The document provides details about the Smart Grid Innovation Contest conducted by Siemens, including lessons learned. The contest occurred in two phases: Phase I was a public idea contest that attracted 35,000 unique visitors and 1,500 registered users. Phase II was a call for research proposals directed at universities, which received 172 abstract submissions and selected 25 for full proposals. Key lessons included crowd ideation being more challenging for complex technologies, the importance of community involvement and IP considerations, and motivating participant submissions through visibility and job opportunities at Siemens.

1. Smart Grid Innovation Contest
Lessons Learned
Dr. Michael Heiss
Siemens AG
Chief Technology Office © Siemensthe four happy winners reserved.
Photo: AG 2011. All rights
Open Innovation Program in front of the German Parliament, Berlin 2011.

2. Concept, facts and figures of the Smart Grid
Innovation Contest: new top university cooperations
Phase I: Public Idea Contest Phase II: Call for Research Proposals
(for everybody) for universities only
Apr – Jun 2011 Oct – Dec 2011
Topic cluster NDA Research Topic (confidential)
Evaluation Award Submission RTR2) Contracting
Process
Submission & Jury Abstract RTR2)
social ranking by Siemens decision ceremony submission accept/ of full decision &
Rec. by (incl. MVC*) (Qualification) deny proposal implementation
MVC1) 15 000 € (total) 1 Mio. €
+ Berlin trip budget (total)
RTR2)+Selected Siemens experts:
Public: Selected Siemens experts: Public & Peers: • Abstract submission
Visible
• All submissions • Internal ranking (5 stars): public • Nothing, except the generic • Full research proposal submission
• All comments • no internal comments! topic cluster description, • Internal comments
• Crowd ranking (5 stars) • no crowd ranking • Communication with submitter
• Decisions
Recruiting of participants: via social media (e.g. LinkedIn groups) via SCOPUS all authors of scientific papers in the field were invited
Participants
• 100 countries • 500 ideas • 40 countries • 172 abstracts submitted
• 35 000 unique visitors • 5 000 comments & evaluations • 200 universities • 25 accepted for full proposal
• 1 500 registered users • 300 000 minutes on the site • 400 registered users • 10 to be contracted
Awareness & branding High quality research proposals
Results
Top experts © Siemens AG 2011. All rights reserved.
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1) 10/05/12
Rec. By MVC: Recommendation by Most Valuable Contributors, pre-evaluated by Core-Team 2) CT O
RTR: Research Topic Responsible (from Siemens) OI

3. Innovating Innovation is not for free
Lessons Learned
from the
Smart Grid Innovation Contest
Emotions Seismograph / Timeline
© Siemens AG 2011. All rights reserved.
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4. The „stock market price“ of the project
shows the challenges of applying a new method
Condensed Emotions Seismograph / Timeline
estimated Return of Invest based on your own investment
# Comments
1.4. 15.6. 21.7. 15.9. 4.10. 30.11. 14.12.
1  Doubtfully at the beginning
 Too many proposals that were not in

positive
6 9 10 2 Siemens business.
 Loss of both power sponsors
3  Some interesting submitted ideas
8  New confidentiality policy disrupted
4 plans and caused extra challenges for
5 the tool.
3  Definition of Research Topic Clusters
1 time 5 and Detailed Research Question
 The Award Ceremony in Berlin and the
6 community feeling hat was very positive
7 7  Technical issues behind the scene
2
4  The contest was successfully launched

negative
8
and immediate response was positive,
but quality of submissions at the
beginning not convincing.
 Very high quality of submission.
9 Due to the high number of submissions
high effort.
Preparation Idea Contest Online Jury Preparation Topic Award CfP Online Evaluation of
13.4-15.6.2011 21.7.2011 Definition for Ceremony 4.10.-30.11.2011 proposals  Contracting on the way
10
CfP Berlin
Research Topic Responsibles from BU 15.9.2011
Core Team © Siemens AG 2011. All rights reserved.
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5. Lessons Learned in Phase I:
Smart Grid Idea Contest
© Siemens AG 2011. All rights reserved.

6. Crowd Ideation in complex technology fields
is more challenging
Topic selection
http://led-emotionalize.com/ the winner http://smartgridcontest.com/ the winner
web platform by
WYSIWYG*-topics (e.g. light design) can be understood & evaluated faster
than complex topics like smart grid technology.
* WYSIWYG: what you see is what you get © Siemens AG 2011. All rights reserved.
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7. Attracting participants via social media
communication is “free of charge” but hard work
Recruiting of Participants
Estimated* costs just for attracting participants
(not including the costs of performing the contest)
1 Mio. to 90 Mio.* page impressions of contest announcements
(more then 200 non-Siemens web platforms, e.g. smart grid communities, wrote about the contest)
conversion rate: 30 to 2 500*
35 000 unique visitors (50ct* each)
would lead to approx. 17 500€ advertisement costs
conversion rate: approx. 25
1 500 registered users (12€ each)
conversion rate: approx. 3
500 ideas (35€ each)
4 winning ideas
Addressing individually selected expert communities is more focused than
just posting ads via Google or Facebook, but do not underestimate your effort:
it will not be cheaper than via Google or Facebook.
* Facebook offers/recommends for contest advertisements approx. 50ct per click or 20ct per 1000 page impressions -> estimated conversion rate: 2 500
© Siemens AG 2011. All rights reserved.
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8. Customers and Government are also attracted by the
contest but are more observing than submitting own ideas.
Recruiting of Participants
Make the contest also attractive for technology providers – this needs special
care at the terms and conditions regarding intellectual property rights (IPRs).
© Siemens AG 2011. All rights reserved.
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9. Obligatory key-visuals make submissions
more unique, attractive and understandable
Idea Submission
Even for such complex technology fields like smart grids key-visuals work.
Most of the submitters are better in visualizing than in writing ;-)
© Siemens AG 2011. All rights reserved.
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10. It is beneficial to ask the Most Valuable Contributors*
for their recommendation of the winners
Involvement of Most Valuable Contributors
Niels Mast
João Batista Gomes
Netherlands
Brazil
Shmuel Goldfisher
Israel
Donatas Gatavynas
Lithuania
The Most Valuable Contributors have commented and evaluated more ideas
than each Siemens expert. Their recommendation was very valuable.
* Participants with the highest number of valuable comments and evaluations © Siemens AG 2011. All rights reserved.
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11. Meeting the winners personally and discuss
their ideas was a highlight for all participants
Award Ceremony in Berlin
Thillainathan Logenthiran
Singapure (1st prize)
Vassilis Nikolopoulos Thillainathan Logenthiran Christian Huder
© Siemens AG 2011.Slobodan Matic
All rights reserved.
Greece Singapure Germany Berkely, USA
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12. Lessons Learned in Phase II:
Smart Grid Call-for-Proposals
© Siemens AG 2011. All rights reserved.

13. If the research topic is confidential, a pre-qualification
for (non-confidential) research topic clusters is helpful
Topic Confidentiality
non-confidential research topic cluster
Example:
non-confidential
confidential confidential
topic 1 topic 3 research topic clusters at
http://smartgridcontest.com/university
confidential
topic 2
Do not underestimate the additional effort for IT security for confidentiality.
These requirements do not fit (economically) to a “two-month application”.
© Siemens AG 2011. All rights reserved.
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14. The abstract should be limited to 250 words.
Abstract Submission (Qualification)
Photo: © amras_de at http://www.flickr.com/photos/51243943@N00/423875472/in/pool-visualization
If the abstract is 500 words, then submitters do not focus on the main idea.
This leads to more evaluation effort of the abstracts and
no clear separation of the abstract and full proposalSiemens AG 2011. All rights reserved.
©
submission.
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15. One of the main motivations of participants:
be visible at Siemens and get a job at Siemens
Job Recruiting
When we met the winners and Most Valuable Contributors we asked them
how we attracted them to participate. The surprising answer: not the award
is the attraction but the chance to get visibility within Siemens. All rights reserved.
© Siemens AG 2011.
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16. Siemens Smart Grid Call-for-Proposals
further lessons learned
Ownership
 Project needs to be fully adopted by the Business Unit –
Project Lead from Business Unit. Recruiting of Submitters
 Management support from CTO level required.  SCOPUS gave us access to all the
 A wide spread management support leads to robustness scientists who published in the search field.
against organizational changes. Optimization
 Early involvement of Product Managers.  Having a pre-qualification process ensures
that the Siemens Experts spend most of their
Confidentiality
time with the best proposals and ensures
 The more concrete the search field description, leads to a that only trusted submitters have access to
trade off between the more confidential information.
 the more valuable the submissions
 Limiting the words and having a tool-
 the higher the risk of disclosing Siemens strategies.
enforced structure helps to focus submitters
 The higher the security level of the tool, the more expensive, answers – helps to minimize Siemens effort
less flexible, more complex to handle. for evaluating.
 The quality of the submissions is higher if it is submitted  Explaining what type of proposals Siemens
in a closed environment (not public) - at least in a highly wants and does not want helps to optimize
competitive search field. the expectation of the submitters and the
Timing workload at Siemens.
 It is more important to align the contest with the Siemens  Very high usability is required for the web
budget planning than with the academic year. tool both for submitters and
 First receive all the submissions before making accept/deny backend operations – End to end
decisions. process/workflow support.
© Siemens AG 2011. All rights reserved.
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17. Conclusion
„I thought I knew the best universities
but obviously didn’t“
“Call-for-Proposals are a great method
to indentify the best university partner”
“The Call-for-Proposals has a clear ROI*.
A coupling with Phase I (Idea Contest) is not required”
* ROI: Return on Investment © Siemens AG 2011. All rights reserved.
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18. Contact
Twitter: twitter.com/heisss
Dr. Michael Heiss Slideshare: www.slideshare.net/heisss
Xing: www.xing.com/profile/Michael_Heiss2
Siemens AG LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/michaelheiss
Chief Technology Office Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/michaelheiss
Blog: heisss.wordpress.com
Open Innovation Program Phone: +43-664-88 55 15 26© Siemens AG 2011. All rights reserved.
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19. Appendix
© Siemens AG 2011. All rights reserved.
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20. Siemens uses the new rules of "Open Innovation“ to
develop its portfolio of innovation methodologies
~1900 2003
First university Siemens Technology
Open Idea Contests
cooperation Accelerator
First lead customer TechnoWeb2.0
workshop
First centers of
Management of Competence E-Broker
employees‘ ideas
Traditional innovation mgmt. rules New options in the "Open Innovation" game:
 Focus on bilateral partnerships  Use unobvious sources
 Workshops or mailboxes as frame  IT-based methodologies ("Web2.0")
for ideation  New levels of scalability
 Limited speed of network dynamics  Enhanced speed in the dynamics of networks
 Default: Maximize IP protection  Balance between IP protection and openness
© Siemens AG 2011. All rights reserved.
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21. New Open Innovation approaches are set to
complement the portfolio of innovation methodologies
Ideas Technologies
Open Idea Contest E-broker
External
Absorptive Capacity
TechnoWeb 2.0
Internal
Integrated Technology
Company
TechnoSearch
Collaborate with Find the expert to
creative masses solve your problem
© Siemens AG 2011. All rights reserved.
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