Innovation Days San Francisco Recap

Innovation Days San Francisco Recap

The Innovation Days San Francisco 2019 took place at INSEEC April 11-13 in partnership with Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi and EDF. The 48 hour event brought companies, designers, engineers, and entrepreneurial students  together to turn ideas into prototypes. The theme #MicroMobility addressed the rapid adoption of shared scooters, dockless bikes and emerging micro-mobility services. The challenge focused on the charging infrastructure, customer experience and business models to reshape mobility in cities around the world. Over 60 participants from University of San Francisco, UC Berkeley, Minerva, INSEEC and MCI Management Center Innsbruck tackled innovation challenges related to micromobility.

The challenges

Renault-Mitsubishi-Nissan ask how to design a viable charging scheme and how to design future micromobility vehicles. EDF wants to explore how we might use autonomous & electric micromobility to provide safe, low cost and grid-optimized mobility access in cities.

48 hours of ideation, prototyping and validation

On the first day, participants pitched their ideas and teamed up. Each team had to bring together participants with a design, technical and business background as well as different nationalities. Ideas ranged from a family-friendly modular vehicle to a system that transports groceries as well as people to support the transformation of mobility.

In the morning of the second day, participants could take a Kickscooter or use Scoot to talk with customers to validate the identified problem. In the afternoon, mentors from high-profile companies and startup experts including Scoot, Business Models Inc., BNP Baribas, Plug & Play, Standford D.School and many others supported the teams. During the 48 hours, participants prototyped their innovative solutions with company representatives and mentors. Expert feedback was valuable to improve the solutions under development at each iteration.

The final

The final solutions were showcased during the prototype expo. Company partners and mentors evaluated each solution and tackled the daunting task of choosing the best ones. Finally, one winner per category was announced. MOD won the Micromobility Vehicle challenge with their concept for a modular electric vehicle with an enclosed roof that fits in bike lanes. The modules are purchased through a vending machine. In the Scooter Power category, Loop convinced the jury with a charging station with swappable batteries and partner incentives. The jury selected Pivot, a module inductive charging grid connected to traffic lights, as the winner of the Autonomous Micromobility challenge.

Thanks to our company partners, to our university partners, to our mentors and to our event team: moderator James Gross, illustrator Nicole , film and photography by re:Told. We hope to see you next year at the Innovation Days San Francisco 2020!

Highlights

3 challenges: Scooter Power, Autonomous Micromobility, Micromobility Vehicle
60+ participants: from University of San Francisco, UC Berkeley, Minerva, INSEEC and MCI Management Center Innsbruck 25 ideas pitched
11 teams
30+ Mentors from Scoot, Business Models Inc., BNP Baribas, Plug & Play, Standford D.School and many others!

For more information about the Innovation Days San Francisco visit our event website.
Photos can be downloaded here.