Unappreciated by the world is the fact that in today’s elusive studio of motorcycle design America is a major player – for some, the major player. Dozens of designers, engineers and craftsmen are creating some of the most exciting and innovative motorcycles the world has ever seen – ever dreamed about. This doesn’t just mean “yet another chopper”. It means names like Confederate, Ecosse, Fischer, Roehr, Vectrix (producing an electric sportbike), and MotoCzysz in addition to, and no less worthy in this context, the establishment Harley-Davidson with Buell, Victory, and even Indian. Award-winning author Alan Cathcart visits twenty-five shops interviews the designers and engineers and rides the motorcycles. Each shop, interviewee and motorcycle has been photographed especially for this book.

Check out the following excerpt from the book featuring the rMoto Electrix Superbike. You can also download a PDF file here. To purchase a copy of American Dream Bikes by Alan Cathcart click here.

The Florida High Tech Corridor is highlighting entrepreneurs in the region that are developing innovative technologies with the potential to revolutionize the industry.  These “Faces of Technology” interviews appear on the Faces of Technology YouTube channel, where viewers can watch these dynamic individuals tell their own stories.  Each of these 16 professionals discusses how they are using technology to facilitate the growth and development of creativity in the region.

“These Faces of Technology profiles showcase the extraordinarily diverse high tech sectors in the region through the eyes of industry experts,” said Randy Berridge, president of the Florida High Tech Corridor Council.  “They stand as testaments to the Corridor’s potential to significantly impact entire industries, if not the world.  We are so proud that they call Florida’s High Tech Corridor home, and we salute their passion and commitment.”

The Florida High Tech Corridor Council (FHTCC) is an economic development initiative of the University of Central Florida (UCF), the University of South Florida (USF) and the University of Florida (UF) whose mission is to grow high tech industry and innovation through research, workforce and marketing partnerships. A partnership involving more than 20 local and regional economic development organizations (EDOs) and 14 community colleges, the Council is co-chaired by the presidents of UCF, USF and UF. The Council includes the presidents of two of the community colleges, the president of Florida Institute of Technology and representatives of high tech industry.

ROBRADY design is a multi-disciplined product design and development studio that offers its multinational client base—including General Electric, Mercedes-Benz, Dell Computers, Parker Hannifin, AT&T, Merial and Volvo Penta—progressive industrial design, mechanical design and engineering, graphics /packaging / GUI / web and eCommerce design, market research, brand and retail development, complete rapid prototyping and production program management. ROBRADY design stresses comprehensive speed-to-market product solutions by collaborating to identify the greatest areas of opportunity and producing innovative designs to deliver profitable product solutions. ROBRADY delivers design, production and capital solutions to their clients in support of their research to reality philosophy.

Is an Electric Super Bike important?

My team and I started to prepare the booth at the ’08 INDY Motorcycle Industry Expo very early in the morning. We had spent the last two days setting up. The show didn’t start until 10:00 am, but we were there at 8:00 am because we were anxious to get everything ready. The truth is we were very nervous. This was the very first motorcycle industry event that Vectrix Corporation had ever attended in North America, and we wanted to make a good showing. This was also the first time that any company had attempted to enter the conventional North American motorcycle market with an E2W machine of this quality, and at this price or performance level. Only recently, Vectrix had attended EICMA, the major European motorcycle industry event in Milan. The ROBRADY/Vectrix Super Bike (rMoto) was “unveiled” with terrific fanfare and attracted tremendous attention from the press and the industry. The momentum had begun.

We only had a little booth at INDY, barely big enough for three or four demo models of the Maxi Scooter sized Vx1 Electric Scooter. The booth was so small, that most of the sales team had to stand in the isles. Even so, I had decided to devote a lot of valuable space to something we wanted the US industry to see, even though it was not something we could sell to prospective dealers.

I had decided that the beautiful, life sized model of the Super Bike was so exciting as a concept, that it should take the front and center spot in the booth as a symbol of what our new brand represented. I was acutely aware of the interest that the showing at EICMA had generated in Europe, and wanted to continue the momentum here in the US.

This was, after all, to be an all-inclusive E2W brand, not just a “scooter” brand.

All of us were a bit worried. We had promised our company that the conventional motorcycle industry was where our machines belonged, not in electronics/appliance retailers, EV stores, stand-alone flag ship stores, or automobile dealerships, as many in the company still believed, although the success at the EICMA show was beginning to change minds. Their concept was that these electric machines were “revolutionary personal transport”, “rolling computers” – anything but motorcycles. That sales tactic had been tried for several years, at great expense, and with no success. One argument held that the lack of success was due to the machines being too advanced and ahead of their time for people to understand. I contended that they were motorcycles, motorcycles with electric drive systems, but motorcycles none-the-less. And that they belonged in stores that had clientele who were or had made the “life choice” necessary to embrace two wheeled vehicles. I believed we needed dealership partners that were trusted by long time clients, so that a new brand, and a new propulsion system, would be trusted by extension, and had all of the expertise, service and accessories necessary to satisfy that prospective end user, or fleet user.

As the morning wore on we took the dust cover off the Super Bike model and did other preparations to make the booth ready for the show to open. No fanfare as at EICMA, we just took off the cover. It was about 9:00 am. A funny thing started to happen. Suddenly, people from the other booths started to wander over to our booth. Before long we noted people taking pictures and making calls on their cell phones. Within half an hour we had a large crowd of industry insiders surrounding our booth, actually surrounding the Super Bike model. The cell phone calls and the transmitted cell pictures continued to bring more and more people to the booth. When 10:00 am arrived and the show opened, the crowd changed character from other OEMs to dealers and dealership staff. All weekend long we had national press, industry association and newsletter reporters, other OEMs and former visitors bringing others with them, back to the booth for another look. We soon became worried that we had not brought enough literature. Everyone wanted pictures and specs. Before the first day was over we had made about 40 appointments to take demo units to dealerships in aid of their adopting our brand, and hundreds of other inquiries. Staff had done dozens of press interviews and made appointments for press visits to the Vectrix corporate facilities.

It was absolutely clear to all of us that the Super Bike model was what caused the excitement. Once the dealers understood that it was the Vx1 that was currently available, and once they had experienced the scooter going in reverse, learned about the regen throttle (being electric we could run them indoors even if only for a few feet), and heard that it could go 62 mph… they were sold. Because we were able to show a convincing road map of planned future products and had the promise (dream?) of having a fantastic electric Super Bike in the foreseeable future, they were interested and anxious to become dealers. The US team went on to open over 100 US dealerships in the remaining 8 months of its current fiscal year and placed over 2200 Vx1s on dealership floors during that time period.

After that show, Company enthusiasm increased dramatically and an all out effort, anchored with the Super Bike model, was launched – continuing the introduction of Vectrix and the Super Bike to the motorcycle world and the world press.

Up until that time, only sporadic forays into E2Ws had been made by any large brand. A few low-speed, limited distance units had been tried here and there in the western world. Meanwhile, a very large number of similar but low performing low-tech machines had begun appearing in the Asian markets and met with wonderful success. Unfortunately, most of these were of relatively low quality and had inadequate performance levels for US or European use. Literally no one had even remotely considered such a thing as an electric super bike. So, when the ROBRADY/Vectrix Super Bike was presented to the world it had an amazing impact.

As recently as last year, Mission Motors produced a prototype electric motorcycle (super bike) that has now set a two way record at Bonneville of over 150 mph. It is said to have a nominal street range per charge of 100 miles to 150 miles. This is reported to be a production prototype.

Shortly after that, Lightning Electric Motorcycle Company set a one way measured mile record at Bonneville of over 166 mph. The same machine placed second at the first sanctioned all electric motorcycle race in the US. It is also reported to be a production prototype.

The Agni bike (a one off proof of concept for the Agni electric motor company) won the Isle of Man GPXTT zero emissions race and went on to win the first race of that type in the US.

Lightning, Moto Czysz, Mavizen, Roehr, Agni and a few others are offering to build race only electric bikes for teams interested in entering these races.

Last year, an electric motorcycle dragster, the KillaCycle, began to do quarter mile races in the sub 8 second times, rivaling all but the fastest Super charged and multi engine ICE drag bikes.

Only a few weeks ago, 13 electric super bikes competed in the first officially sanctioned all electric bike race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA, and in so doing achieved speeds that were very close to those of ICE super bikes, doing laps only 15 to 18 seconds slower than ICE super bikes.

Yamaha, Honda, Peugeot, KTM, BMW, Polaris, and other Legacy 2W OEMs have announced the introduction of E2W machines into their product lines in the next few years.

Recently, Quantya, Zero, Brammo, EVS, and as many as 10 other small specialty E2W and EATV OEMs have entered the market place.

Four years ago, within the motorcycle industry at large, there was no evidence of such a thing as an electric super bike; or for that matter, serious consideration of electric bikes at all. I now know of a few people and some industry insiders that had been privately working on electric motorcycles and scooters in their garages and workshops for many years – but in the industry at large, this was not a seriously considered concept.

So what was the vision for the rMoto? ROBRADY design by that time had extensive experience in the motorcycle industry and had recently begun working with Vectrix on electric scooters. They understood where electric vehicle technology could go. The design for the Vx1 was completed and the beginnings of a product road map – a smaller scooter called the Vx2, fleet specific bodywork for patrol and delivery service, and even a prototype three-wheeled version of the Vx1 were in the works. What they were looking for though was something that could aid in building Vectrix into an iconic brand. The answer to that was the Super Bike, even though the technology necessary to drive such a thing at ICE like speed for any distance was not available or even understood.

When one considers what would drive anyone to go out on this sort of limb, what impetus would drive such a conceptualization, one can only think it was passion. The idea of a commercial industrial design studio being an incubator for this sort of work seems attractive and appropriate, but it’s not at all common. The driver here seems to be genuine passion on the part of all concerned. The nature of a design studio is collegial and only a shared passion could drive such a leap forward in concept… and, why not? This concept combines a lot of elements that are extremely attractive to the creative mind. Once the team was exposed to the Vx1, they were aware of the awesome capabilities of electric drive systems, the positive effect on the environment such machines could provide, the amazing power delivery concept of 100% torque from 0 mph, and the utter silence of these machines in motion. Additionally, I think, there was the passionate impetus to convince this client company, Vectrix, that driving prospective dealerships and end users to their brand, and to continued interest in the brand for the long run, required a brand awareness-“a total brand design”- that encompassed a long term product road map and a unified design of the company now and the future.

How far, given all of that, is it from the Vx1 to the rMoto? I think the distance in concept between the two is actually light years. Am I trying to make the case that this Super Bike was the only reason for the growth in interest in electric E2Ws, or that it was the single impetus for the sudden appearance, so soon after it was shown, of actual electric super bikes; perhaps not. However, I do believe that it was a prime mover, and one of the primary eye opening and imagination generators in the development of everything that has come since. Nothing else in the rapid progress of these developments has had this much influence or this much power to influence the current outcome.

During the ’08 INDY show, and for a long time after, the sales team reported dealer after dealer saying that they had decided to adopt the brand in large part because of the promise of a product line that eventually would included the Super Bike. One dealer agreed to adopt the brand only if he were promised that his would be the first dealership in his state to have the Super Bike.

Clearly, giving credit where it is due, the Vx1 is a good bike and deserved success in it’s own right. It is still the best E2W that has ever been offered to the general motorcycle marketplace in terms of design and performance. It offers acceptable speed (62 mph/100 kph), product differentiation from ICE bikes with regen braking and reverse throttle, excellent handling and decent distance per charge.

But I don’t think it would have achieved such rapid dealer acquisition, and reached the public consciousness so quickly, without the electric Super Bike model.  The Super Bike offered prospective dealers and end users a clear vision of what to expect in the future (a future which is coming about rapidly as noted above), and excited the imagination and efforts of an entire industry.

Bravo ROBRADY design.

We seem to be surrounded by people who tell us we are living in the age of a personal transport revolution. Their main reference point for this bold statement is that motorcycles powered by electric propulsion systems have become available.  But while the use of batteries as the energy source to drive motorcycles is considered by many to be a revolution, it is in fact part of an evolutionary process.

There have been electric vehicles (EV) including motorcycles (E2W – Electric Two Wheel) for well over one hundred years – in fact before internal combustion engines (ICE) came into common use. However, wide use of the electric powered motorcycle in the contemporary western world is relatively new.  In China alone, there are reported to be more than 25 million E2Ws – mainly scooters – currently in use.  There are significant market reasons for this fact, in particular, very low speed limits that make even the slowest E2W competitive with ICE.  Also, their economic situation constrains most individuals from owning an auto or truck.

To some among the current E2W startups, there seems to be confusion about this issue of evolution within the motorcycle industry, leading to characterization of these machines as rolling computers or revolutionary transport appliances and even attempts at selling them in electronics/appliance stores. An E2W is not an electronic appliance, not a “computer on wheels.” It is, at the end of the day, quite simply a motorcycle.

Mistaking and merchandising an E2W for anything else is an error, will cause confusion and will slow down market acceptance and growth. If we wish to drive acceptance of these machines, we must make sure they conform to the actual uses that are true of conventional motorcycles and be accepted and sold in motorcycle dealerships. Essentially, we are talking about a function of the up-front design concept, branding, marketing, sales, and after sales processes. Success in bringing E2Ws to market in the western world relies on recognition of certain realities that exist in the marketplace.

One informative result of surveys by Frost & Sullivan, Deloitte, and others is that among market drivers, “green” or environmental issues are generally about half way down the list. The top five are all related to mission specificity and value. The same criteria is attached to conventional ICE machines. Fortunately, it is now possible for E2Ws to fulfill many of those criteria.

Making sure that the first – the beachhead products – are mission appropriate, price competitive, and targeted to those market areas that fit the current limitations of this drive system in terms of speed, range and price, is the role of the design firm/team.

An understanding of how surface design, mission specificity, and the other aspects noted above effects perspective dealers, retail end users and fleet users is crucial to this effort.

The two most telling cases that come to mind are the retooling of the KTM brand by Kiska of Austria, which led directly to the KTM break away market-entry success, and the design work by ROBRADY design that led to the very successful launch of the Vectrix Maxi VX1 electric scooter (and eventually to the now iconic ROBRADY/Vectrix Electric Super Bike). Because of the fact that the ROBRADY effort was aimed directly at an E2W startup, it is most salient to this discussion.

Although very distinctive, the ROBRADY design for the premier Vectrix machine, the VX1, does not radically deviate from the conventional in terms of visual design. Styling elements that are unique and can be replicated in the continuing product road map are certainly present, but the design is recognizable as a Maxi Scooter. This was a very thoughtful conceptualization in the case of Vectrix for the following reason. It is hard enough to convince a prospective buyer to accept a new brand and on top of that to accept an electric power train with it’s inherent limitations. Why ask the retailer, and the end user, to also accept something with unrecognizably radical visuals as well? Sometimes subtlety and restraint is strength in this respect.

The same precept was applied to the ROBRADY/Vectrix Super Bike, which was indeed radical in concept and unique in design, but remained recognizable as a motorcycle. It was important for the ROBRADY /Vectrix Super Bike design to maintain that restraint for the same reasons, as it was the first time that a concept of an actual all-electric “Super Bike” that could potentially compete on an equal footing with ICE Super Bikes was introduced at industry events.

That concept is most important for a start-up to realize, unless they are content to step aside when the trusted legacy companies finally launch their E2Ws, which they will do shortly within carefully chosen price ranges – starting with the small useful ones designed for a larger market.

Branding, which is a process that must be done in order to state clearly what the company represents, is an integral part of the effort, as is infrastructure, legal requirements, dealers and an all important end user interface. These are also integral parts of first stage planning and a part of the “total brand design” that should be done as part of the above process. That effort is essentially a design process that includes the design firm, the OEM, the sales and marketing team (perhaps ideally the same entity), and all those involved in compliance and finance.

This is perhaps even more serious for an E2W start up due to their need to compete with Legacy OEMs.

Most important to this complex effort is the “total design concept” that encompasses the entire brand story, including its interface with dealerships and end users. The most successful illustration of this concept is Apple.  This brand is well known for its design prowess but equally known for its total design concept, which reaches into every aspect of product design, packaging, marketing, sales, dealer and end user interface. What makes them successful is a concept that goes well beyond the design quality of the products themselves.

Confusing an E2W for an electronic gadget sincerely misses the point regarding the normal evolutionary progress that will be shown in good time by all of the existing, successful motorcycle brands. However, this is one of those rare times when a start-up can actually compete and bring a new brand into the marketplace. This is because of economic issues relating to the ponderous nature of new development in older, large motorcycle OEMs, product and brand confusion (selling ICE and E2W at the same time) and the lack, on the part of the legacy companies, of “overall brand design” that has been such an integral part of Apple’s ability to produce such prodigious sales of new products within their brand, and to overcome competition from other companies with like products.

That is where a “total design concept” process is critical. There are many computer companies, but only one Apple.

There are many motorcycle companies, but only one…

The Legacy OEMs are exploring electricity as a possible alternate drive system, for use in certain – currently limited situations – notably a few big brand e-scooters and e-ATVs are already in test release. However, they are not offering a serious product road map for future products and certainly are not offering the proven excitement of a Super Bike; leaving the door open to a well considered start-up (up start?), particularly one able to relate to its customers successfully through a “total design concept.”

Another problem lies in the propensity of some current startups to provide only over-developed, very expensive, first generation E2Ws that cost many times more than comparable existing ICE bikes without providing comparable performance. This only serves to showcase the limitations rather than the advantages of E2Ws, creating an elitist perception of these machines – the very opposite of what is creating such success in Asia. Some even ignore the very useful and innovative features that clearly create critical product differentiation between E2W and ICE, such as regenerative braking and reversing from the throttle.

Many in the industry believe that the Holy Grail of the emerging E2W industry is the 150+ mph super bike, and it surely is. We learned that from the excitement generated the very first time the ROBRADY/Vectrix Super Bike was shown to the industry. It is, because it suggests to the skeptics that an E2W can some day perform respectably along side of contemporary ICE bikes. In retrospect, the now iconic ROBRADY/Vectrix Super Bike led many to that conclusion.

The history of the motorcycle industry is evolutionary, not revolutionary. As in all evolutionary progress, the best is kept and preserved alongside the inevitable advances that will surely come. My suggestion is that this evolutionary process includes not only electric drive systems, but also a “total design concept” as the real “new paradigm.”

Only by studying the past, emulating the evolutionary norms of our industry and embracing the newly evolved “total brand design” concept, will any new E2W company be able to tell the compelling story necessary to grow its new brand in today’s crowded and highly competitive marketplace.

By Kim Cartlidge

Hosting a design summit solely for designers and creative types is so last year. The forward-thinking Ringling College of Art and Design chose instead last week to spread the word about how design thinking might deliver businesses and the region from the grips of the recession. The Sarasota International Design Summit on the campus kicked off with an invitation-only CEO roundtable led by international creativity consultant Sir Ken Robinson.

Rob Brady, CEO / Design Director of ROBRADY design.

Sir Ken Robinson, above, spoke at the Sarasota International Design Summit, and later signed copies of two of his books. Photos by Lauren Redifer.

Sarasota-Bradenton business attendees included Sun Hydraulics Corporation CEO Allen Carlson, Beall’s Inc. CEO Steve Knopik and ROBRADY CEO Rob Brady.

“The business environment is as challenging as it has ever been,” says Robinson, who has advised governments in Europe and Singapore on creating economies and education systems for today’s global age. “The key message was that this is not the time to give up on being innovative.”

Rob Brady leads ROBRADY design, a local firm that epitomizes both design innovation (having recently released a trendsetting folding bicycle) and the type of business Sarasota’s leadership wants to attract and retain in this region. I asked Brady how he defines design thinking.

“It’s a methodology we were taught in design school,” say Brady, who was educated as an industrial designer. “We analyze problems in a very visual way –in both two and three dimensions. What’s so approachable is that it’s so easy to pick up.”

For Brady, design thinking entails using light boards, graphics and problem statements. It requires questioning the question itself, meaning turning a critical eye on how a company is framing a problem. It also involves brainstorming without negativity or judgment, which can take the wind out of the imaginative process. “We don’t disqualify ideas immediately. Often that gem is two or three ideas away from you. If you throw away the crazy ideas, you throw away the bridges.”

ROBRADY lost 85 percent of its business in the downturn, but is on track for phenomenal growth this year with several new products. “Last year, we got clobbered by the recession, and if we did not reinvent ourselves, it would be an obituary. We survived by looking inside and applying design methodology to ourselves and going after new markets,” Brady says.

Brady adds, “Innovation without a process is reckless. Innovation with a proper methodology is a phenomenal competitive weapon in business.”

The word Ringling College President Larry Thompson wanted to share with the CEOs is that design thinking is not just for the creative fields: it’s a survival tool that can lead us out of this dismal economy.

Thompson plans to expand the CEO roundtable and opportunities for local entrepreneurs to apply design thinking to business problems. For more information, call his office at 359-7601.

Syndicated From: Sarasota Magazine

Source

Recently I traveled to Miami to represent ROBRADY at the 2010 Social Networking Conference. Overall it generated some great enthusiasm and I walked away with fresh ideas for our social media agenda. The dominating theme of the conference was how to build relationships through the various social media channels and use Web 2.0 tools to strengthen brand, communicate with customers, and build sales.

The pre-conference discussions were hosted by Chris Rollyson, Director of CSRA, Inc and Clara Shih, CEO of Hearsay Labs and author of The Facebook Era. Rollyson gave a great discussion on what drives companies to engage in social media strategies. His point about the necessity of discovering how your clients use these tools before randomly creating sites was very insightful and something we discuss often at ROBRADY. The key to success with these tools is to engage your target audience where they are already congregating and provide them with useful and desirable information. Clara Shih’s discussion focused primarily on Facebook and highlighted some very creative uses of that platform to build brand and engage consumers. She also spent some time discussing the concepts of social media capital and transitive trust and how social media sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook lend themselves to these relationships.

During the main conference, trust, content, and collaboration were recurrent themes with many of the presenters. Ann Aikin of the CDC discussed how they collaborated with other health organizations to spread information on the Swine Flu epidemic. To complement the widgets, videos, and podcasts that the CDC created in-house, they also released XML files to allow users to build their own informational tools. By allowing the audience to participate in the process and create tools that worked for them, the CDC maximized their impact. This type of collaboration and crowdsourcing was met with enthusiasm among the attendees in the sessions. ROBRADY had experimented with crowdsourcing several years ago on our rMOTO electric superbike project and we are looking forward to finding new ways to use this tool and potentially collaborate with design students and fans of the studio.

Virtual meeting sites such as Second Life were also a hot topic. Sandy Carter from IBM discussed their use of Second Life and Virtual Forum sites for events. IBM experienced a 15% increase in consumer traffic at the virtual events and generated the lowest cost per lead in the industry. Amazingly, they have the same conversion rates at their virtual events as they do for their traditional live events. She attributed some of this success to the high quality content that was presented in a “sales-pressure free” environment. Content is definitely a main driver in the success of a company’s social media agenda. Steve Faktor of American Express defined good content as being a culmination of creativity, capabilities, and culture. To build and keep a dedicated audience, companies must regularly provide answers and solutions to their customer’s needs without pushing a sales agenda. This connects back into the concept of trust. The audience should see content as a genuine effort to assist and educate.

Proponents of social media say the power of disruption media has waned with the increase of technology. Consumers can block commercials from television, get their news from RSS feeds rather than papers or magazines, and look to their more trusted peers for product referrals. Businesses must add value to their marketing message and must listen to the conversations in the marketplace. As many companies have discovered, their products and service are being discussed with or without their participation. The statistics from social media sites are impressive and prove that the audience is out there. Companies must develop cohesive plans for tapping this resource. Many of the presenters discussed how some businesses are jumping into social networking without a plan only to abandon their sites because they didn’t see immediate ROI results. As Rollyson instructed in both of his talks, high short term expectations can be a set-up for failure. Companies must have realistic plans and set relationship goals, not just sales goals. Strategically, ROBRADY has worked hard to set a long term vision on how we want to utilize social media to build our brands, engage our communities, and grow our businesses.

In closing, I would suggest a few changes to better engage the technical profile that a conference of this nature attracts, such as a more robust Wi-Fi and better access to power for laptop use. This would have really benefited the audience. I am looking forward to the Social Networking Conference growing to the point where it can stand alone and not be combined with other conferences so that it can be a truly engaging environment. Miami Beach is obviously a fun destination and it is great to have access to these shows in Florida. I hope this conference continues to grow and improve.

As part of the Business Development team for ROBRADY design, I am on the front lines – one of the first levels of filtration to full engagement – and trust me when I say: I want your idea to be a home run! I’m a guy who will be pitching it to the review team and it only helps my task when something truly innovative crosses my path. I’m often inspired by what is presented; however, I can’t stress enough about the importance of “preparation”. Although you may have invented the next mousetrap, I need to know if it makes sense from a business stand point- is there a market? Is there a need? Can it be built affordable? And yes, is there a profit to be had?

Invention, of course, breeds innovation. Your best shot at success is to prepare your idea or invention to its fullest prior to presenting it. In all business there is a level of risk and when it comes to taking an invention to market there is substantially more. Have answers in your arsenal readily available of how to mitigate that risk.  Here is the checklist:


-Product Description


-Where / what is the market opportunity?


-Are there potential for different versions, accessories, monthly subscriptions, apps, etc?


-What is your experience in the industry?


-Be prepared to discuss your funding needs / capabilities.


Just yesterday we were presented a product which we thought had a tremendous amount of potential but weren’t sure of the market timing. It would have been to the inventor’s advantage if they had come to us with rough market research, an initial business plan or draft sales forecast. Proving the viability of the idea would have helped develop partnership opportunities sooner rather than later.

There is no skeleton key that will unlock the doors to success. In the current economic climate the market drives us; we do not drive the market. I am of the opinion that successful ideas making it to market these days are the ones that enhance proven products already in the marketplace. High unemployment numbers, down economy, loss of homes – we all know the drill. It’s likely that if consumers are going to part with their hard earned money it will be for something that makes a product they already understand even better.

“Look at market fluctuations as your friend rather than your enemy; profit from folly rather than participate in it.” – Warren Buffett

Own your own Electric Superbike by printing out this marker and clicking here.

For those new to the term Augmented Reality, you won’t be for long.  AR has recently started making major inroads into our daily lives.  In fact, you’ve probably already seen examples of AR but just don’t know it.  You’d probably recognize them as the 1st & Ten Line while watching your favorite football team on TV or as the high-tech heads-up displays (HUD) that fighter pilots use to monitor and control their flight and weapons systems.

According to Google Trends, the search volume for “augmented reality” exploded in 2009.  Why, you ask?  Mostly because of the convergence of two independent revolutions.

In 2006, after spending a little over a year working with AR, obvious and disappointing limitations to AR became apparent to me.  For one thing, it was extremely restrictive in its distributive potential compared to the instant gratification of publishing content in the blink of an eye to billions of people across the Web with a single mouse click.  The AR systems most readily available in 2006 were mostly standalone options requiring installation of desktop applications.  Another thorn was the portability issue.  Aside from a few tablet PCs, there just wasn’t enough power in mobile computing devices to be able to maintain the illusion that computer-generated items were really within the real world environment.  An AR application needs to combine information streams, video analysis, and rendering capabilities all at once in real time.

Leap forward 3 short years.  In January of 2009, a clever fellow in Japan ported over some of the available AR code libraries so they would run in Flash, and he made them publicly available.  This was a HUGE development for AR distribution due to the nearly 100% ubiquity of the Adobe Flash Player.  Flash Player has built-in webcam support, can access information streams, and render graphics beautifully, making it a perfect fit to deliver an AR experience over the web.  Suddenly, anyone with an internet connection and a webcam was a potential AR user.

During this same period, the iPhone changed the portability playing field.  The computing power of the iPhone brought about the realization that fairly complex applications could now be truly mobile and widely used, and it’s popularity made the dream of a world in which nearly everyone had access to such technology a vivid reality.  Thus, it was only a matter of time before mobile camera-enabled smartphones would become AR platforms.  While true that the first commercially available mobile AR app was developed for Android in 2008, it is arguably the iPhone’s market share and app distribution system that has propelled mobile AR into the mainstream.  Indeed, with many AR apps exploding onto the iPhone scene in 2009 due to the buzz (Metro Paris Subway, Layar, Yelp, and others), it’s as if the vision of ubiquitous Augmented Reality had finally come home to Apple.

Though still having room for improvement, AR has appeared in Best Buy’s Sunday advertisements and more recently on Home Depot Gift Cards just in time for the holidays.  The only thing really holding back World AR Domination is Apple’s reluctance to open up Flash on the iPhone (one can dream).  It is apparent that augmenting our world with contextually relevant information or enhancements is something that people find both useful and fascinating.  And it’s future uses currently dominate the discussions amongst investigators in the field.

In October, the International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR) in Orlando, Florida amazed me with the types of questions permeating the conference despite a decade or more of development—very basic questions, the kind one would expect in the infancy of a new technology. Essentially, it is a second infancy being experienced and attributable to the surging mainstream adoption.  The move from research to reality has reset the way many AR investigators have to think about the tools they are developing.  They are now having to ask themselves these questions with greater urgency.  How will AR be used in the future?  What’s a good use of AR?  What is (and what is not) considered Augmented Reality?  The increased prominence of these fundamental questions motivated ISMAR for the first time to open up a track of sessions focused solely on the Arts, Media, & Humanities aspects of AR to help answer these questions.

Implications and opportunities for the industrial & design worlds are endless: devices to allow ship pilots to see coastal features even through dense fog; military simulation & training; tools to aid medical procedures; products to help structural engineers & planners; enhanced thrill rides at theme parks; and plentiful marketing opportunities.

Where do you see Augmented Reality fitting into the scheme of things?

While fully holographic AR design studios like those portrayed in the film Iron Man seem out of reach, the advancement of display technologies like mid-air displays, eyewear & Head Mounted Displays (I’ve even seen some with gaze-tracked menu navigation) indicate that such ideas are not just unobtainable fantasies.  They are virtual realities.  Despite AR’s history, 2009 is the year that will likely go down as Augmented Reality’s birthday thanks to its perfectly timed delivery into the primed hands of the general public.

To celebrate a bit of this nascent technology, simply print out a copy of this marker, click here and hold your printout so that the large “R” is in view of your webcam, and have fun with your very own Electric Superbike!

Stephen Barker is the President of Digital Frontiers Media, a Sarasota, Florida based company providing multimedia, web development, and programming services.  Stephen has experience in building physical computing systems and installations utilizing Augmented Reality (AR) and Tangible User Interface (TUI) technologies.

(I)There’s a lot of CEO’s out there who are listening to this.  A lot of them have zero design experience.  What two to three insights would you share with them about how they can differentiate their product and service with the use of design?

(R)This very rarely comes up in conversation, but I think more and more it will.

(R)They need to be aware of design.  There’s a call that I got from a presentation I did for General Electric and it’s from the honorary chairman of Sony, Norio Olga — hopefully I got the pronunciation correct — but his quote is, at Sony we assume all products of our competitors will have basically the same technology, price, performance and feature.  Design is the only thing that differentiates one product from another in the marketplace.  And here’s the CEO of Sony — I’m going to guess probably not a designer, but a business person — Robert Hays, who’s the professor at Harvard Business School, quoted as saying 15 years ago companies competed on price, today it’s quality and tomorrow’s it’s design.  If you’re not a CEO that’s aware of design, you’re either in a unique universe where it doesn’t matter or you’re going to find out about it in a harsh way because your competitors are going to show up with that fact.  When you think about design, realize that you can’t get a designer, a credible, talented designer involved in your program too early.  If you’re just scratching your head, if you’re whiteboarding different ideas, if you’re thinking about different ways to go attack your competitors or to offer different designed products or services to your client base, get a designed in the room.  It’s not just about the math, it’s not just about honing what you’ve got in production, it’s about creative thinking and I think designers and the way we’re schooled, we think that way all the time.

(I)Right brain, right?  You look at it spatially

(R)Totally right brain.  And I would challenge the designers that are out there listening.  You have to be right for an analyst brain, you’re got to be aware of the other technical aspects as well, but we work with a number of our clients very early on, very confidentially — they’re called design summits and sometimes we host them here where we bring in people that are very close to the subject and people who are just very creative and are away from the subject, have nothing to do with the subject, but are very creative thinkers, and we put them all in a room and we have a different format of how we go about distilling different ideas for that mission.  But I would say a couple things to think about is certainly if you’re a type of business right now that’s dealing with the recession or the thought of a recession or that R word has entered your mind, those clients of ours who are dealing with that issue right now are talking to us about their future.  Where I think it’s easy to bury your head in the sand and say let’s get to a low burn rate, which is probably a smart move, but let’s get to a low burn rate, put our head in the sand and hope for the best and see when things turn up. We have clients who are right in the heat of that because they’re dealing with products that are gas consumables.  For whatever reason, they’re dealing with their session and they’re investing in us right now to look at their product from a product and a service aspect, and we are developing new designs for them.  We’re a known entity, we’re a known cost, all the numbers are talked about up front so they know what they’re getting into; but we’re setting forth in front of them a whole series of solutions that they can then weigh as to which one they think is the most marketable and then they can pull the trigger on the one they think is the best when they’re ready.  So it could be that we need to talk about design, but we’re not ready to act on design; but the last thing you want to do is say let’s just wait to see when things turn up and then invest later on because then it’s too late, you’re trying to scramble to get things, you’re having to throw tons of money at something, to be able to get it out faster then it should be and nothing is worse than racing to embarrass yourself.  Spend the time to get it right.  So the smart CEO’s that we’re dealing with right now are investing in the studio to look for future products for them and if they can afford to move forward with it, they will; if they can’t afford to, they have it all locked up, they know what the next product is, they’re waiting for market conditions to be just right and then they’ll pull the trigger.  They’re in command of their future.  And what we’re trying to communicate to all of our clients is you’re looking for basically three things, which is aesthetics, ergonomics and performance.  And when you talk about aesthetics, it’s really about brand.  What is going to differentiate your product from others and how can you extrapolate that to a series of products.  From an ergonomic standpoint, what are the human factors; how does the human interact with your products, how can you do that better, more compelling.  And here again in all these things, it really goes to not only the product but also the packaging and the whole service aspect.  And the last one is from performance standpoint.  Make sure that your products are performing properly, prototype as often as possible and when you bring designers into the equation, we’re great at prototyping, we’re great at not falling in love with any solution.  We’ll trash it and start all over again.  I do that to my clients — typically what happens is we actually give them a series of solutions and they say, on now we have a problem, we don’t know which one to choose, and so we’ll work through that.  But if they make a comment of I don’t think you’re hit it on any of these, we say great, let’s start all over, let’s focus in on what we’ve learned, let’s hone it, let’s turn this and get it right, but then again maybe you’re not right; we want to go to the voice of the customer, we want to bring your customer in here, have them look at this, let us listen with designer ears at what your customer is saying and we can certainly hone the product from there.  So if you’re a CEO and you’re thinking about developing any type of a product or service and you don’t have a designer somewhere on your staff, you’ve got a gigantic hole, you’ve got a hole in your organizational lineup and I think you’re going to have a greater challenge in being successful.

(I)So what’s the future of design, what can we be looking forward to?

(R)I think future is going to be brighter from the design side.  I think you’re going to see a lot more — my favorite products in the world are digital products.  They’re insanely smart.  Take an iPhone for an example, every time I hook up to my computer, it goes back to Cupertino, California, says, hey, you guys got any new software for me?  And every once in a while they say yeah, as a matter of fact we’ve got a lot of new software for you.  I tell my family how I got a new phone and they were going crazy because I’m always buying different stuff and they say, well, why did you get a new phone this time.  I said I didn’t, I just hooked it up to charge it and now I have GPS on my phone when I didn’t have it before.  Or as you know in June with that particular company there’s going to be a lot of new push technologies that are coming.  So I’ve already bought this phone and it’s getting smarter every day.  I think digital products are going to be a compelling component to anybody’s landscape; no matter what they’re doing, if you can connect it to the web, connect it and that’s also going to allow you to do something that’s very, very clever in product development and that is, you can release your product sooner to the marketplace, you can begin the revenue stream sooner than anyone else because if the product isn’t perfect you make it perfect by software updates.  And when you have a computer you don’t think twice about coming in in the morning and hitting an update or doing a patch or what-have-you.

(R)I think you’re going to see that across the board.  I think cars, the scooters that we’ve designed or the motorcycles that we designed with Vetrix, there is a way for updates to be e-mailed to you; if you need to take that e-mail and put it into your computer and it makes your product smarter.  Now knowing that, what can we do to have a different user interface every time you update your console?  Wouldn’t it be great to have a flatscreen in front of your car so every three or four months you can have a completely different instrumentation setup, all kinds of different things.  And I think that’s where the future of the products are going.  But also when we say the future, I often joke that I don’t know what today’s date is because all the products that we’re working on are basically 2010, 2011, 2012; so when you ask me what today is, I’ve got to think back for a moment.  We’re not doing anything in 2008.  We’re so far into the future that it’s a blast, but when I see the possibilities with digital tools, we’re taking any and every product we can and figuring out how to give a digital component to it.

(I)So what advice would you give to our listeners who are pursuing their goals?  Words of wisdom.

(R)Well, I don’t know.  I’m living it today, so I feel unbelievable fortunate.  My wife is a fabulous designer and she and I had this discussion not too long ago and it was about design and we feel that everything we do design is pervasive in everything that we think about and everything that we touch and organize.  We have the saying the design chooses you.  You don’t choose design.  But I think what it comes down to at the core is one’s passion.  I’m really passionate about design.  And fortunate to be passionate about design; so when I work 50, 60, 70, 80 hours a week, it’s not really work.  As I’ve said in the past, I’m not doing somebody else’s taxes here, I’m designing jet boats, motorcycles, watercraft, consumer electronic products, new industrial products, taking technologies and trying to mobilize them into consumer products.  So for me, I’m still passionate about it.  It’s really not work.  I couldn’t tell you what my hobby is because this is all I every want to be doing; if I’m not at home with my family, I want to be developing new products.  So I think it’s a pretty big bold question you asked and I think it’s related to passion.  I think if you can find what you’re passionate about then all the self-sacrifices and all your focus and energy, it all makes sense, it’s all very logical.  But if I wasn’t passionate about this, there’s no way, there’s no way I would invest this personal level of attention on it.

(I)Good.  Well, thank you so much for your time.  I do appreciate it and I’m sure all of our listeners will get a lot from your unique focus and what you do.  So best wishes.

(R)I’ve enjoyed it, and thank you very much.

(I)Thank you for listening to this episode of CEO Insights.  For more CEO interviews, for insights into business best practices and for our business blog, visit us at www.ceowise.com.  Leave us a comment.  We’d love to hear from you.  Until next time, so long.