It’s quite likely you will have heard of Pavegen, the revolutionary floor technology company that converts kinetic energy from footsteps into renewable power. The brainchild of Loughborough University graduate Laurence Kemball-Cook, the company’s concept generated a huge amount of media and commercial interest whilst still in the testing phase.

Much to the envy of many entrepreneurs, Kemball-Cook found that the market not only wanted his product- it was banging on his door and asking him to get a move on. Within a few months, Will I Am was dancing across Pavegen flooring and Number 10 had been in touch to request a demonstration. The company now has permanent installations in several railways stations, schools, airports and sports stadiums across the world.

Kemball-Cook came up with a footfall energy harvesting solution with the potential to provide renewable, and storable power in cities. Each tile, pounded and tested to exhaustion to withstand millions of footsteps, vomit, jumping, stiletto heels and floods, can generate 7 watts at 12 volts DC per footstep- and can be used immediately to power off-grid solutions such as streetlights (one step powers an LED lamp for several seconds) or be stored in a battery. 

The Pavegen story is a shining example of innovation for sustainability. It’s the stuff of dreams- one of those devastatingly simple and elegant ideas you wish you’d come up with. If you delve deeper into Kemball-Cook’s story you find some interesting nuggets, and I believe, some food for thought for anybody trying to change the way their organisation, society or market system does things for the better:

• Kemball-Cook’s inspiration was born of repeated failure. It was during a placement at one of Europe’s biggest energy firms that he first encountered the problem of generating renewable power in dense urban environments. Tasked with rolling out urban wind and solar solutions, Kemball-Cook found challenges at every turn. Conditions in cities just aren’t wind and solar friendly. He finished his placement dejected- but returned to University determined to continue working on his quest. He was energised by the knottiness of the problem.

• Kemball-Cook approached the problem differently- instead of asking ‘how can I overcome the obstacles presented by wind and solar in cities?” he asked “what other sources of plentiful renewable energy could I harness in the built environment?” This approach led to his eureka moment.
  

• The company’s early history is, ahem, paved with non-conventional actions- when based in Brixton, the plucky start-up made use of a number of illegal ‘test’ installations which got them into trouble, but no doubt generated some welcome publicity as well as a few encouraging watts of power.
  

• Pavegen has incorporated commercially interesting features such as on-board wireless technology meaning data on the amount of energy harvested and footfall can be sent to any website- this is not just a tile that harvests energy from footsteps, it is an intelligent device with knowledge to share on how people use urban environments. 

• Brilliantly, the technology also taps into our innate desire to have fun- inbuilt lights in the tiles give an instant glow when stepped on contributing to what Kemball-Cook calls ‘the gamification of energy.’ Studies have shown that tiles with these inbuilt lights use only 5% of the footfall power and attract up to 30% more pedestrians- successfully harvesting more energy.
  

• The company’s vision to make Pavegen products available to every community in the world and to bring the cost level with conventional flooring is both inspirational and commercially astute. For as long as Pavegen remains an entertaining but comparatively expensive niche product coveted by big brands and top-flight football stadiums, its potential remains untapped. The technology’s real power lies in its applicability to urban environments all over the world- and mass production and implementation is essential to make a real contribution to renewable energy production in tomorrow’s smart cities.

by Jenny Ekelund

BMW may have taken its time entering the electric vehicle (EV) market, but its latest offering, the carbon-fiber i3, is creating a stir in the motor industry.

What makes the i3 interesting is the thinking that went into its design. Jacob Harb, Head of Operations and Strategy explains: [the project]..started a decade ago, looking at how to ‘future-proof’ our business…it sounds a cliché, but we really started with a blank slate, we re-examined the design process from the ground up. Sustainability and innovation are embodied in the i3.”

The result is a carbon fiber chassis, 50% lighter than steel. Amongst other efficiencies, production uses 50% less water and 70% of the energy used in conventional processes.

Designed with disassembly in mind, the i3 is an impressive 95% recyclable. Perhaps just as importantly, it is the sort of car you can imagine people aspiring to. It’s not a half-baked nod to sustainability, it’s a car that expects to capture a good portion of the market on its own merits. The i3 may well shake up the burgeoning EV market and push its competitors (the hitherto dominant Chevy, Nissan, Tesla and Prius) to go one better.  This can only be a good thing- for consumers and for the environment. It’s a good example of a competitive marketplace driving a ‘race to the top’, stimulating more creative thinking to solve our sustainable transportation challenges faster.

Delve a little deeper into BMW’s story, however, and you’ll discover that supply-chain and community collaboration also played a key part in creating the world’s first mass produced carbon fiber vehicle. Carbon fiber is pricey. Very pricey. So in order to make the production process cost effective and reliable, BMW formed a partnership with SGL Carbon SE and opened a hydro-powered carbon fiber plant in Moses Lake, Washington. The two firms worked with a local community college to train employees for the plant, which created 80 new jobs, and according to SGL’s Managing Director, Dr Joerg Pohlman aided in “starting the production at a high level of quality and efficiency.” Without the bold $100m invested in the Moses Lake joint venture, BMW’s vision may have stalled.

The i3 is an interesting example of an innovative, more sustainable product created for a highly competitive market. Yet it is also a useful case study in collaboration and the value of well-managed partnerships in creating social and environmental value.

It’s a conclusion Darwin arrived at more than a decade after the publication of On The Origin of Species. In the Descent of Man (1871) he outlined his conviction that cooperation and reciprocity were as essential as competition to the evolutionary process. According to philosopher Roman Krznaric, Darwin’s new thinking was “largely neglected at the time, and we are only beginning to recover it now.”

Perhaps what businesses really need to help solve the knottier social and environmental challenges of our time is more of this kind of thinking- a philosophy that balances intelligent and well executed collaboration with an ability to compete (and fight fairly!) in the evolution of ever more effective and sustainable products and services. Perhaps then we might realise the true power of the emerging social economy.

by Jenny Ekelund

I recently saw this short clip from Paul Sloane on why customers are a bad source of breakthrough innovations. He states that "if you want breakthrough innovations you don't start by asking customers, you start somewhere else". He then simply and powerfully makes his point, illustrating how if we asked customers back in the 1950s how we could improve spectacles, they would never have suggested contact lenses or laser eye surgery.  A similar and often quoted example is Henry Ford's "if I asked customers what they wanted they would have said a faster horse". 

In my opinion, customer insight and involvement is critical to all forms of innovation, including disruptive innovations. It should always be at least one of your starting points. 

Of course customers wouldn't have come up with the car, but they would have came up with the need of getting from A to B more quickly. Equally, in the glasses example, we can learn from what customers say - "plastic lenses instead of glass lenses", "a scratch proof lens" and "a flexible frame" are all fantastic insights and great stimulus to generate ideas for solutions. After all, the contact lens solves all the real issues the customer is highlighting here.  It is then up to innovation leaders along with the right mix of internal and external stakeholders to interpret the customer needs through a series of creative exercises and R&D processes.  

To be fair to Paul he may well go on to say this (I've only seen the two minute clip), but ignore the customer at your peril in any type of innovation.

by Jesper Ekelund