Digital Innovation meetup

The Digital Innovation meetup (kindly hosted by Innovation Enterprise) was a causal evening of networking, questions and talks, hosted in Google's tech start-up incubator 'Campus'.

We had a great time meeting a wide range of interesting people, from designers of wearable medical devices to social media gurus.

First to talk was Leif Bode Nielsen, Senior eCommerce Specialist at LEGO. He talked us through a brief history of the Lego group, and its tough motto of "The best is not good enough" - a testament to Lego's insistence on only the finest quality work from its employees. Leif emphasised that digital innovation is a top priority for the company, but that this must be carefully developed alongside its systems and family brand. We got a sneak peek at some of the digital products that Lego is bringing to toy stores, including a game which fuses the real-life models with games and stories in an app - take a photograph of your model, and it appears in the game! Now THAT sounds cool to us...

Leif ended with some tips about smoothing the eCommerce process for a customer on a toy sales website. He reminded us that getting the customer involved in the system processes (such as categorising toys) is incredibly valuable into gaining an insight into search and shopping habits.

Michael Abrey-Bugg, the Commercial Relationship Manager at Age UK was the next speaker to take to the floor. He explained how the charity is using Smart meters to help the elderly monitor their gas and electricity usage, as well as minimise risks with bogus meter readers. He proposed an interesting hypothetical situation when Smart meters are in every home nationwide - we could be with E.ON in the morning, and British Gas in the afternoon as our meters will be able to calculate who is offering the best deal minute-by-minute. This would definitely change the face of the energy industry - and it's all thanks to digital innovation!

The final speaker was Max Kreijin, a Digital Strategist at Open Activation. He is exploring how and where business can accelerate growth in the digital arena, and talked through his vision, methodology and how to 'monetize action' between people.

With Pret sandwiches, cold beer and plenty of questions to inspire further thought, the Digital Innovation meetup is definitely an event Page Lizard will be attending again.

Click here to sign up to the Digital Innovation meetup group, and be the first to know when the next one is taking place.

See our blog post for details of other unmissable Digital Publishing events this autumn

Header photo taken by campuslondon.com