Connecting for innovation
News16 May 2017
Bosch
is investing nearly $2 million in the project and is partnering with incubator
1871
Chicago's
historic Merchandise Mart provides a 19,000 foot facility for IoT innovation
Bosch
and the technology incubator, 1871, are launching a new Internet of Things
(IoT) innovation co-creation space in Chicago.
The
Chicago Connectory is located in the historic Merchandise Mart. It provides a
19,000 square-foot facility where start-up organisations, corporations and
universities will collaborate through membership, programming and strategic
partnerships to create IoT solutions and business models.
The
Connectory features a mix of community, technology and educational resources to
help facilitate IoT partnerships. Community resources will include access to
mentors from Bosch, 1871, faculty from Chicago-area universities such as the
School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Northwestern University and
DePaul University, and executives from local corporations.
The
Connectory, which was designed by Whitney Architects with support from Barbara
Pollack and Associates, features open working spaces, project collaboration
areas as well as space to host regular events and activities. On-going
educational opportunities include IoT workshops, innovation challenges and
hackathons.
Bosch,
which invested nearly $2 million to help launch the project, estimates that the
global volume of the IoT market will grow 35 per cent annually to 250 billion
dollars by 2020. In 2016, Bosch sold 27 million web-enabled products and by
2020, all new electronic products from Bosch will feature connectivity.
In 2016
it launched its own IoT cloud and the Bosch IoT Suite connects and manages more
than five million devices around the world. Of the more than 20,000 software
engineers employed by Bosch, around 4,000 of them focus solely on the Internet
of Things.
“Realising
the possibilities of IoT will require open partnerships within the technology
community to overcome barriers and drive innovation,” said Mike Mansuetti,
president of Robert Bosch. “The Chicago Connectory provides a platform for
start-ups, corporations and universities to collaborate, explore and dream how
IoT can bring new benefits to society and business throughout the world.
"For
Bosch, it’s another example of how we encourage an outside-in philosophy in
order to promote innovation and entrepreneurship within the company.”
Bosch
and 1871 will be actively involved in the Connectory. Bosch will offer
technical resources including a cross-domain development kit (XDK) and sensors
such as accelerometers and barometric pressure sensors for IoT development. A
maker space meant for smaller prototyping will feature Bosch power tools and 3D
printers.
Bosch
will also provide mentorship from teams and leaders on topics in manufacturing,
software engineering and commercialisation. 1871 will provide access to its
1,000 events each year, innovation days programming that matches start-ups with
corporate companies, access to the 1871 mentor network of more than 500
professionals, and workshops on business and technology topics.
An
internal corporate team from Bosch is utilising the Connectory space to conduct
co-creation sprints with two local start-ups to identify proofs of concept
using bot and data-simplifying technologies. Earlier this year, the start-ups
were matched with Bosch through an 1871 innovation day programme.
The
Chicago Connectory is holding a grand opening open house event on 18 May.
