The Autodesk Innovation Genome answers "Where do Autodesk Labs technology previews come from?"

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

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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?

We've used the Autodesk Innovation Genome when working with groups from Facebook, Oxford University, The Economist, and The Nobel Prize Committee.

Autodesk Labs is a collection of free previews that come from the various parts of Autodesk that have a technology that they want feedback on. Having done some work with the Autodesk Innovation Genome itself, I wondered what innovation question those teams might have asked themselves when they came up with the idea for the technology. After all, where do those technology previews come from?

Here's my take on how each existing technology preview could have been spawned in response to asking an Autodesk Innovation Genome question.

LOOK
Project Monolith	What if we looked at objects as collections of voxels that can be 3D printed?
Project ECMFin	What if we looked at energy conservation measures as a financial opportunity and compute their ROI?
USE
Molecule Viewer	What if we used the Large Model Viewer for CAD to view the tiny world of biology?
Autodesk Open Translation	What if we used Crowdsourcing to make learning materials multilingual?
Corridor Optimization for InfraWorks 360	What if we used equations to find the most efficient roadway alignment?
Project EnergyPlus Cloud	What if we used the power of cloud to compute energy analyses more quickly?
Suitability Maps for InfraWorks 360	What if we leveraged mapping data to perform corridor optimization?
NextGen Learning	What if we used crowdsourcing to help us evolve the learning resources we supply?
MOVE
Project PRAXIS	What if we moved workflow authoring/publishing from desktop to the cloud?
INTERCONNECT
Export LMC for AutoCAD	What if let users drive their METABEAM laser cutter directly from AutoCAD?
Dynamo Plug-in for Robot Structural Analysis	What if we connect parametric design to design simulation/analysis?
Project Boulder for InfraWorks 360	What if we match 2D flood simulations with 3D immersive models?
Project VUE Viewing for Navisworks	What if we connect Intergraph 3D models to the Navisworks clash detection processes?
React Structures	What if we connect our BIM process to intuitive structural analysis?
ALTER
Project Scandium for Moldflow Insight	What if we extend our simulation capabilities?
Project Scorch	What if we alter the user interface of an industry standard tool to make it easier to perform fire simulations?
MAKE
2D to 3D Tool for Inventor	What if we create 3D models from 2D drawings?
IMAGINE
Project Draco	Imagine what might happen if we allow users to bring life to illustrations with kinetic textures?
Project Arro	Imagine what our users might do if we allow them to test and optimize their design ideas in new ways?
Project Kameleon	Let's imagine new infrastructure model content authoring tools and let users try them out.

This is just my supposition, but you can see how innovations can all get traced back to these 7 questions. That's what makes it a genome. It's the DNA of innovation — the stuff of the birds and the bees. 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.

Categorization is alive in the lab.