Autodesk Innovation Genome Example: How to Make Visualization Obsolete

The Autodesk Innovation Genome is one of the methods we use at Autodesk for innovation. You can learn more about it.

Visit the page.

We've all done brainstorming before — where you get a bunch of people together, and they throw out as many ideas as possible. But what if the brainstorming was organized? One of the parts of the genome is a structured brainstorming exercise where you take an innovation target (a problem you wish to solve), and consider seven questions about possible solutions for that target.

1. What could we look at in a new way?
2. What could we use in a new way, or for the first time?
3. What could we move, changing its position in space or time?
4. What could we interconnect, for the first time or in a new way?
5. What could we alter, in terms of design and performance?
6. What can we make that is truly new?
7. What can we imagine that would create a great experience for someone?

Recently one of our team members, Customer Success Manager, Dace Campbell, used the Autodesk Innovation Genome with Autodesk's Architectural Executive Committee (AXC) that consists of about 15 C-level/partner-level execs from some of our top architecture customers. The AXC met in a 2-day meeting to discuss visualization. After identifying "where we are today" and "where we want to be" with respect to visualization on the first day, the second day focused on "how we get there" and relied heavily on the Autodesk Innovation Genome methodology to generate and prioritize ideas about the innovation target: "how to make visualization obsolete."Here is what the AXC came up with:

Here is what the AXC came up with:

LOOK

• Consider that visualization is very inexpensive — in many cases, free
• Look at visualization so that it functions like a video game
• Visualization should be like communication — intuitive, no interface, experiential

USE

• Use the occupant to help define what the visualization experience should be
• Use visualization to involve future inhabitants of buildings to make them feel involved and listened to
• Use access to infinite computing power

MOVE

• Move the visualization data from the CD to cloud-based storage
• Move computing from wearable technology to dedicated devices
• Move visualization to the early stages of design
• Move functionality from separate applications to a unified experience

INTERCONNECT

• Interconnect visualization directly to BIM data
• Interconnect visualization with social networks (pervasive, immediate)
• Form partnerships among competitors "the enemy"

ALTER

• Alter the visualization experience to include sound, temperature, and perhaps smell
• Alter the construction feedback process to allow it to occur in real-time
• Alter the objective of visualization from "inform" to "persuade/seduce"

MAKE

• Make a visualization system that is so intuitive, we only have to think to interact with it
• Make client presentations "on demand" and "self-serve" via visualization
• Make a visualization language that everyone can speak and understand
• Make visualization "normal" instead of "cool"
• Make the impacts of designer's changes visible by making the data visible

IMAGINE

• Imagine nano-technology in the air that actually forms and shapes the environment
• Imagine a direct connection between thought and visualization
• Imagine full immersion in the visualization environments
• Imagine a Matrix-like experience or something like the Star Trek Holodeck or X-Men Danger Room

The team actually generated 177 ideas. I only listed 25 of them. Just from what I did list, you can see how fruitful the process is. The Autodesk Innovation Genome can be applied for any problem to be solved where innovation is necessary. Now is the time. Check it out. In just a few hours of structured brainstorming, you too can have a set of potential solutions to your most challenging issues and open the door to innovation. In this example, the team came up with 177 ideas in about an hour. This was followed by a prioritization session. Autodesk and the AXC will use the prioritized ideas to improve visualization. For more info, you can contact us at [email protected].

Still not convinced? Here's an entertaining 3-minute video.

Brainstorming is alive in the lab.