Article published MINATEC IDEAs Laboratory
For the use of social sciences in innovation
The Minatec IDEAs Laboratory® tests the acceptability, to users, of potential future applications using the technological building blocks of nanotechnology.
Health, leisure, automotive, telephones, etc.; nanotechnologies are being heavily introduced into daily life, opening the way for a multitude of applications. However, technological innovation and commercial success do not always go hand in hand. The Minatec IDEAs Laboratory platform focuses on development of products and services, anticipating both their uses and the laws of the market place. In a space of 800 m2, engineers, microelectronics experts and industrialists work on the basic technological building blocks coming out of micro and nanotechnology together with researchers from the social sciences, designers, ergonomic experts, philosophers and artists. The objective is better integration of these new technologies by reducing the risks of failure of their commercialisation.
Wii like joysticks, 3D mouses or the MapMobile (location and indoor-outdoor navigation system)and Morphosense (shape scanning) were all born within this platform. As well as its advances in the field of movement capture and visual interfaces, the work of the Minatec IDEAs Laboratory is opening up new mobility and energy applications in transport, in the home and in society.
This is a unique approach in France, which has attracted numerous companies such as Bouygues SA, EDF, Renault, ST Microelectronics, Hewlett Packard, Rossignol and Essilor. Once per month the management committee studies the requests that industrial partners wish to include in the platform.
