How innovation happens: Outliers in the game of progress

By Mehul Kapadia Being an outlier means standing apart from others – it could be an extreme thing, even an anomaly. Certain environments that present unique challenges to the people and machines operating within them are also called outliers. In these environments, necessity breeds innovation. To succeed in outlier environments requires a combination of out of the box thinking, technical expertise and past experience. Designing solutions to meet the demands of these extreme settings has led to game-changing innovations and holds the key to future technological breakthroughs, which can make the world a better place and permeate every part of our day-to-day lives. “Failure is not an option” Gene Kranz, Flight Director of the Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle missions wasn’t referring to technology when he made that statement, but his sentiment holds true when it comes to space technology. Space is a void populated by the unforeseeable and in which even the smallest issue can end in catastrophe – a ding from passing debris can see a satellite spinning out of orbit, a power failure means no life support systems, an interruption in communications would cut astronauts off from lifesaving data. Not to mention the high radiation, extremities of temperature at both ends of the scale and heavy vibration and shock of the initial launch process that technology in space must operate in. An engineer can’t nip up to space to turn a satellite off and on again – space is the ultimate outlier environment. That is why devices used in space need to not only be built with high-reliability design, but also be ultra-lightweight and ultra-low power to achieve production, cost and energy efficiencies. It’s because of these extreme conditions that space technology innovators are responsible for a great number of breakthroughs that now populate our everyday lives. One example is the development of Digital Fly-by-Wire (DFBW) technology, developed by NASA in the 1960s when engineers began searching for alternatives to mechanical flight control. DFBW now enables aircraft to maintain constant speed and altitude over long distances for better fuel efficiency. It is now used by leading aerospace manufacturers including Airbus and Boeing and is deployed in both passenger and military aircraft. Beyond that, space exploration led technologies we see every day, including artificial limbs, LEDs, de-icing systems and even the cordless vacuum cleaner. [caption id=“attachment_1620787” align=“alignleft” width=“640”]  Thinkstock image[/caption] Driving competitive advantage While the extremes of space have brought innovation across the board, the automotive industry has an outlier environment of its very own to thank for the rapid pace of innovation it maintains – Formula 1. A fraction of a second is the difference between success and failure in F1. A winning team needs a car that can reach a top speed of over 233mph; a driver with a reaction time of less than 0.4 seconds; and a crew that makes the race winning calls in the heat of the moment based on accurate and up to the second information. So, engineers and manufacturers have a challenging brief; build a car that in addition to have 200mph-plus top speeds, has the acceleration and braking capacity to go from nought to 100mph and back to nought in under five seconds, and ensure it works week in, week out no matter the conditions. To meet that brief, Mercedes shares information on aerodynamics and computational fluid dynamics with NASA and defence group BAE Systems, while Lotus has a similarly cooperative relationship with aircraft manufacturer Boeing. The notoriously secretive teams have pioneered the use of new carbon-fibre composites, engineered breakthroughs in suspension systems and even lead in areas of human performance science. The result has been the emergence of technologies including active suspension, traction control, gearbox automation, fuel consumption and aerodynamics in every day street cars. Beyond automotives, the same hi-tech carbon fibre composite, a resilient and lightweight material originally designed for F1 cockpits, is used in the ground-breaking incubator that keeps babies safe when they are transported between hospitals: the Baby Pod II infant transporter. A more recent F1 phenomenon is the impact of data and superfast connectivity via fibre on racing fortunes. During the heat of a 200mph race, engineers dissect information recorded by up to 150-200 sensors on the car in real-time. From this data, they can glean information to make split-second decisions on factors ranging from tyre pressure and fuel consumption to trends affecting past lap times. As with in-car hardware and engineering, the data collection and analysis technologies used in F1 have also found new applications in other industries. For example, McLaren has applied its advanced telemetry system for remote condition monitoring of an F1 car, which uses sensors to monitor data feeds and enable real-time strategy and decision-making, to the monitoring of medical patients. Likewise, Cosworth, a supplier of F1 engines and electronics, works alongside the UK Ministry of Defence providing its military accident data recorder and blast event and vehicle integrity system. These systems allow military personnel to gather more information about accidents and events on the battlefield. The sporting outlier The relationship between technology and sport extends beyond F1 and technologies from other outlier environments are starting to change the world of sports. Team sports are notoriously difficult to officiate due to the pace at which they are played and the fact rules books tend to be littered by grey areas. For example, cricket batsmen traditionally hold the option to decide whether or not to surrender their wicket if a decision is unclear, as in some cases only they honestly know if they have made contact with the ball before it is caught. Hawk-Eye technology, a system which visually tracks the trajectory of a ball and displays a record of its statistically most likely path as a moving image, help cricket, tennis and football umpires/ referees make more accurate decisions, reducing injustice caused by human error. All Hawk-Eye systems are based on the principles of triangulation using the visual images and timing data provided by high-speed video cameras. The technology has its origins in a subsidiary of Siemens, Roke Manor Research Limited, which specialises in image processing technology for use in applications such as visual positioning systems designed for space missions and location systems for the military – two classic outlier environments. Hawk-Eye first appeared as a commentary feature on Channel 4’s coverage of live cricket. It was installed to assist umpires’ decision-making in 2008/09, by which point it was already being used in tennis – debuting at the 2005 US open. Having become established as a technology that had added value to cricket and tennis, its deployment in football was first showcased at FIFA World Cup 2014 – triggering a vibration on a wristband worn by the referee if the ball crosses the goal-line. According to an announcement made by FIFA, it may not just be the referees who are equipped with wearable technology soon, as the international football governing body has declared itself open to the idea of allowing players to use wearables too. Insightful results are gleaned from monitoring athletes while they are performing, which until now has only been possible in the gym or on the training ground/ test track. While wearables are already registering an impact on the training ground, through gathering performance and health data on professional athletes and sportspeople in a competitive environment, sports scientists can develop new ways to improve performance and make sports safer. This blossoming relationship between technology and sport is a pathway to further technological innovations that affect other industries. Sports generally, and the competition they create, present attributes of an outlier environment. Teams and individuals push the boundaries of how they train, prepare and execute, even if the result is to get that extra 1% of performance. The stakes are high and wrong decisions caused by human error can result in losses of millions for clubs. As a result professional sport is becoming a hotbed of biological, medical, nutritional, physiological, psychological and even technological research and testing. Research on methods to maintain maximum performance output from athletes has led to numerous innovative product developments from energy gels to advanced systems that test and improve reaction times. Bringing outliers in The role of outliers in incubating extreme innovation has gone full cycle. From using technologies developed for space in sport to sharing research and development from sports testing with technology innovators. Quite simply, any environment where the stakes are exceptionally high for whatever reason is a foundation for innovation. Partnerships between companies operating in different industries affected by unique outlier environments and bringing wearable technology into professional sports environments are ways of stimulating a culture of innovation. The cross-pollination of ideas, expertise and technology that evolves from these initiatives will undoubtedly register an impact on the technology we use every day at home, on the move and in the workplace. The author is managing director of F1 business, Tata Communications