Great minds think alike. Or do they? A major benefit of the collaborative spirit behind innovation is that team members come at a challenge from different angles, experiences, and expertise – and often times can do more together than one individual can accomplish on his or her own.
‘Innovation through collaboration’ is a guiding principle of the Cubic Innovation Centre that recently opened in London. It’s an ideas-in-action lab aimed at improving and advancing urban mobility needs of the future. It’s an environment for bringing together talent from within Cubic, as well as industry partners, academia and our customers, to cultivate solutions that will improve the quality of life in cities affected by urban growth and, consequently, transportation congestion. The Centre also brings to life our NextCity strategy with innovative solutions for integrating payment and information that will disrupt and reinvent the global transportation industry.
With a reputation for ground-breaking developments, including work by our customer Transport for London (TfL), London was a logical choice for the Centre. The all-encompassing spectrum of travel modes lives in this city, including roads, bikes, walking, rail, metro, bus and ferry – and the interactions between these modes – make it a natural laboratory for problem-solving. And for getting involved early in industry verticals close to our expertise to help us position our services and technologies for future applications.
An example is the R&D project funded by Innovate UK Connected and Autonomous Vehicles and awarded to Immense Simulations and Improbable – two start-ups in the UK that are working in our Innovation Centre. Cubic is providing project support, giving the partners access to our facilities and complementary projects in the Innovation Centre. For us, we will benefit from early involvement in autonomous vehicles – an important emerging transportation technology.
Other projects underway in the Centre include transportation engineering and advanced human/computer interface projects, which will allow us to continue research and improve the customer experience while traveling.
The Centre is also a hub for Cubic-sponsored hackathons. Our January 2016 hackathon brought together Cubic developers, engineers and anyone else with the curiosity and drive for problem-solving – and the output of ideas was transformative and awe-inspiring for those who wonder, “How can we solve the challenges our customers face today?” It’s amazing what three (nearly) sleepless days and nights, a three-day pizza diet and some stumbling blocks that left a few pulling out their hair can achieve.
So where will these efforts take us?
The future of transportation infrastructure hinges on the effective application of technology, services and practical solutions for mobility issues and customer experience. It comes down to anticipating the future and inventing solutions that – in collaboration with our partners and customers – will improve transportation services and reduce costs for more customers. And more importantly, all the while keeping the end user – the traveler – at the forefront of our thinking.
