This guest blog on innovation is by Dr Nicola Millard who is a customer experience futurologist with BT.
Innovation is a defining feature of progress. Without people devoted to doing things better, faster, cheaper and greener we’d still be stuck in the smog of industrial revolution. Steam trains and snail mail — not spaceships and smartphones — would be at the forefront of travel and communication.
To innovate is even more essential today, in a tough economy, than it has ever been. When times get tough, the tough get innovating. For our part we’re always pushing boundaries in the world of IT and communication technology. And we are proud to have been at the forefront of innovation for at least 150 years.
We can trace our innovation history back to the pioneers of the GPO research organisation who, at Bletchley Park, invented the world’s first programmable electronic computer. Since then we’ve also achieved a number of world firsts including the invention of the digital telephone exchange, early trials of video on demand and Europe’s first satellite transmission service. For one and a half centuries, we’ve been innovating, honing and improving communications technology, trying to make the world a more connected place than ever before.
Located a few miles outside Ipswich, Adastral Park is a former RAF base which is now the hub of BT’s innovation activities – not only are there around 4000 technologists on site, it also hosts about 2000 key business customers each year through its future showcases.
BT has invested more than £4bn on R&D in the last five years and BT researchers have produced more than 10,000 patents over the years - in 2011-12 alone we filed patents for 65 inventions.
Some of these innovations are things the world now takes for granted. Single mode optical fibre - the hair-thin strands of glass that power our communications networks globally – is an innovation which now underpins almost every network-based interaction you have, including any phone call or credit card transaction you make, and increasingly, how you watch TV.
Our open innovation model means we also work with more than 30 universities around the world — including forming strategic relationships with the University of Cambridge (UK), EBTIC (Abu Dhabi), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) and Tsinghua University (China).This means that our in-house researchers can tap into the best brains that academia can offer to do research, applied innovation, thought leadership and customer engagement.
It’s all so that we can continue to offer our customers the best in network and communications technology, now and for another 150 years to come.
Find out more about the work BT does in innovation.
2 comments
Comment by Dave at Helicopter Sightseeing posted on
As a species we have always been innovating but ever since the industrial revolution the speed at which we do this has multiplied exponentially. Who'd have thought we could surf the internet or use complex apps on smartphones just a few years ago?! In 150 years time I imagine telecommunications would have radically transformed. If the rise of the mobile phone means we no longer need wired telecommunications cables to make a call, in 150 years time will be still have cables to connect to the internet or to make a phone call? All questions for a futurologist (love the job title!) - albeit when the crystal ball is working again 😉
Comment by Dave at Helicopter Sightseeing posted on
As a species we have always been innovating but ever since the industrial revolution the speed at which we do this has multiplied exponentially. Who'd have thought we could surf the internet or use complex apps on smartphones just a few years ago?! In 150 years time I imagine telecommunications would have radically transformed. If the rise of the mobile phone means we no longer need wired telecommunications cables to make a call, in 150 years time will be still have cables to connect to the internet or to make a phone call? All questions for a futurologist (love the job title!) - albeit when the crystal ball is working again 😉