Open Innovation Slam: Climate Protection Ideas for Interior Spaces
New solutions are being sought in all areas to combat climate change. In addition to renewable energy, saving energy is an important pillar of this effort. For example, approaches at home to make saving energy more simple. Climate-KIC, a large “Knowledge and Innovation” community, joined ranks with companies such as Vattenfall to sponsor a Europe-wide idea contest exploring the topic. We came up with a special dynamic that resulted in the participation of over 800 participants.
The first stage saw the competition held online, whereby we had established the following typical phases in conjunction with Climate-KIC:
- Phase: Idea generation
- Phase: Collaboration
- Phase: Pitch ideas and vote
The effort kicked off across different networks by mobilizing smart folks looking to implement new ways to improve indoor climate and asking them to contribute ideas. The winner not only had prizes to look forward to but also a weekend with investors and consultants. The threshold for participation was low, but submitting the idea was just the start. Idea contributors were required to work on the idea online and in collaboration over the following weeks.
Interested individuals could become members of an idea team, after which they collaboratively honed idea sketches based on various questions, in line with the Wiki principle. This part of the collaboration proved to be a challenge as well as an advantage in one. More or less anonymous collaboration over the Internet is an audacious task and was not always successful in creating teams, nevertheless the advanced expertise available in the team setting allowed ideas to be improved.
A countdown ended with a collaboration phase and heralded the start of an idea pitch week. The teams now courted votes for their ideas, which resulted in large-scale mobilization of the parties involved. By the end of the voting period some 800 participants were on board and voted on exciting ideas up until the last minute, e.g. an electrical outlet that measures power usage, or a device that turns on the heating only when needed. The 10 best ideas were then submitted to a jury who determined the winners.
