 |
Sunday, 16 September 2007 | Levent OZLER
The Speed of Innovation
A magenta satellite landed in Silicon Valley at Innovation Center Denmark on August 14th, in the form of award winning designer Frederik Andersen from the Danish design company Goodmorning Technology. At the Center, the Danish visitor talked to an engaged audience about the importance of mastering different speeds of innovation.
Goodmorning Technology, which has clients spanning from Bang and Olufsen to the Danish Ministry of Defense, sends out these satellites to hotspots worldwide in order to expand what Frederik Andersen calls the "semantic networks". A semantic network consists of design ideas put forth by different people. Being able to leverage the network by making a "hyper jump" from one node in the network to the other is what enables the evolution of products over longer time spans.
"When the cell phone was invented, no one knew that this device would revolutionize communication through text messaging, says Frederik Andersen. "Others took the technology and expanded upon it over time."
According to the Danish designer, this slow lane innovation is difficult for many companies to accept but is just as important as the fast lane "feature driven gadget race". The latter is what most companies like to focus on as expo deadlines and growth numbers are to be met.
"But you have to accept that everything moves fast and slow at the same time, and you have to move in both lanes to get anything sensible done within the field of design," explains the 33-year old Dane. He readily admits that he has to rely on other designers when moving in the slow, more strategic innovation lane.
"The evolving design phase is by definition out of our control and that is very important to remember when you buy design and innovation. I have to let other companies do stuff with my design, so that I can go out and see what they have done to it, and move their ideas forward in order to come back and win on the short range again, says the designer.
Discovering a New Product Line
Travelling in the innovation slow lane also means opening yourself up to significant long term changes in brands and products. And not having a strategy to follow might actually be a good thing.
"I don't want to sound too much like a Chinese proverb, but not knowing where you are headed, opens you up to new directions," said Frederik Andersen and gave an example from Goodmorning Technology, who just steered a manufacturer of consumer electronics into focusing on making accessories, such as wall brackets for TVs, within the realm of what is now being referred to as wireless living design.
"Who should have thought that a high-tech company could turn up their profits by going low tech? They just started out acknowledging that the bottom had fallen out of the market they were currently in," says the designer.
Afraid of Innovation
But not all companies embrace this innovation approach. Goodmorning Technology regularly meets with large corporations complaining that - next after recruiting qualified personnel - innovation is their biggest problem. And that innovation has to be a priority simply because everybody else is using it and thus winning the race.
"Seeing innovation like a problem is a dangerous self-contradiction", says Frederik Andersen who thinks companies simply don't know how to handle the concept.
"The VP of a large global corporation told me that his take on innovation was to place a box in the lunch rooms, where people could put their input for new products. This enabled him to say that he was encouraging new ideas and innovation. That was of course a bit chocking to me," says the designer and adds that he has heard similar stories from the US during his meetings with design studios here. Another misconception is when innovation gets confused with business development.
"If you have theory and strategy but no execution of this, there is nothing to give away and nothing for you to get feedback on. This means you can't go out in the semantic networks and see what happens to your ideas."
Thinking in the Negative Space
So what kinds of ideas are currently floating around in these semantic networks? Frederik Andersen mentioned a few that are ready to be expanded upon.
"Given the track records of trend forecasting, I don't believe in trends, but I believe in thinking in the negative space of things, which is utilizing the opposite of what you think will happen," he says mentioning how a concept like family values has been created as a backlash to the high divorce rate.
"Suddenly, we see men in their thirties buying Christmas ornaments or any kind of stuff that stresses the nearness of a family. I also see a lot of ideas for emotional products that reflect communication in a subtle way, like emotion sharing, said the Danish designer and mentioned prototypes from Philips and Ideo that give you the impression your family is always with you.
A backlash again status quo is also taking place in the field of products for the elderly.
"We like to say that that the young is the new old. When I get older, I refuse to accept that I no longer can use a computer. But today, some of the only products for this age group are big plastic boxes that look like they are designed for kids featuring buttons with options like "I have to pee", said the Danish designer in one of many poignant quotes during his presentation and concluded:
"The biggest change within design, however, is the way industry and design will interact during the next few years. As the industry is embracing design as a business parameter, it is now up to the designers to tell them how to actually benefit from and use design."
Frederik Andersen is travelling around the Southwest expanding his semantic network through the month of August. Goodmorning Technology is sending another satellite to the East coast next year.
For more information on the satellites, visit: http://www.goodmorningtechnology.com
|
|
|
