Public Prototyping

28 November 05

Most corporate executives are disappointed by their companies’ innovation performance.  They see the number one cause of poor innovation performance as “competing internal priorities,” according to a survey done by the US Council on Competitiveness. 

What this means is that innovation initiatives frequently get “crowded out” by more pressing matters.  Most companies don’t compete directly on innovation, so innovative activities are often given a lower priority in daily work than are other more urgent initiatives.

Public prototypes provide a way to increase the urgency of innovation itself.  When a company makes a commitment to publically show prototype products and technologies, it creates a public milestone.  This kind of milestone, be it in the form of a trade show or technology contest, forces the organization to deliver.

This approach is not a new one.  Auto companies show concept cars at auto shows, and use the information they get from these showings to modify the products that will be launched.   

Here are two recent examples of public prototyping – one is a trade show, the other a contest. 

Japan’s CEATEC Trade Show

The Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies (CEATEC) trade show takes place in Tokyo each October.  Many of the products preview what is on display at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show the following January.  But there are also early prototypes of products and technologies on display at the show.  This October, Murata showed its bicycling robot (pictured above) and Toshiba showed a fuel cell powered MP3 player, which can play for 60 hours on 10 ml of methanol.

Toshiba’s fuel cell powered MP3 player

            These products are not for sale, and may never find their way to market.  But the discipline of publically demonstrating these new ideas, embodied in a functioning prototype, can give innovative activities extra pull in the fight for corporate attention and resources. 

The DARPA Grand Challenge – an innovation contest

Stanford’s VW Stanley – Winner of DARPA’s Grand Challenge

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is the central research and development organization for the US Department of Defense.  It has been the source of many breakthrough innovations, from the Arpanet, the predecessor to the internet, to the stealth fighter and the Predator drone. 

The military needs cars that can drive themselves.  DARPA wanted to tap as broad a group of technologists as possible to see whether anyone had developed technology to meet this military need.  So, in 2002, Darpa announced their “Grand Challenge,” with a $1 million prize to the first unmanned vehicle that could navigate a course through the Nevada/California desert.   

The first challenge was run in March, 2004 with 15 entrants.  None of the entrants finished and so no prize was awarded. 

In 2005, DARPA raised the prize to $2 million and ran the race in October.  This time there was more success -- of the 23 vehicles entered, three finished in under 10 hours.  The winner was a team from Stanford Engineering.  Two other teams from Carnegie-Mellon finished the course as well.

“It’s incredible what Stanford and the two Carnegie-Mellon teams did today …When the Wright Brothers flew their little plane, they proved it could be done. And just as aviation ‘took off’ after those achievements, so will the very exciting and promising robotics technologies displayed here today.”

DARPA Grand Challenge Director Dr Tony Tether, DARPA press release 8 Oct 05

            Volkswagen was one of the research sponsors of the winning Stanford team. They are particularly interested in what they refer to as “driver-assistance systems.” These are safety features, like lane “departure” warnings and intelligent cruise control, which keep cars from accidents when the driver is distracted.

            "We can take a lot of the approaches used in Stanley and adapt them. It's a nice fresh wind of ideas."

Sven Strohband, senior research engineer at the Volkswagen Electronics Research Laboratory in Palo Alto, Calif., in The New York Times

The challenge facing VW lies in ensuring that the work on these innovations is not overcome by competing priorities.  To make sure that this innovation remains a high priority for the company, they might consider continuing the public prototyping approach, perhaps by making a commitment to include these features in a new concept car.

More Information:

1. The DARPA Grand Challenge.

2. Japan’s CEATEC consumer electronics show;  a recent article in Business Week.

3. The New York Times article on the DARPA Challenge.

4. Last week’s update on barriers to innovation progress discusses the results of executive surveys on innovation performance.