Innovation Engine

Executive Order: Beaches and Brainstorms

Last summer, several Qualcomm employees sat overlooking the ocean in Del Mar and tried to imagine Qualcomm’s Next Big Thing. These employees were participants in the Qualcomm Innovation Engine process—a larger group of proven “innovators” handpicked from all divisions and functional areas of the company.

“ We wanted ‘big bang’ ideas, not just small modifications to existing technology and applications ”

- Miles Kirby

Senior Director of Business Development in Corporate R&D

Miles Kirby, senior director of business development in Corporate R&D, developed the Innovation Engine program after a conversation with some of Qualcomm’s chief executives. “We were looking for a way to come up with new, inspired programs and markets that could take Qualcomm forward to the next big thing. We decided to harness the creativity of the entire organization in addition to the traditional R&D group, to see what we could come up with.”

Kirby contacted the business and technology leads of each division and asked them to identify their most creative and innovative people. The result? A list of about 100 employees, ranging from VPs to engineers to product managers to finance people. Dave Durnil was one of them.

Thinking Outside Innovation Incubators

“I think the Innovation Engine is a great concept for our Corporate R&D efforts,” says Durnil, director of gaming technologies. “They understand that some of the best innovations come from places you don’t normally expect and it gives us the chance to grow new ideas outside their normal incubators.”

Revving the Engine

Participants were divided into groups of about a dozen people that would each attend one of seven planned off-site brainstorm sessions. But first, these big thinkers had some homework. They were to imagine the world 10 years from now and then ask themselves: What problems need to be solved? What areas are ready for a transformation?

Each person came to the brainstorm session with six ideas—three wireless, three not—that they believed Qualcomm should pursue. “We wanted ‘big bang’ ideas, not just small modifications to existing technology and applications,” said Kirby. “We wanted revolutionary ideas.”

The group shared the ideas from its homework, then brainstormed together to expand on them. “What resulted under the power of so many Qualcomm minds working together were some really impressive contenders,” said Durnil.

Money Talks

Each participant was given five fake $1 million bills—“Qualcomm Bucks”—to invest in the idea or ideas they thought had the most potential. “At first, I figured I’d put all the money in my own idea,” laughs Durnil. “But there were so many other awesome concepts, I felt compelled to put my support in some of those.” The three ideas with the most money “invested” were saved for further development.

After the seven summertime brainstorm sessions plus further exploration and pruning back at the office, the Innovation Engine produced four solid potential big bang ideas. Business cases were developed for each one and they are now all formal initiatives within Corporate R&D.

Honoring Brainpower

The time that lapsed from the first brainstorm session to the formal implementation of the first initiative? Just three months. The Innovation Engine program was so successful in its initial year that the plan is to hold brainstorming events annually. “Our executive staff honors the creative brainpower we have throughout the company and looks to our employees to help think of new ideas to drive the future,” says Kirby. “To be part of an organization that encourages creative thinking from top to bottom is exhilarating.”