JAM IT – Volvo IT global innovation jam

Posted on September 6, 2011 by Peter Fransson

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!

 

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Will knowledge be useless in the future?

Posted on July 8, 2011 by JP Fendrich
Tree of knowledge

"Tree of knowledge" from Edward Smith

Just to answer the question in the title immediately. Of course not!

The concept of knowledge will not change but what we regard as useful knowledge will change as it always have changed. Our forefathers had knowledge of things that we do not even know exist today.

We live in an exponential time where technology constantly changing our lives. Radio, television, Internet are all examples of technologies that has totally changed our habits. Software is becoming smarter and hardware is becoming faster. Nanotechnology produces materials that we have never experienced before, and medicine and biotechnology change our bodies physically.

When the rate of change is so fast that even specialists find it hard to keep up with developments, the question becomes what should we have knowledge of? What is useful knowledge? Did you see when IBM’s Watson beat some really strong humans in Jeopardy? Amazing but only one step of many to come. Software is slowly getting smarter and will eventually reach human level in many/most areas. If computers can give us the answers what is useful knowledge?

Here are some ideas:

  • Knowledge about how to get knowledge. I would say this is the most important knowledge above all. More than ever! Where to search, who to ask, what information can I trust and so on.
  • Knowledge about human values. I think that the school should teach about how humans interact together, the dynamics of networks, ethics and so on. Internet did in many ways highlight these issues. Things such as Open Knowledge and Open source came around. That is why knowledge about the underlying structures of social networks is important, in my opinion. What makes the crowd act in certain ways? When do we get “wisdom of crowds” and not “madness of the mob”? If we know these patterns we will also act accordingly.

Let’s stop with these two. I know there must be more. Please give me a hint!

 

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Instructions in your pocket

Posted on June 19, 2011 by Kerstin Hanson

One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is when I get to try new technology together with users in the Volvo Group business. The chance to really get to know a part of our business and at the same time help the colleagues in that business take advantage of new technology to improve some aspect of their day-to-day job is exciting!

My latest prototype was executed out in the workshop together with service technicians from Volvo Trucks in Sweden and China. The basic idea was to see if we might further increase quality in the services performed by the technicians if they had easy access to real-time information on a mobile device. The ideation and development was done in cooperation with Volvo Parts.

Questions that we wanted to evaluate during the prototype were:
- Is it possible to use a consumer product, like a smartphone, in the tough environment of a workshop?
- What is the perception of usability and access to the information?
- Can we use animations rather than text or in combination with text and images?

The feedback from the tests has been very positive and I hope that this technology will soon help our technicians to deliver up-time to our customers!

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For how long will native Apps be hot?

Posted on June 13, 2011 by JP Fendrich
App Store

Image via Wikipedia

In the “Internet world” trends, standards and technologies tend to be obsolete much faster than ever. One of the things that are on the agenda now is Apps and App libraries such as Apple’s App Store for instance. The typical scenario is that you search for an App in the the App library and click to download the program to your smartphone. With the introduction of the new web standard Html5 and more mature cloud services the need for native local Apps more or less disappear. At least after a few years when the Html5 standard supports more mobile functions. Right now Html5 lack some important smartphone functions such as access to the Gyroscope or the media files. There are other functions in the smartphone however that Html5 can access such as the GPS and the touch screen. Html5 will develop over time and will eventually cover all (or most) native functions in the smartphone.

At that time, let’s say 3 years from now, it is hard to see why a library for only Apple or Microsoft Apps is useful. They are specialized for one platform only and need different development environments. Html5 is not restricted to any platform, it is reached from any browser that can read Html5 (that is all web browsers). So why download an App to the local memory when it can be just a link? Html5 also have support for offline operations when needed and possible. I think we will soon see a combination of native Apps and Html5 Apps in our smartphones. As a user I don’t need to know if an App is local, Html5 or mixed. Over time native Apps will be fewer and fewer and replaced by Html5 Apps. Maybe we “never” will completely stop using native Apps but the number will drop significantly!

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Volvo Group TechShow 2011

Posted on May 30, 2011 by Peter Fransson

Last week, our team, TechWatch & Business Innovation, participated in the Volvo Group TechShow, a great full week event, aiming for demonstrating new innovative concepts and solutions that have not yet reached the market. Over 100+ exhibitors, visitors from all Volvo Group BA/BU’s, customers, partners, suppliers, universities external press etc.

Our small team, TechWatch & Business Innovation, had these stations;

  • Connected Mechanic
  • iMONT
    • The prototype explores new ways to present information to the assembly worker through the use of Smartphones. Enabling the user to get personalized data at the right time and at the location it is needed – saving time and improving quality.
  • Roadmapper
    • We explored new methods and technologies for visualization of business and technology roadmaps. By utilizing new innovative ways to interact with data we added value for all stakeholders working with these plans at Volvo.
  • Serious leap / game on lean manufacturing
    • A prototype that explored the potential of game-based learning, both from a technical and business value perspective.

Meet J-P Fendrich, our TechWatch manager, who presented the “Serious Leap” prototype

Read more;

http://www.chinatrucks.com/news/2011/0601/article_2718.html

http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/innovation/forskning_utveckling/article3186354.ece

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Internet of Things

Posted on May 27, 2011 by JP Fendrich
picture by http://mediaspin.com

picture by http://mediaspin.com

The April issue of Technology Outlook is about this subject. You can read it here. Following are some more comments about it.

As sensors of all kinds will be cheaper and smaller we will be surrounded by them. I am talking about sensors that measure temperature, humidity, light, vibrations and much more. They can also, for instance identify sounds, smells and their own positions. The scenario is that sensors will be attached to everyday objects and also are connected to the Internet. Both HP and IBM run projects that literally will fill the earth with sensors that can communicate with each other and out into the Internet.

Our smartphones will not only be sensors themselves. They will also be able to read surrounding sensors, thus both receive and give information to the rest of the world.

When? This is already an ongoing phenomenon. Just wait a couple of years and look around you!

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Small or large, do we need to choose?

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Kerstin Hanson

I’m one of those people that was absolutely amazed by the iPad. The screen size and what you could achieve with that large touch interface was really fascinating. However, I now carry 3 devices in my bag rather than one! Yeah, I still carry around my laptop.

So the initial fascination has decreased somewhat and I have reluctantly accepted that my smartphone is the best compromise between mobility, functionality and availability. But what if we didn’t have to choose, what if we could use any surface for interaction with the digital world. There has been a lot of experiments in this area and a lot of futuristic visions, e.g. this

Credit: Microsoft Research

Recent research at Microsoft and the University of Washington shows that this futuristic future might not be as far away as one might think.

In this experimental interface any wall can become an interactive surface.

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Smarter Traveler traffic prediction tool

Posted on April 15, 2011 by Peter Fransson
Establishing Shot: The 405

Image by Atwater Village Newbie via Flickr click for video

For me, commuting to and from work normally takes at least 2 hours per day, I guess I’m quite lucky compared to a lot of people living in larger cities.
Although I’m constantly trying to improve my personal commuting habits by using “Commute Greener” I would  like to plan my trips better in advance, for instance to be alerted to traffic problems before it’s too late to avoid them.

IBM Reserach has recently announced that they have developed a new predictive modeling tool that will let drivers quickly access personalized travel recommendations to help them avoid congestion, and save time and fuel.

The “Smarter Traveler tool” relies on predictive analytics software, GPS monitoring and sensors already on the roads to not only offer alerts, but build a model of each person’s usual commuter route. Once the system is trained a bit, commuters are able to check out what’s effectively a forecast of their entire route before they even leave the house.

The tool is currently being tested in the San Fransisco Bay area.

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China – a great experience

Posted on April 6, 2011 by Kerstin Hanson

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So finally, after a lot of planning and many phone conferences with Chinese colleagues, Tommy and I got to experience the real thing.

China! So far away, but not as different as I had expected. However there were of course some obvious differences such as the architecture and language. What I found most striking was the spirit that we experienced. China has still a long way to go, but the people want, can and will develop! And everything moves in Maglev speed!

Wangfujing Street, Beijing Author: Nggsc (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)

So, maybe it is true, constraints and challenges really fuels innovation? At least that’s my experience after meeting and ideating with the people at Beijing Walker, Volvo Trucks Operation in Beijing and Volvo Construction Equipment in Shanghai. I’m really looking forward to continue this exciting journey with you!

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Prototyping & Creativity workshops in China & Japan

Posted on April 6, 2011 by Tommy Hansson

After two full weeks of travelling and working together with collegues in China and Japan I feel energized! The creativity workshops in Beijing, Shanghai and Ageo together with our collegues generated many, many ideas adopted to the local market needs. I remember that Kerstin and I tried to keep up with documenting all ideas about new services and applications for the aftermarket & Softproducts teams - sessions like this really gives me energy!

On going creativity Workshop

Service by Voice prototype testing in action

Many discussions we had during the trip was about reversed innovation and also how we could utilize the exponential growth on the consumer market to find solutions, consumerization, suitable for the local markets in Asia.
During a lunch at a restaurant close to the office in Beijing I noticed that the waiter used a standard feature phone and tapped in all our order in an application on the phone – this is exatcly the solutions that we need to explore and reverse back to the western countries. Using consumer products and applications inside the business processes would most certain allow us to develop solutions to a lower cost and with accepted functionally. A similar mindset and resoning that we used when developing our prototypes, Service by Voice and Connected Mechanic, that we tested at the Beijing walker dealership – enabling the mechanics to access service instruction via a smartphone application.

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