Engineering Innovation Labs

What if we could create more time in the moments that matter? In healthcare, saving time means better outcomes. It gives lab professionals more room to focus on complex work, reduces interruptions for surgical teams, and helps providers stay focused despite workforce shortages. That's why we’re developing smarter technologies to help healthcare professionals focus on what truly matters. Their patients. At our innovation lab in Kemnath, Germany, engineers are fine‑tuning machine assistants designed to take over routine but essential tasks. Two early prototypes already give a glimpse of what this could look like: ▫️ AURORA, developed with TUM Hospital in Munich, assists OR teams by fetching sterile packages and taking on responsibilities typically handled by a circulating nurse. This allows the human staff to stay focused at the operating table. ▫️ Vanessa, a collaboration with Helsinki University Hospital in Finland, can help labs run more smoothly by transporting blood samples and retrieving reagents from the cold storage room. This frees up specialists to concentrate on critical diagnostic work. These assistants are learning to navigate real hospital environments. And with the future integration of large language models, a simple spoken instruction could be all it takes to set a task in motion. This isn’t about replacing human expertise. It’s about protecting it. With a projected global shortfall of 11 million healthcare workers by 2030, technologies like medical assistant robots will be essential to sustaining high‑quality care for patients today and for a world of 8 billion people tomorrow. #TeamHealthineers #Innovation #HealthforAll

Most corporate innovation labs don't survive long enough to matter. They launch with beanbag chairs and big promises, then quietly disappear two or three years later, leaving behind expensive furniture and the faint smell of failed ambition. One study put it plainly: fewer than half of corporate incubators meet their strategic objectives. The innovation lab for Ingenico, a France-based giant in the payments industry, has been running for twelve years. I spent time with Romain Colnet, who has led the lab through much of its lifecycle, to understand what made the difference. A few lessons: 1. The lab started with a genuine threat, not a trend. Ingenico makes payment terminals, i.e. those devices you tap your card on at checkout. When mobile payments began to emerge, the company asked itself a hard question: what happens if smartphones make our entire product line obsolete? That's where the lab came from, an existential fear. 2. Executive ownership, not executive cheerleading. Most innovation programs report to a well-meaning senior leader who offers warm words but limited intervention. Ingenico required that every project have a single owner at the executive committee level. This is someone who can say, "I want this on my roadmap" and mean it. 3. Venture thinking in a corporate body. The lab expects projects to fail. Venture capitalists understand that, on average, six out of ten investments will fail completely. Corporate innovation labs need the same mindset. Ingenico has learned to accept that some projects won't work out, but only after testing them in the real world. "You should always try your project in the field because that's where you learn the biggest amount of useful information," Colnet advises. "Most of the time it's not what you expected, which is perfect." 4. Patience about timing. Some ideas went on the shelf for years, then came back when the market caught up. That kind of disciplined restraint is rare. My full piece is in Forbes (Link in the comments) Heed this advice from Colnet: "You should not start a lab in companies that are not accepting that you sometimes do not succeed in what you're trying. Learning is part of the process. If companies are not willing to take risks, to be bold, to move fast and to get some people that are totally thinking differently from the company, then there's a low chance you will succeed."

Research universities are sitting on some of the most valuable IP in the world. The problem isn't the science. It's the system. Tech transfer offices license patents. Accelerators run cohorts. Neither builds companies. A recent post from Evan Allen and a great piece by Cam Watson got me thinking about how we're approaching this differently in Berkeley. At the UC-Berkeley Deep Tech Innovation Lab, our interdisciplinary student teams work directly with national labs, startups, and corporate researcher groups to evaluate the commercial viability of frontier technologies. Patent landscapes, regulatory assessments, competitive analysis, customer discovery, funding strategy. The full picture. And through the Berkeley Gateway Accelerator, we're taking it a step further: embedding top Berkeley talent directly into deep tech startups as full-time team members and investing in the companies we believe in. It's not a traditional accelerator. It's not a traditional venture studio. It's a new architecture designed to close the gap between breakthrough research and company formation. I wrote about what we're building and why it matters. Link in comments. Hat tip to Evan Allen and Cam Watson for the inspiration.

The Secret Weapon for Digital Transformation Most companies talk about innovation. Few organizations create the conditions for it to thrive. That’s where Innovation Labs come in. They are not side projects or vanity experiments. They are structured environments designed to help organizations … - think differently - test ideas fast - de-risk transformation. Why Innovation Labs Matter? + Provide safe spaces to experiment with emerging technologies before full-scale investment. + Allow teams to explore AI and digital solutions without fear of failure. + Bridge the gap between strategy and execution. + Facilitate collaboration between business, technology and customer teams. An effective Innovation Lab is less about gadgets and more about mindset. It’s where teams learn to … + Discuss problems, not symptoms. + Prototype quickly and validate early. + Learn from every iteration. + Scale successful experiments into measurable impact. In our experience at ISHIR, when leaders treat innovation as a capability instead of a department, transformation becomes sustainable. - Teams move faster. - Ideas move from whiteboard to pilot to product. - And risk turns into opportunity. The organizations that will WIN in the AI era are not the ones with the most tools, but the ones with the courage and systems to experiment continuously. Are you building your innovation ecosystem or waiting for someone else to disrupt you? At ISHIR, we have built Innovation Acceleration workshops that have the benefits of a Lab but our focus is on outcomes and impact, not just experiments. A lab is where ideas are tested. A workshop is where ideas are accelerated into action. In short, don’t experiment for the sake of innovation, instead focus on org transformation. Let’s accelerate innovation to deliver impact. Impact engineering, anyone? — 👋🏽 I help founders and tech leaders build scalable digital products, drive innovation leveraging AI, and reach product-market fit (PMF) faster. Follow me for practical frameworks, insights and real examples. #InnovationLab #AIStrategy #BusinessTransformation #Leadership #DigitalInnovation #ImpactEngineering