Digital Innovations for Mobility

Company

Siemens Mobility Management is the business unit within Siemens that is in charge for Industrial IoT solutions (hardware and software) to organize passenger and goods transport on rail and road.

 

Background and Challenge

‘What is the Future of Mobility going to look like?’ Every organization needs an agreed and communicated vision about the future landscape and its role in it. For Siemens Mobility Management, that had to be created.

‘Which of the many innovations ideas we are going to tackle?’ A few workshops produced a list of more than 100 ideas that people wanted to work on and the challenge was to decide which of those should be pursued.

 

Results

A ‘Future Mobility’ white paper was developed with input from key experts and stakeholders, and under consideration of emerging technologies and socio-economic trends. Autonomous Driving and Drones, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, or 5G will change the Mobility industry very significantly in the years to come. We developed a White Paper explaining how these technologies and trends will shape the organization’s future portfolio. For people who don’t have time to read we created a large visual to communicate the Mobility landscape in 5 to 10 years.

The innovation management process was our guide to engage with all employees, bring the best ideas to top management’s attention, prioritize investments, and start their implementation. We adapted the Lean Startup method for the corporate environment. Especially the finance part was tricky for an organization that is carefully planning for a full financial year. As new ideas can come up and might get killed throughout the year, a budget must be allocated without clear understanding for exactly which solutions.

Applying hard and fast criteria and a little bit of gut feeling shortened the ‘use case long list’ from 100 to just a dozen of ideas. Describing those in a Business Model Canvas and building some prototypes allowed top management to decide which of the ideas should be built out.

 

My Role / Impact

As Head of Digital Innovations and member of the strategy team I drove development of the organization’s vision and authored the ‘Future Mobility’ White Paper. I have continuously monitored emerging technologies and interesting Startups in the space and worked closely with Siemens VC organization to invest.

I have defined and rolled out the innovation management process and managed the innovation portfolio, wrote around 10 inventions of which 3 are in the patenting process.

COMPANY

Siemens Mobility

ROLE

Head of Digital Innovations

METHODS & TECHNOLOGIES

Lean Startup

Open Innovation

Portfolio Management

Business Model Canvas

Innovation Process and Future of Transport

New Zealand is a very modern and innovative country. There is an impressive Startup scene in transportation sector including ohmio (Autonomous Driving), Zephyr Airworks (passenger drones), Big Street Bikers (new EV bike sharing schemes), Rocket Lab (rockets for satellites), and quite a few more.

 

Organization

The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) is responsible for driver and vehicle licensing, administrates the national state highway network and manages large transport infrastructure projects.

 

Background and Challenge

New Zealand is a very vast country with an extensive road network. Cars are playing an important role in the daily life and culture. And especially Auckland, with a population of 1.7 million people the largest city (accounting for 38 percent of the countries’ GDP) is growing fast and is suffering from severe congestion of the road network. The whole country experiences a continuously rising number of crashes on roads with deaths and serious injuries.

Auckland is currently building the countries’ first underground system and is re-introducing light rail. But public transport with current trains and buses is not as reliable yet as it could be. Biking is becoming popular as an option, and cycling infrastructure is continuously being improved. Innovation is urgently needed to deliver better outcomes – to provide higher levels of safety at lower cost and with better user experience.

 

Results

To identify and support transport innovations, an innovation process was defined following the principles:

• Source problems and ideas from internal experts, industry expert groups, or the wider public - depending on the topic. Clearly articulate the problem and frame a challenge so people can contribute. Open innovation ensures that citizens, local interest groups and companies recognize that they can make an impact.
• Stay laser-focused to solve problems at hand – be they high or low tech. Private Startups can pivot to a different market or problem, which is not an option for a government agency.

Many of the established innovation techniques can be used in public sector – such as the ‘5 Whys’, Lean Startup, or the ‘Business Model Canvas’ (we used Steve Blank’s variation, the Mission Model Canvas https://steveblank.com/2016/02/23/the-mission-model-canvas-an-adapted-business-model-canvas-for-mission-driven-organizations/). An innovation management tool has been selected and will be introduced.

A very successful 3-day Hackathon has addressed the challenges on road safety. The ‘Future of Transport’ study with contributions from industry experts and academia describes New Zealand’s vision on Mobility.

 

My Role / Impact

As Senior Manager Innovation I defined the innovation process that identifies the pressing problems and gathers and selects suitable ideas. I evaluated innovation management tools and drove the procurement process, have co-organized the Road Safety Hackathon, and contributed to the Future of Transport study.

ORGANIZATION

New Zealand Transport Agency

ROLE

Senior Manager Innovation

METHODS & TECHNOLOGIES

Open Innovation

Design Thinking

Hackathon

Business Model Canvas

Innovation Management Tools