Tinkering With the Boundaries of Innovation
October 18th, 2018
By Thomas Platzer, Innovation Manager
Ever receive notice to attend a “brainstorming meeting”..… that corporate invite to bring your creative juices for building out an idea, at a specified time and place?
While fruitful, these “one-and-done” scheduled opportunities inherently miss a large chunk of the workday when your brain may be more primed to contribute.
At LOGICDATA, innovation is embedded into everything about our global technology company – and fresh, free-flowing ideas are woven deep into the company fabric. Rigid rules and boundaries take a back seat to an open and collaborative culture which is always seeking new and better ways to inspire innovative thinking among its 330+ employees – a majority of whom have engineering backgrounds.
Da Vinci Lab
In fact, our new Da Vinci Lab – a “maker space” adjacent to innovation incubator spaces within LOGICDATA’s Austrian Headquarters – is an open invitation for any employee to push the envelope of creative problem-solving, with access to everything from 3-D printers, to laser cutters, a CNC milling machine, electronic measurement and soldering equipment, and all sorts of evaluation, prototyping kits and materials.
But the lab is not just for future LOGICDATA product protoyping. Employees are encouraged to use the lab and all of its resources after hours to bring their personal inventions to life.
“Engineers love to build, to create; they are curious about exploring new concepts and finding new ways of doing things, so this (Da Vinci Lab) is a natural setting for many of our team to innovate,” explained Thomas Platzer, Innovation Manager for LOGICDATA. In the seven months since the lab’s opening, more than 70 employees have become Da Vinci Lab license holders, including the Lab’s originator, LOGICDATA Founder and Chair Walter Koch.
Forum Alpbach
Outside the doors of LOGICDATA, innovative thinking continues. In fact Koch, Platzer and Thomas Neger-Loibner, Product Manager for LOGIC HOME, recently returned from the Tyrolean Alps of Austria, at European Forum Alpbach’s Innovation Marathon, an annual gathering of international students from various universities and disciplines. With 8 challenges, 8 teams and a timeframe of 24 hours, students prove their knowledge within real-life challenges from industry and economy.
While the trio provides students with their insights and encouragement, they glean new learnings and adaptations from the students.
“In the work world, employees often unknowingly bring restrictions and certain mindsets to ideation, but that’s not the case with students,” explained Platzer. “They just see the task, problem or need and provide complete ideas without bias. We just soak that up and try to bring the lessons of fresh thinking and perspectives back to our culture. It’s another way of infusing our culture, continually, with new approaches and insights, and that only strengthens the innovation behind our vision to [r]evolutionize the office and home furniture industries.
Want to learn more about LOGICDATA’s culture, please contact Thomas.Platzer@logicdata.net
Thomas Platzer is an Innovation Manager at LOGICDATA and is dealing with strategic foresight, trend tracking, strategic research, and coordination of internal and external initiatives . Thomas is also advancing and developing the Da Vinci lab as an innovation coach and establishing corporate business development as well as exploring new horizons for LOGICDATA.