List of Tech and Media Focused Corporate Innovation Labs

For many years, forward moving companies have been investing in innovation centers that are being used for companies to tap into new technologies, media,and devices.  I’m seeing a growing trend of companies outside of the tech space that are investing in these types of labs, and wanted to start a list that I will maintain for a period of time.  To keep things managable, here’s what I’m seeking:

List Requirements
The companies that will make this list must be within the following parameters. Feel free to leave comments of others.

  1. Corporations with over 1000 employees.
  2. Ideally, a lab with a dedicated physical location, resources and staff.
  3. A focus on technology and or media.
  4. Name, URL, and location if available.

List of Corporate Innovation Labs
Leave a comment below, and credit the contributor, see parameters listed above:

Agency and Services

Auto
Consumer Goods

Financial Services

Government
Health, Pharma, Science

Retail

Tech, Telecom

I’ll continue to keep this list updated for a few weeks, and will make additions as they emerge in comments. Later, we will use this data for future research, you can access my prior reports on the research page on this blog (upper tab).

45 Replies to “List of Tech and Media Focused Corporate Innovation Labs”

  2. Pingback: List of Tech and Media Focused Corporate Innovation Labs | Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang | Social Media, Web Marketing | Innovation and Transformation | Scoop.it

  4. Jeremiah – I think it’s great that you’re putting the spotlight on innovation. But it’s interesting that you drew such a hard line at 1000 employee+ firms when much, if not most, of the innovation work is coming from smaller, more nimble firms and start ups.

  5. Not sure if these are too far afield but: Turner Mediacamp, Microsoft Kinect Accelerator, Microsoft Azure Accelerator, and as @ginarau mentioned on Twitter, the new Nike+ Accelerator in Portland.

  6. Thanks Rick. It’s an interesting topic. It’s often assumed smaller companies are innovating to keep up with larger ones, so that story isn’t as interesting as a big ship trying to be agile, hence the focus.

    Also, I’ve done lists like this for a number of topics, and if I try to manage lists with employees less than 1000, I can’t scale. 50% of companies in USA are SMB, so that could be a list of thousands!

    In either case, I encourage all companies to leave comments sharing, big or small.

  8. RIck thank you! Appreciate the help. I took a look at each of these accelerators and partner programs. It’s almost akin to software platform developer programs, which is really interesting esp from Nike,and Turner (not tech companies). Thank you, let’s keep a list of them here in the comments, this may become an area of focus for future research.

  14. There’s many forms of innovation Patrick, I agree. External agencies, partner programs, incubation programs, and formalized internal programs. For this post, I just wanted to focus on dedicated internal programs, I’ve covered open innovation and social innovation on prior posts.

  15. Jeremiah. Thanks for this update. Under Agency and Services you might want to check out TBWA Media Arts lab based in LA but with offices globally. Merry Christmas

  16. Question I am posing if branded corporate labs are actually places of real innovation and Nokia for me raises the point of how much on the edges these labs are currently working and their chances of influencing the core. It’s a pertinent study you’re doing.

  19. Thanks Vincent, I saw that prior. It reads as a social innovation network –not a physical lab (which I’m seeking). Is there a physical lab? It’s not totally clear in the positioning. Thank you so much for submitting, appreciated.

  20. A few European examples to whet your appetite:
    Telefónica http://www.telefonica.com/en/innovation/html/home/home.shtml
    BBC R&D http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/
    BT http://www.btplc.com/innovation/
    Unilever http://www.unilever.com/innovation/
    Vodafone Xone http://www.vodafone.com/content/xone/index.html
    Vodafone Test & Innovation Centre http://www.vodafone.de/innovationpark/index-deutsch.html
    GlaxoSmithKline http://www.gsk.com/research/science-and-innovation.html
    McLaren Group http://www.mclarenappliedtechnologies.com/

  22. By biggest question is to understand how effective these innovation labs are? Are the outputs from these labs translating into real business change – be that product focus or internal culture change? Can huge companies be truly innovative? We often see truly innovation from smaller, more nimble companies who have the ability to be more flexible and dynamic in their approach – without the need to meet certain corporate objectives. Rather than a focus on innovation labs, that can often seem siloed or separate to the core of the business focus – should the focus for larger companies be in creating a culture of innovation, an entrepreneurial spirit in which employees are empowered to think outside the box? It’s an interesting debate to be had and maybe your research will throw up further questions to ask – as well as some of the answers!

  26. Thanks Simon. Apologies for delay over holidays.

    These are very helpful, I added most. GSK and Unilver didn’t fit the ‘media/tech’ focus that I’m seeking, as my assumption is every corporations has R&D for their own products, in this case, they’re innovating the future of health products and drugs per their website. It wasn’t clear that BT had a physical center from my look at the website.

    Thank you so much for the helpful submissions, I’ve properly credited you.

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  33. Jeremiah, is your limiting the list to companies with over 1000 employees purely one of not wanting to have a giant list? I’ve seen some smaller companies that have realized that they need to have a “Labs” team focused on innovation and potentially disrupting existing business models (including that of the parent company) and are doing some interesting work.

  34. Dan a few reasons.

    1) Yes. it’s to limit the size of my management of these lists. I’ve done this for a number of markets. Considering most of American companies are SMB, I can’t scale.

    2) I’m focused on a specific company type for my research, and this is our client base that we focus on at Altimeter Group.

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  36. Product development company and specialty retailer Brookstone opened its Brookstone Design Center (aka B-Labs) in 1989. The lab develops approx. 50 products annually in the tech, wellness, travel, and home categories.

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  38. eBay Inc has innovation labs in our NY and San Jose offices. We should get you down to check out the San Jose one that outlines how technology will change the future of shopping

  39. Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation is one of the best centers in health care delivery and innovation

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