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R&D: What We're Thinking About

  • Humanizing energy. Consumers now have unprecedented energy alternatives due to changes in the political, social, and economic context of energy. To keep pace, energy companies are beginning to look beyond supply to gain a deeper understanding of consumer demand and desirability. IDEO’s engineering teams implement technologies that help consumers visualize and control energy usage.

    Expanding mobile data services. Handset manufacturers, wireless carriers, and other service providers are focusing their attention on improving customer experience, particularly for mobile data services. An understanding of leading-edge technologies enables exploration into such emerging opportunities as mobile social networks, while engineering capabilities accelerate development through prototyping.

    Understanding the implications of sustainability. Many clients are struggling with the implications of sustainability on their businesses. At the strategic level, it is becoming crucial to assess and develop initiatives in areas such as supply chain and toxicity. No less important on the tactical level is the engineering of goods and services that credibly reduce environmental impact.

  • Empowering health care patients. Incredible advances in microprocessors, sensors, communication, and algorithms enable a whole new dimension of control and information for disease management and wellness maintenance. These opportunities can only be accessed through a solid understanding of science and technology, and can lead to such outcomes as the revolutionizing of diabetes care, as proven by IDEO's engineering teams.

    Managing information and promoting collaboration. Information is exploding and workers are drowning in data. In addition, teams are increasingly mobile and global, so collaboration can be a struggle. Engineering teams at IDEO develop innovative solutions that help knowledge workers turn data into sharable intelligence and insights.

    Creating new experiences in consumer electronics. This industry has a voracious appetite for new customer experiences. A multidisciplinary approach comprising human-centered research and engineering expertise unlocks new opportunities with inventive technical contributions in areas such as emerging sensor technology, new electromechanical components, and new materials.

Invention & Engineering

At IDEO, we have a saying: “We think to build, and build to think.” Throughout our 20-year legacy, our engineering capability has been the backbone of a generative approach that promises tangible outcomes. We go beyond the fact and formula of applied science to translate technical imagination into new possibilities for the built and virtual environment. Team-based Invention & Engineering programs at IDEO deliver prototypes and fully engineered solutions that meet our promise of excellence in design and human experience, combined with a sophisticated understanding of technical performance, cost, and quality.

Our engineering teams push the state-of-the-art in electrical, mechanical, and software products and services, while ensuring feasibility and market viability. Manufacturing experts are involved from the outset to assure reliable and efficient high-volume production. Invention & Engineering programs at IDEO have unlocked new opportunities in industries such as health care, consumer electronics, energy, furniture, and transportation, and continue to enrich emerging conversations around environmental and social impact.

Resources, Partners, Favorites

The IBM Institute for Business Value offers excellent perspective on global technology issues, particularly in electronics. Read white papers on electronics.

McKinsey delivers world-class analysis of the intersection of engineering, technology, and business. Read McKinsey White Papers.

The Consumer Electronics Association offers a valuable daily briefing.

MIT Technology Review earns its title in “The Authority on the Future of Technology.”

Many IDEO engineers appreciate NPR's Technology Podcast on iTunes for its perspectives on digital culture, research news, the tech industry and more. Other great Podcasts include PRI’s "The World: Technology Podcast" and "Science Talk: The Podcast of Scientific American."

MindTribe is a product engineering firm that works with companies using technology to create new and distinctive products.

LocoLabs provides custom and turnkey development platforms and modules for embedded designers.

eInfoChips is an innovative IT company that offers IP-leveraged Spec-Silicon-System electronics design services.