The 6 Innovation Priorities of GE. What are yours?

General Electric (GE) believes in restless innovation. They announced internally this summer a new significant research and development initiative, called: "The Next List'. It is a blueprint for the company’s R&D priorities for the next several years. In a great interview with Re/code's Arik Hesseldahl, GE's CTO Mark Little elaborates on the six themes GE will focus on:

1. Extreme Machines.
2. Super Materials.
3. Industrial Internet.
4. Mapped Minds.
5. Brilliant Factories.
6. Energy Everywhere.

Here's an info-graphic of the 6 themes.

One of their priorities is what GE calls 'the industrial internet'. In this concept, machines in factories, energy infrastructure and other industrial process will get smarter by talking to each other. This leads to more efficiency as for example maintenance and downtime can be planned better. Mr. Little says GE has a platform connecting different kinds of industrial gear, which will be extended to third-party equipment. “Don’t be surprised if you see us take this to things that we don’t make so that our customers and others can connect up other devices smoothly,” he said.

Big data play a prominent role in an idea GE calls “brilliant factories”. A battery factory GE is building in the US will have sensors constantly gathering data on every step in the process. Little says “We can track the raw materials, what the humidity conditions were like when the product was manufactured, the temperatures. We can track these batteries throughout their entire life cycle.” All the data will be analyzed to learn and eventually build better batteries.

For what GE calls "mind mapping", they will use functional magnetic resonance imaging to build a detailed roadmap of the human brain. In the Re/code article Mr. Little says “We know a lot about the brain and its structure, but we don’t know a lot of the specifics about the wiring of the brain and the way the pathways work and also how certain diseases affect it. Understanding that wiring better will lead to new techniques to diagnose problems like Alzheimer’s disease earlier and treat them at earlier stages".

"Extreme machines" is about industrial gear that’s specifically designed to function in a wide range of extreme conditions — deep underwater or underground or in extreme heat. The concept of “super materials” focuses on materials that are both light and incredibly strong. The theme “energy everywhere” is about getting power to places that are far off the traditional electrical grid.

Now GE made its priorities clear. This generates focus, energy and speed. What about your company? Do you have a clear innovation agenda yet?

I just found a great study, which you might use as a starting point. The IP & Science business of Thomson Reuters recently shared a compilation of 10 innovation predictions for the world in 2025. The aim of their project was to identify 10 technologies of tomorrow that will be in use in 2025 based on research and development currently identifiable in the literature of today - both scientific literature and published patents.

I like to share their 10 predictions of innovation in 2025 to open your mind:

1. In 2025 dementia declines. Understanding of the human genome and genetic mutations leads to improved detection of, and prevention methods for, the onset of neuro- degenerative diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s.

2. In 2025 solar is the largest source of energy on the planet. Methods for harvesting, storing and converting solar energy are so advanced and efficient that it becomes the primary source of energy on our planet.

3. In 2025 type 1 diabetes is preventable. A versatile human genome-engineering platform is a reality, paving the way for the modification of disease-causing genes and helping to prevent certain metabolic conditions.

4. In 2025 food shortages and food price fluctuations are things of the past. Advancements in lighting technologies and imaging techniques, coupled with genetic crop modification, provide an environment ripe for successful indoor crop growth and detecting diseased foods.

5. In 2025 electric air transportation takes off. Lightweight aerospace engineering coupled with new battery technologies power electric vehicle transportation - on land and in the air.

6. In 2025 digital everything everywhere. From the smallest personal items to the largest continents, everything, everywhere will be digitally connected, and responsive to our wants and likes.

7. In 2025 petroleum-based packaging is history; cellulose-derived packaging rules. Bio-nanocomposites based on nanocellulose make 100% fully biodegradable packaging pervasive.

8. In 2025 cancer treatments have very few toxic side effects. Drug development is so much more precise, binding to specific proteins and using antibodies to give exact mechanisms of action, that the debilitating effects of toxic chemicals on patients are significantly reduced.

9. In 2025 DNA mapping at birth is the norm to manage disease risk. The evolution of micro-total analysis systems (single- cell analysis) and advancements in nanotechnology, coupled with more widespread Big Data technologies, make DNA-mapping at birth the norm, as well as part of one’s annual physician exam.

10. In 2025 teleportation is tested (Beam me up Scotty :-). Kinematical techniques used to understand the Higgs Boson particles generated in the Large Hadron Collider advance such that quantum teleportation is more commonplace.

Some of these predictions from the research of Thomson Reuters might become reality in 10 years and others might not. Now, the arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow. [William Pollard]. I hope you will spent some "strategic-thinking-time" with your fellow managers on "how your world will look like in 2025?" This will provide great input for discussing and identifying your own innovation priorities for the coming years.

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Picture credits: GE newsroom.