N. 42, April - June 2009 
IP & RTD: Articles 

The 72-Hour Race to Innovation – a proof of concept turned television programme


Christina Nordström
Swedish Patent and Registration Office
 
Can you create a completely new product in 72 hours? And can you do this even though you’re not a professional inventor? Professor Kaj Mickos is convinced you can, and that anyone can produce an innovation. In his TV programme on Swedish television, “The 72-Hour Race to Innovation”, he wants to prove this by putting ordinary people to the test in a systematised process he calls the Innovation Plant.

Kaj Mickos is a professor of innovation technique. During his career he has guided approximately 2,500 people with great ideas, who lacked the tools and knowledge, through the innovation process, shaping their ideas into products. He also developed a production system for innovation he calls the Innovation Plant.

A couple of years ago, Mickos wanted to take his Innovation Plant a step further to prove that his method actually works. To do this, he needed to put his systematised method to the test in a powerful way and decided to demonstrate that it’s possible to produce innovations and have products ready for the market in 72 hours.

Since he based a big part of his concept on the idea that anyone can be an inventor and that it is the willpower and enthusiasm of ordinary people that drive development, his process needed to be “democratic”. This meant having laymen come up with the ideas and use the knowledge of experts to turn the idea into a product that was ready to go to market. Another prerequisite for this method was the ability to work in a virtual production centre.

Since an innovation process like this normally takes up to a year, “the 72-Hour Race” was a serious challenge. But it also helped him point out that the art of invention is no longer an individual sport, but a team effort.

After several meetings and discussions, Mickos joined forces with the interested parties and started a new production company called 72-Hour Race Productions. Mickos felt strongly about not turning it into a reality show where people would be voted off the programme, but instead wanted to create an inspiring programme that would help people believe in their power to make things come true.

“The 72-Hour Race” has been turned into a TV programme using the Innovation Plant concept. It is meant to enable people with different backgrounds and experiences to develop and commercialise their own ideas for new products and services in 72 hours. The contenders are not professional innovators but have specific problems to solve and ideas that are judged on the basis of their potential for commercialisation.

According to Mickos, the ultimate objective for an innovation is to create cash flow. Hence, enterprising is more important than the innovation itself. This is one reason to speed up the innovation process and adjust it to new conditions in the market. Another aspect is the environmental threats we face today which make it critical to find new, more environmentally friendly ways of manufacturing products.

- The world of innovation has been and still is in a state of intense change, Mickos says. The whole information and communication technology sector has developed at a rapid pace, and the Internet revolution, which allows users to control and create certain content, is spreading to other areas. So, when you talk about product development, it’s critical not to focus on what you are about to develop. Instead, my interest lies in how we are going to develop our product, creating theories of action. How we do things is the key, says Mickos.

The Innovation Plant process consists of multidisciplinary science teams with IPR, design, construction, packaging, finance, and marketing specialists working together to make the wheels of innovation spin. There are very few people who can execute the full process all on their own, so the focus in Mickos’ model lies on the process itself, not the tools.

On the TV programme, each team consists of three contenders, who together make up a dynamic and creative group of laymen that struggle against the clock to develop one or more products and services ready for commercialisation before the 72 hours have passed. The contestants are selected for the show by a board of competent business counsellors from different Swedish organisations, and the criteriaa is based not only on good ideas but on personality, charisma and ability to communicate willpower and strength.

During the 72 hours, expert counsellors, two process leaders and one industrial designer, are available to give advice within their specific fields. The panel is also available to give overall advice and, at the end of each episode, to give a final opinion of the idea and its potential for commercialisation.

Apart from the expert counsellors on site, the team has access to a back-office function. This function consists of additional specialists such as designers; prototype builders; intellectual property rights specialists and representatives from the Swedish Patent and Registration Office

When turning an idea into a product this quickly you might wonder if quality suffers. But, according to Mickos, the important thing is the ability to get a patent and that contestants actually produce something new, something that doesn’t already exist. However, at the end of the day, the quality of a product is ultimately determined in the marketplace based on whether the product can be sold.

The greatest challenge in every innovation process is the patent. Most ideas die before the process has even started if they’re not eligible for a license. This is why the first step consists of an IPR specialist confirming eligibility for patent protection. During the 72-Hour Race for example, The Swedish Patent and Registration Office performs quick novelty searches to make the assessment possible in such a short period of time. When the assessment process is done, the innovation process can start, even though the idea will come out differently than originally planned. And, even though the product eventually does not qualify for a license, it’s still protected during the process and you can get at least three years head start if it’s successful in the market.

Ten episodes of “The 72-Hour Race” have aired on Swedish television, in one-hour blocks that summarise 72 hours of intense innovative development. The different races have resulted in 30 patent applications and almost all the products are already on the market.

The 72-Hour Race has now become a so-called format, which means it can be sold to other TV channels and other countries.