Accelerating Unique Designs
From architecture to fashion, most anyone can appreciate great design. Whether sleek or ornate, functional or artistic, great design is a thing of beauty. The growth of open innovation has been valuable in accelerating the adoption of unique consumer products and technologies and also some creative designs as seen in these stories.
Defense Vehicles
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a U.S. agency dedicated to strengthening U.S. national security and supporting the U.S. military. The Agency is the primary innovation engine for the department of defense, with research that ranges from laboratory efforts to the creation of full-scale technology demonstrations in the fields of biology, medicine, computer science, chemistry, physics, engineering, mathematics, material sciences, social sciences, neurosciences, and more.
DARPA recently completed a widely-publicized innovation challenge soliciting ideas for a vehicle body that can be used for both combat reconnaissance and combat delivery & evacuation. In just over one month more than 150 designs were received, with the winner, which featured reconfigurable modular options, scheduled to become a functional concept car in June of this year. DARPA’s next research question becomes, how could crowd-sourced selection contribute to the goals of Defense manufacturing?
Luxury Design
Swarovski, the Austrian cut crystal and luxury products company, was pleased with the results of their open innovation competition for a new watch design.
More than 1,600 participants from 48 different countries participated, submitting 2043 designs. Designs were judged on factors including creativity, wearability and feasibility of production. The winning design has a sleek and attractive design of back-printed glass and leather and replaces the clock dial with precious stones.
Perhaps even more exciting than the final design, was the energy and dynamism generated by the community. Designers were encouraged by the constructive critiques and comments of other members.
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