COVER STORY INNOVATION
sourcing, and cultivating new
business, technology and research
opportunities, as well as developing
foundational technology capabilities
in support of the future needs of the
company’s markets and customers.
“ADI has invented and improved
manufacturing technologies and
has often pushed into unexplored
directions,” he says, “and it continues
to be on the lookout for new ideas
whether that’s from inside or outside
the company.
“Innovation is about taking a
creative idea or concept and turning
it into a product or service that
supports an identi ed need, providing
a commercial or societal impact in a
measurable way.
“For a company like ADI that type
of innovation will be re ected in its
revenues and margins and for our
customers it will be about solving a
speci c problem and creating value.”
According to Liebholz the heart
of innovation is to, “understand the
problem you are trying to address and
whether your technology will have a
measurable impact.”
Currently we are in a period of
great technological innovation and
there’s been an explosion in advanced
cloud and analytic capabilities, for
example, all of which depend on data
derived from the analogue world.
“This growth means that innovators
need a place where they can develop
ideas and disruptive technologies. ADI
has established the Analog Garage,
a corporate incubator program, that
provides entrepreneurs with a path
to develop, explore and scale new
technologies and new business
models,” Liebholz explains.
The Garage looks to recognise
new technologies such as sensors
and connected devices, machine
learning and AI, engaging with startups,
universities, and company
employees. Any employee can apply
for a grant and use staff scientists
in the Garage to validate their ideas
– much like how a venture capitalist
works.
“The Garage is intended to
provide the support needed to solve
tough problems, collaborating in a
‘learn fast, roll-up your sleeves and
experiment environment’.”
Over 350 pitches have been
received over the past ve years, since
the Garage was established, with
around 10 percent being successful.
According to Liebholz, ADI is looking
for ideas that will have a real impact
and which are not simply incremental.
“You have to understand the
problems you are trying to address. At
the heart of innovation are problems
and the technology you develop will
need to have a measureable impact.
For ADI , for example, that could mean
providing improved levels of signal
identi cation, measurement, or power
ef ciency. It is about our customer’s
systems bene tting materially so we
are looking for innovations that will
have a real impact.”
According to Liebholz, the most
impactful form of innovation comes
when there is an overlap between ADI
and its customers.
“Understanding the systems
challenges of our customers while
they have, at the same time, an
appreciation of the technology we can
provide is critical. Often both are seen
in a static way with improvements
tending to be limited or at the margin.
“It is when we are dealing with
something more abstract that we can
rethink a problem. It is then possible
to supply technology that will help
the customer radically rethink their
systems and architectures.
“Conversely, an abstract enough
problem means that we can rethink
how we go about solving it at a
technical level. When you are
innovating at the chip and system level
that, from my experience, is when
you are truly able to deliver innovative
systems.”
Continued engagement with
customers is also critical.
“You need a good antenna to pick
up on trends,” suggests Liebholz,
“and we try to hold regular meetings
with our larger customers to discuss
their future plans. Their purpose is
to better understand the technology
we can provide them with and help
us better understand the challenges
they face. For example, how are they
applying the latest technologies, such
as machine learning?”
According to Liebholz these
technology scouting meetings enable
ADI to make connections to new
teams and designers within their
customers and to then link them up
with other parts of ADI that, perhaps,
they may not have engaged with.
“It’s a long journey but made easier
where roadmaps exist. The cross
linkages that we form are essential
to creating and driving innovation.
It’s about better understanding
and exchanging ideas as well as
questioning each other in an open and
frank way, so we can look to solve
problems.”
“ADI has created
the Garage
incubator
programme
to provide
entrepreneurs
with a path to
develop, explore
and scale new
technologies and
new business
models.”
Daniel Liebholz
Below: Analog
Devices has a long
history of developing
ideas and moving
into new areas
www.newelectronics.co.uk 14 January 2020 13
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