Electrolux opened its new Innovation Factory, a creative, agile space designed to boost innovation through experimentation and new collaborative models. The Innovation Factory was inaugurated in Porcia, Italy, as Electrolux first open innovation centre that will serve as a hub for working with external partners to accelerate innovation within products and manufacturing. Ten companies were invited to pitch their ideas to a jury. The following five companies have now been selected as the first set of Innovation Factory partners: Rold, 3DNextech, Aera, DigitalViews, LinUp. In May, a public call for ideas was announced to find cutting-edge solutions from external players such as start-ups, SMEs and university spin-offs. This announcement, supported by business incubator Digital Magics, attracted as many as 100 interested partners from around the world on the theme “Smarter Appliances, Easier Operations”. “Shaping the Innovation Factory from an unused factory building into a state-of-the-art collaborative space in just a few months has been an inspiring journey – said Ernesto Ferrario, Senior Vice President, Global Industrial Operations at Electrolux -. The opportunities for innovation are limitless – from increased focus on connectivity and advanced analytics to finding solutions that drives our vision of the smart factory”.
