Databooster - Working together for data-based innovations

Developing and implementing innovations is indispensable. Although companies are aware of the need to develop new products, services, processes or business models, they often lack the resources to identify and implement the opportunities. The federal government has recognised that there is a need for support in the development phase of innovations. For this reason, the innovation agency Innosuisse has launched the new innovation programme "NTN Innovation Booster" as of January 2021. This supports companies in developing innovation ideas and provides access to public research funds to develop the idea into a practical solution. Participating companies benefit from targeted and individual support. The Databooster is one of the twelve national networks funded by Innosuisse.

Databooster - what is it?

The Databooster is a network consisting of business and science, which together pursue the goal of creating added value from data. On the one hand, these added values can arise on the customer side, for example through new services such as predictive maintenance. However, there is also great potential in internal processes. For example, the collection and analysis of process data allows deviations to be identified in real time and corrective measures to be initiated. Thus, the goal of self-organization of a system through self-diagnosis and autonomous machine decisions can lead to enormous savings in both the production and assembly processes. Other interesting challenges in the area of data lie, for example, in end-to-end integration along the supply chain or in the use of image processing for quality assurance.

The Databooster is open to all interested companies in Switzerland. On the one hand, the network promotes knowledge transfer between interested partners and organizes lectures and workshops. On the other hand, the large network of researchers and experts enables interested companies to find suitable partners for their innovation activities. Those who join the multi-stage innovation programme benefit not only from professional support, but also from additional financial funding opportunities. Swiss SMEs in particular develop innovative solutions - often in cooperation with (technical) universities or other research institutions. The Databooster gives them easy access to these know-how providers.

Open Innovation Principle

Developing and implementing ideas is time-consuming and is often postponed indefinitely due to operational urgencies. If time is invested, there is also the danger that ideas are pushed forward in a "quiet chamber". On the one hand, this bears the risk that ideas are pursued which already exist in the market, which do not sufficiently meet the needs of the users or which are based on technologies that are not suitable for the problem to be solved. The "open innovation" approach pursues the goal of combining the knowledge of different actors and benefiting from each other's experience. This means that by assembling a powerful innovation team across the boundaries of one's own company, existing knowledge can be recombined and used to develop a successful innovation. The members of the Databooster have a wide variety of skills related to data. These skills can be used specifically for the further development of ideas.

Together from challenge to innovation

The Databooster program is particularly interesting as a first point of contact for companies that have challenging problems but do not yet know exactly how to tackle them. The systematic innovation process helps to develop and test solution ideas and to set up a suitable team to develop a practical solution. It includes up to a maximum of five phases, depending on the complexity of the problem, and aims to develop a joint project funded by Innosuisse. Figure 1 summarizes the main steps. In the scouting phase, the Databooster and the various topic leaders provide information on current issues and solution approaches relating to data and their potential. Here, experts and scientists exchange ideas, discuss challenges and develop new ideas. These or also their own challenges from the corporate environment can be brought to the network.

In the second phase, the "Call for participation", the challenges are concretized together with the office or the Focus Topic Leaders and a "Call for participation" is developed. This is made available to the network with the aim of finding the research partners and experts essential to solving the challenge. The entrepreneurs have the option of making this request open or anonymous and then select the partners. Once the team is assembled, the shaping phase begins. Together with a Databooster-funded Design Thinking facilitator, the challenge is analyzed with the goal of developing a common understanding of the problem. Subsequently, solution approaches are developed and their feasibility, desirability and economic viability are analyzed.

If the solution approach is still too vague, if unexpected conditions have arisen or if further skills are needed in the team, a reshaping workshop is held. The result of this phase is a more concrete solution approach. The optional Deep Dive phase is used for very high-risk solution approaches to analyze and test the critical elements in more detail in a first feasibility. Data-booster supports this technical work by funding the research partners for up to five days.

The concrete process steps (shaping, reshaping and deep dive) required for the business partner's challenge in order to develop an adequate solution together with the team of researchers and other experts are determined by the challenge formulated by the business partner. There are three possibilities after each of the three process steps:

1. the solution is transferred into an Innosuisse project (application for project funding by Innosuisse),
2. the challenge/idea is not further processed or
3.  further details are necessary.

Summary

Companies that want to take advantage of the opportunities for data-based innovations receive support from Databooster. On the one hand, there are regular exchanges of experience, and on the other hand, the innovation process can be started jointly in the sense of the open innovation approach. The network has a process that supports companies in finding suitable partners to turn challenges into solutions and then into innovations. Public funds can be applied for to finance the necessary research and development. Databooster supports the application process with expertise and experience. Project applications that have gone through the Databooster process thus receive a special seal of approval.

Opportunity for innovation

Are you looking for new innovation opportunities that will take your company or organization a big step further? Are you looking for partners who can support you in these innovation projects? Then approach Databooster, get networked and inspired, and optimize your chances of success with external expertise and know-how.
> www.databooster.ch

Authors

Prof. Dr. Patricia Deflorin, Lecturer in Innovation Management, Head of Research at the Swiss Institute for Entrepreneurship, University of Applied Sciences Graubünden.

Philipp Schmid, Head Research and Business Development Industry 4.0 & Machine Learning at CSEM (Swiss Research and Development Center focusing on microtechnology, digitalization and energy).