1. Establish a clear and crisp main goal based on innovation with a clear metrics and considering the future.
2. The highest leadership should support innovativity; support in funding and encour- aging during the way.
3. Let the people participating in the innovation process, i.e. everybody, get rewarded by the innovation process itself in a way that money cannot buy.
4. Honour the one that is worth the honour, i.e. those working innovatively and … hard!
5. Involve the invisible and narrow specialist to give their life an enhanced and broader meaning
6. Encourage curiosity
7. Spread a correct understanding of innovation – not same as invention!
8. Let innovation be transferring a method from one area of application to another
9. There are no failed innovations – it’s just a matter of time! So do not easily give up!
10. “Utilize” universities and suppliers and customers
11. Work hard when needed – play hard when possible!
12. Let the innovativity concern everything from food to fabric.
The real stories behind the Commandments
1. A Company here called The Blue Vasa Company had a good and crisp goal in the beginning of the 80:ies the goal being: Creating jobs by being best through innovation!
As clear and crisp metrics the Company established to be the biggest (counted in installed horse powers) supplier of main engines to ships over a certain size as given by he (famous) The Motorship Journal. The tool to achieve this was to develop a new very innovative engine series. The goal was reached after approx. 8 years (one year earlier than planned). As a positive side effect the number of employees worldwide could be increased and the ROI surpassed the budget as well.
The Technical leadership of Blue Vasa Company also started an investigation of future Energy conversion methods in 1998. The “winners” were wind power, fuel cells and solar cells. At that time wind power was already too established, fuel cells looked promising and solar cells were too expensive. Now the Blue VASA Company is testing Solar cell after 18 years!
(Another investigation had the goal to find out the major fuels for energy conversion in the year 2200…)
2. An Engineer at the Blue Vasa Company stared a very innovative development project including so-called Digital Neural Networks. The Engineer had not the possibility to as for go ahead from his superior Director, as he was travelling. When the Director came home and heard about the project he gave it his go and found out a way of funding.
When a Director introduced an Engineer at the Blue Vasa Company to an innovative task he started with the words: “You, that is good in Descriptive Geometry…”
3. An Engineer at the Blue Vasa Company participated in a EU innovation project to use satellite communication to make remote assistance to ships (the product was named Remote Expert during the development). During the project he was able to visit the Inmarsat Control centre near the London “Gurk” (gurkan) in Kensington in London and get insight into the virtual scrapyard in the space to which all on electricity run out satellites are propelled with their last power. He would not have been allowed to these facilities outside the project.
An engineer at the Vasa Blue Company participated in a project regarding Fuzzy Logic control he was able to meet the inventor of fuzzy logic, Lofti A. Zadeh.
4. When an Engineer at the Blue Vasa Company developed a new device for constant speed shaft generator his name was clearly mentioned in the product brochure with worldwide distribution.
An Engineer at the Blue Vasa Company introduced the CAN bus system. As a reward he was given the opportunity to introduce the system at the Motor Ship Conference in London.
5. When a new system for administrating spare parts sales and delivery was being developed at the Blue Vasa Company a specialist on material numbers only was contacted. He was very surprised and interest and came with the solution that eventually resulted in the base for the new spare parts system. The system tuned out be one of the most advanced in the world surpassed only by Boeing, GE and Airbus!
6. An Engineer at the Blue Vasa Company got a telephone call from a Company called Technology Partnership. They were talking of CAN bus systems. Due to curiosity he decided to find out what it was. It turned out to be a digital communication system used in modern cars high-tech and homes. Eventually it was taken in use on most of the Blue Vasa Company’s engine and especially the gas engines!
A sub supplier demonstrated a new technology called AR, Augmented Reality. It was presented only as a technology by the supplier but by listening carefully to the presentation it was discovered by a present Engineer that it could be used for training. Thus an invention was made – due to curiosity!
7. Innovation is not the same as invention. The true meaning of the word innovation is ”introduce as new”. This means that an existing invention used in a new way is an innovation. An example of this is the introduction of a CAD system at the blue Vasa Company. Using the CAD system to make changes in electric drawings shorten the lead-time to 1/10th. This is an innovation as it is a new and specific application of a CAD system.
8. An Engineer at the Blue Vasa Company was interested in cameras and especially a Nikon model named FA that use stored photos to determine correct exposure. This principle was transferred to an engine diagnoses system that used store case to diagnose the engine condition. The system was vital in a competitive situation with a customer, which was won by the Blue Vasa Company. Now it is a commercial product of which in hundreds of systems have been sold.
9. When an innovative way of using satellite communication for maintenance purposes should be demonstrated for customers at the Blue Vasa Company in 1991 the satellite could not be reached. Was it a failure and time to give up? No, just a matter of time (or timing)! It turned out afterwards that WE loading their programme into their cruise missiles in Middle East occupied the satellites! Next demonstration was successful and resulted in a new Service Concept called Remote Expert, which has now been in use for almost a decade. So do not give in spite of a seeming failure!
10. The Blue Vasa Company participated in a satellite communications project together with Helsinki University of Technology, Hochschule Bremen The Technical University of Athens and other. Due to very strictly concentrating on the interests of the Blue Vasa Company it was possible to implement spin-off technologies even before the project was finished.
Besides the project itself this resulted in many contacts and innovative ideas that could later be implemented by the Blue Vasa Company. An example is use of Broadband communication, which at that time was only in the experimental stage.
Another project in c-operation with Helsinki University faculty for Linguistics gave the insight into ontology which will be used in the future when making instruction manuals for back-up engines for nuclear Power Plants.
A third project in co-operation with the State Research Centre of Finland (VTT) was regarding instruction manuals for the maintenance of the so-called Tokamak in the planned European Super Phoenix Fusion Nuclear Reactor (with a total budget of 60.000.000.000€).
So the optimal co-operation with universities gives insight in things otherwise not noted and thus is a base for innovations!
11. An engineer at the Blue Vasa Company should have a presentation in India over new innovations for running on heavy fuel (Low Sulphur Heavy Stuff as it was called in India). He became ready with his preparations at 1 .A.M and had to get up at 4 AM to reach the flight. At the seminar the next morning contact was reached with a customer that eventually bought the first engine sold to India. Afterwards it was time for sightseeing a couple of days in New Delhi including famous buildings, wild monkeys and a dinner at the Finnish Embassy.
12. Being innovative should be a way of living inside the company. In the Blue Vasa Company customers were during an outdoor session in the Vasa archipelago in middle of May urged to go out and pic cloud berries in the terrain. There are no cloudberries in May people said. These ones are said the host. In the terrain hidden in the vegetation cocktail glasses filled with cloudberry liqueur had been placed just to pic by the guests!
Ingmar Ahlqvist
