MANAGEMENT OF INNOVATION

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MANAGEMENT OF INNOVATION

• EADS Launch Vehicles
• -
• Lisboa 7-9 May 2003

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Why Innovation at EADS/LV?

• INNOVATION should focus energy on
• Improvement of the reliability of our products
  (robustness, cost reduction, appeal,..),
• Preparation of the future
• gain in new markets, new customers, new products
  inside the business core or for space equipment
  and,
• development of new technologies mandatory for
  building a leading position in the future,
• Stimulation of change in Company culture,
• Preservation of a good social climate which
  allows each collaborator to bring his work up to
  excellence.

The INNOVATION process is fairly comparable to a
quality process, since both are targeted to push
the Company up to excellence. Moreover,
INNOVATION should be conducted with quality.
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Remarks

• Innovation Global and transversal process,
• from the emergence of new ideas
• up to the realization of new products, new
  processes, new organizations, or parts of each of
  them.
• The new products will be right products.
• The process will conduct to a significant break
  with the past.
• Innovation knowledge management

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Characteristics (1)

• EADS/LV specificity
• very long cycles of development and production,
  always more than 10 years,
• followed by production of prototypes instead of
  large series,
• flight proven is always necessary,
• Dual civil / military activities.

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Characteristics (2)

• Would lead to a particular management of
  Innovation
• no external scheme should apply (for example
  automotive and electronics).
• In-house funding not sufficient, Customer
  supports are early mandatory.
• Mastered risk management requires more or less
  only advanced or mature technology uses.
• New ideas very often concern either subsystems
  or components. New concepts will be studied as
  platforms for new technologies.
• Innovation rewards criteria adapted to the
  specific long cycles.

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How Innovation is organized? (1)

• Participating Innovation instead of Elitist
  Innovation, i.e. not reduced to a small group of
  collaborators
• Innovation entered in the long term.
• Innovation as a change in the Company culture.
• Internal process from emergence of ideas up to
  their realization
• oriented by axes of strategy (projects in the
  short, medium long terms)
• disseminated and amplified through
  correspondents network (Business Units,
  Competence Centers, Functional Units) and
  electronic forum,
• formed inside dedicated workshops,
• supported through sponsorship and in-house RD
  funding for the maturity phase,
• rewarded by annual awards.

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How Innovation is organized? (2)

• Conducting Innovation as a complete process of
  realization
• At each phase of the process, RD support is
  needed to deepen critical points.
• Each phase is resulting in a delivrable
  documentation which conducts to a go / no go
  pronunciation before entering the next phase.

Always Customer funded
In-house funded
Often Co-funded
Realization
Maturity Phase
Design Concept Phase
Development Phase
Production Phase
Go
Go
Go
Emergence of Ideas
Intellectual Property
The maturity phase is always difficult to border
since the activity will target a feasibility
documentation as a customer project
presentation.
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Emergence of ideas

• Collecting ideas one major issue
• Internal channels opened to each collaborator as
  a mean to stimulate creativity
• Idea boxes, to collect
• Electronic forum, to enrich
• Workshop and creativity groups, to turn into
  concrete actions
• Duality (Civil / Military)
• External channels more oriented through experts
  
• EADS Research Technology Group network, to
  disseminate to capture
• Strategic intelligence to watch to collect,
• Outside expertise, to evaluate to orient,
• Scientific community, to develop to
  appropriate.

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Maturity phase

• Design a sponsor for driving Innovation process
  with a new idea.
• Develop action plan to reach feasibility study
  in the short term (3 to 6 months).
• Feasibility studies technique, market,
  economics,
• Interest internal /external customers as soon as
  possible inside or at the end of the maturity
  phase.
• Score the maturity of ideas within the TRL
  quotation.

TRL Technology Readiness Level
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Strategic Projects

• Prepare the medium scenarios by focusing effort
  on several strategic projects.
• Conduct strategic projects as planned activity
  programmes through a stepwise approach (go/no go
  steps).
• Enter technological breakthrough / innovations
  when maturity is sufficient and settle them as
  exchange of components or subsystems.
• Connect external or internal RD activities to
  strategic projects through rendez-vous.
• Involve staff managers to direct selection of
  projects and budget management.

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Long Term Scenarios

• Select LTS as scientific, technological and
  societal ambitious projects which will push basic
  and fundamental research in the long term.
• Define and develop cheap feasibility studies for
  the promotion of activities.
• Define blocking points which will inhibit the
  development of projects, and propose ways to
  overcome such blocking points.
• Define convergence criteria which ensure to
  reach targeted skills through a variable
  environment.
• Pave roadmaps with qualification milestones and
  spin-off rendez-vous.
• Example Solar Power Initiative

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Context

• Cost reduction and liability improvement are the
  drivers of priority axis.
• Innovation generates risk assessment, expensive
  re-qualification
• Context lowers the innovation process

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Recommendations

• As the context is still not favorable to risky
  projects, ESA is strongly encouraged to provide
  support for sustaining innovation.
• Example to allocate some opportunities for
  demonstrating technology flight proven
  capabilities by offering periodic free accesses
  to space for innovative experiences.

Allow Innovation to develop up to the
realization!