Demobooster is a co-creation platform that matches the digital needs of companies from the manufacturing, process, and service industries with innovative solution-providers specialized in software and embedded solutions. In order to help small and medium-sized industrial companies in digitalization, DIMECC wanted to find a way to implement its innovation concept Demobooster in the Baltic Sea Region.
The challenge
As there are differences in business culture, industry setup, legislation, etc., DIMECC recognized it would be best if the concept was modified to fit local needs and requirements. In addition, considering local operators to run the proposed concept was part of the challenge.
The solution
DIMECC worked together with Demola that opened the same challenge for students in three different countries: Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Demola selected the student teams that then worked on the challenge for 8 weeks according to the Demola process. This included close teamwork and weekly meetings with guidance from DIMECC and facilitation provided by Demola. Although the challenge was the same for each team, the modified concepts were all quite different from each other.
The Latvian student team had a chance to meet with DIMECC and Demola representatives before the COVID-19 situation hit at full speed. Photo by Demola.
Technologies
Almost the whole process was implemented online as the COVID-19 situation did not allow physical meetings or traveling. Therefore, students had to do all their teamwork using technology platforms such as Slack, Teams, Zoom, Google Drive, Miro, etc. DIMECC actively participated in weekly online meetings and answered questions regarding the current Demobooster concept on Slack and Google Docs. The current situation also called for the need for an online version of the whole concept, and this was also proposed by some of the student teams. In addition to facilitating the organization of the innovation event in one country, an online platform also proposes the possibility of international innovation events.
Implementation process
The results and findings of this DIGINNO study will be used to run at least one cross-border innovation event based on the Demobooster concept in the Baltic countries during the fall of 2020. Below is a brief summary of the studied concepts:
Latvia:
Demobooster as part of the Latvian Chamber of Commerce service portfolio. Benefits include that there is a ready network of companies. The actual concept is quite similar to the current version, but the last “Demoday”/Demo show is organized within company headquarters together with the Chamber of commerce in order to do some marketing activities.
Lithuania:
HackaBooster in which Demobooster is implemented as part of conferences and other events. Demobooster on Demand: The challenges are presented in an online platform where there is also the possibility of an “exhibition center”, which will be organized monthly. Here companies can come together to discuss more freely.
Estonia:
Online platform for scalable operations. Idea is to produce a large number of cycles per year. Also provides the opportunity of networking in the platform by offering exhibition days focused on current topics. Operated independently or as part of an organization.
Results
The student teams came up with very different concept proposals, ranging from an online platform to organize the concept with the chamber of commerce. The final results of this project partially funded by DIGINNO will depend on how the pilots will go, but in general, the results have been quite fruitful as the proposed concepts have been quite different.
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(Caption for photo: The Latvian student team had a chance to meet with DIMECC and Demola representatives before the COVID-19 situation hit at full speed. Photo by Demola.)