Innovation in Product Development

Working with Trinity has given us novel solutions...challenged us as to how we do things in SAP...really helps us do things differently.

Dr. Tony O'Donnell, Site Lead, Business Intelligence R&D, SAP AppHaus, Dublin

SAP challenged us with a concern of theirs: how to close the efficacy gap between teams that were globally distributed and those that were together in a single location?

A team of Trinity and Stanford students worked on the project for ten months, spending time on location in both SAP Dublin and Palo Alto and benchmarking solutions from the healthcare, education and business sectors. Working through many prototype iterations – always testing, always improving, key insights were gained. This included: the need for serendipitous interaction; for information flow about internal corporate activity; and low formality options for teleconferencing.

The solution was delivered in fully functional form and called the 'WaterWall'. This created a fun, stimulating environment that combined ease of use with high quality video-conferencing and a unique information sharing and search source.

Inspired our innovation teams to work collaboratively and in close association with our target customers.

Marymoore Patterson, Senior Manager, User Insights and Experience Design, Panasonic USA

Panasonic gave us our project prompt: how can we address the deficiencies in the current healthcare of the elderly while at the same time focusing on their future care?

Through detailed need-finding and benchmarking in the healthcare and other fields, a team of Trinity and Stanford students gained insights into the needs of the elderly population. They specifically identified the importance of depression as both a cause and symptom of the many problems experienced by this group. The problem being exacerbated by: issues with treatment options such as exercise and social interaction (due to limited mobility); and medication (due to interactions with other medication).

The team designed 'Aura', a novel multi-sensory immersive experience. It provides controlled gentle exercise within a social environment in combination with reminiscence therapy.

The course has opened so many doors for us, to be able to work on your own start up straight out of college is an amazing opportunity that would have never been possible without this module.

Robbie Fryers & Talita Holzer Saad, 4E5 graduates, waytoB co-founders

The Trinity Centre for Practice and Healthcare Innovation laid down a broad but very significant challenge: integrate people with intellectual disabilities into society.

The team of students chosen to address the problem went directly to the end users, their families and teachers to understand their needs. During the individual and group interviews, it was repeatedly mentioned that a person with an intellectual disability (ID) was dependent upon others for navigation. The interviewees reported that the need for such assistance was the greatest barrier to successfully participating in social activities.

After many prototypes, 'waytoB' was created. The solution was an integrated smartphone and smartwatch navigation platform. It directly addressed the lack of independence and mobility suffered by people having ID, thus improving their quality of life and family members about them.

The solution has been recognised and tested by ID service providers. It won the Universal Design Challenge Award in 2016 and is now part of the Academy for Social Entrepreneurs Ireland.