Since 2017 Innovation Lab has focused on exploring value enabled by digital technologies and harnessed within smart business models. Incorporating several modes to build growth, the Innovation Lab also uses a structured and well-defined process for partnership framework, working together with partners and innovators in the ecosystem of start-ups and tech hubs.
Multidisciplinary teams
Located in Gothenburg, Sweden, and in Silicon Valley in California, Innovation Lab has multidisciplinary teams of intrapreneurs with backgrounds in service design, foresight, data analytics, venture- and software development. The team defines strategic focus areas and value pools for service growth as well as co-creating innovative solutions with partners and customers.
’We have a playbook to bring new digital services from idea to market, starting with a discovery sprint or hackathon to generate the initial concept. Validation of the concepts is done through different stages with a dedicated multi-disciplinary team. Through early customer validation in the market towards launching a scalable business and bringing true value to our ecosystem’, Tommy Hansson, VP Innovation Lab, explains. ‘Collaborating with start-up companies speeds up the innovative process and provides faster access to new technology. We believe that digital business innovation and new technologies are key to creating growth in sustainable transport and infrastructure solutions.’
Solving real problem and challenges
One example of a digital service offering is Lokate created to increase the efficiency for inbound traffic at construction sites, help suppliers and site managers in planning, scheduling, and facilitating the delivery of goods and materials on site through an app. At the core lies real-time tracking and digitalization of manual tasks. Suppliers, construction companies, transporters, i.e. everyone in the eco-system of a construction site, will be able to see deliveries and transports in real-time and can plan and re-schedule deliveries accordingly.
During the development, several pilots have been made to evaluate that the service is solving the right problem and challenges and the collaboration with customers in the pilots has been tight. Something that is an important part of the Innovation Lab process. “The customers input is crucial in the process. We develop digital services for our customers, and it should solve their problems and challenges.”
Below you find other digital services offerings, incubated within the Innovation Lab in close collaboration with colleagues from Volvo Group and external partners.
