A Meeting of Scientific Minds

International teams of researchers are establishing the Deutsche Telekom laboratories as a world-leading development institution for information and communications technology.

“For our group and, in particular, for our customers, we act as an eye to the future, sharpening our sights further every day”, explained Heinrich Arnold, Head of Innovation Development, to sketch the purpose and mandate of the T-Labs. With its R&D profile, the institution on the campus of the Technical University of Berlin has to sustainably strengthen the innovative power of Deutsche Telekom and also act as a pioneer for the whole group for trailblazing solutions for the markets of the future – within a manageable time horizon.

Even so, continued Heinrich Arnold, “we regard flexible, quick and successful innovation as a challenge that we can face more effectively with a strong network of partners rather than exclusively with a strong, internal R&D department.”

Research as an interdisciplinary process

One challenge for the 50 scientists is formulated “Play with the Fire!”. In plain text, every researcher should dare to go to the limits on his journey from the idea to the innovation.

Whenever Heinrich Arnold himself talks about the work of the T-Lab teams, he essentially describes a meeting of an extremely wide range of sciences. A meeting between Information Technology and psychology, electrical engineering and social science, economics and network technology.

The aim is to develop preliminary stages for new products and services for the group divisions, to assess innovative ideas and to implement test environments and prototypes whose market prospects are then calculated and transferred to the various divisions.

The closer the developments from the five strategic key points (5 i), such as “intelligent networks”, “security in telecommunications” or “intuitive operability” come to a business model, the “shorter the journey from ‘mind to market’,” according to Mr. Arnold.

Development work with close links to the customer

This process has recently produced systems such as the Qiro information service, which is used to familiarize newcomers with the infrastructure of a new environment quickly and reliably. Another example is the personalized electronic newspaper, iNews. Or the “mobile hotspot”, which guarantees uninterrupted Internet surfing on train journeys, even at high speed. Or even One Touch – nothing more than a button that actually switches off all energy consumers except the fridge when you leave your home, thereby helping to reduce your personal energy costs. “These are huge markets that show the principles that guide customer-oriented development and strategies for introducing products and services”, says Mr. Arnold. “We are responding to a simple question: How can our customers help people to make their lives easier, gaining them more time and saving them money?”

You can find more information about the innovations that the T-Labs are working on in the print edition of Best Practice.