On July 4, a new space dedicated to Innovation was inaugurated at the Alcatel-Lucent site in Villarceaux (Essonne). Because innovation is not just the work of researchers, it is everyone's business. What's its name? Le Garage.
The Basics
The image of a group of friends working late in a garage on an innovation that will change the world has become symbolic of innovation and entrepreneurship. Today, FabLabs and third party creative centres are widely spreading this Garage spirit.
With tools such as 3D printers, laser cutters, Arduino kits, projects can go from idea to first realization thanks to rapid prototyping and the intelligent trial and error process. Alcatel was not born in a garage, but every garage benefits from all Alcatel-Lucent and Bell Labs innovations.
In a recent article, the Harvard Business Review described four great eras of innovation. The first era, that of the solitary inventor, encompasses much of human history. The second era, that of the great laboratories and industries, began in 1915. The third era consecrated startups, particularly in Silicon Valley.
We are at the dawn of a new era, that of the "Corporate garages" that bring together in a dedicated space the agility of a small structure with the power and resources of a large group. The potential of this new era is phenomenal since it mobilizes all the employees of the groups that set up such structures. "Le Garage", is totally in line with this new era and wants to be the place of "Innovation by all".
Genesis
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The genesis of the Garage stems from a curation on the strategy of major technological innovators such as Google, Microsoft, etc.. These groups born in startups have recreated within their structure a place called "The Garage" to rediscover the startup spirit that is so dear to their culture. Three engineers from Bell Labs said I dare you! and with the recovery of a place that had become a storage space, the recovery of tables and chairs, an abandoned workbench at the back of a lab, soldering irons, vices and other small tools, the Garage was launched in a few days and the first workshop for the realization of a 3D printer quickly followed with a dozen "makers" ready to embark on the adventure.
Three ambitions as the values of "Le Garage".
- To be a place of crossroads and exchanges
The Garage is a place of innovation open and accessible to all employees. Collective intelligence, fostered by the cross-fertilization of diverse populations in both their profession and culture, is a key factor in problem solving and therefore innovation. The place has the ambition to connect and catalyze innovative projects that would not see the light of day in the existing organization. People carrying out projects alone or in groups are invited to share as much as possible the results obtained, the difficulties encountered and the methods used. The exchanges go beyond the place itself. As proof, the Garage team is in contact with similar initiatives in other major French groups, such as Renault, Snecma, Air Liquide.
- Allowing to be confronted with reality
The Garage is a place to MAKE. An idea has no value, only its realization counts. Le Garage, thanks to tools such as 3D printers, Arduino kits, but also software for software modeling, simulation of smartphone applications, etc., makes it possible to quickly confront an idea with the difficulties of its realization. In the same way, the Garage will allow employees to "touch" certain technologies in advance. Recently, a session was organized to test Google's connected glasses that everyone talks about but few people really know what they are.
- Being an agile structure
The Garage is an agile structure both in its configuration - all the tables and chairs are on wheels to adapt to the needs and different activities - but also in the process part, which is based on Lean Startup. This process advocates short experimentation/validation cycles and gives full power to trial and error methods and to rapid and incremental prototyping. The Garage wants to give this "start-up-er" spirit and allow the development of a new intrapreneurship program.
To meet these ambitions, the Garage has several operating modes:
- Open Hours: the garage provides free access to its resources where anyone can come and carry out an innovative project or simply do something to learn, improve their working environment, etc.
- Coffee Garage: Informal seminars/demonstrations/discussions are organized every month to present disruptive technologies that are not yet accessible.
- Team Building (on request): Seminars organised at the request of a group or organisation in order to strengthen team spirit around a session based on "Doing" (Make).
- Challenges (on request and tailor-made): Challenges/Hackathons can be organised with the provision of various tools in order to solve a specific problem encountered by a group/team that needs to be solved in an innovative way.
- Start-you-up: a spin-off programme that will enable innovative projects that have reached an advanced level of prototyping to be able to set up a dossier/application for a suite in a startup incubator.
Bertrand MarquetOpen Innovation Manager and co-founder of Le Garage.
