, collaboration and discussions between different countries, cultures and departments. Energy & Passion!
Bad Behavior has blocked 111 access attempts in the last 7 days.