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Sony Electronics recently announced a new R&D initiative aimed at bringing consumers closer to the development process. This is an interesting move for a company within an industry that typically likes to hold its new product development cards close to the chest. Dubbed the "Future Lab Program," Sony is hoping to harness the power of the masses to make products that attack functionalities that truly matter in the real world. This kind of open-door innovation process is certainly intriguing and promises to be a breath of fresh air for tech-starved consumers on the hunt for truly impactful technologies.
"The Future Lab Program embraces an approach to technological research and development that emphasizes an open creative environment and direct lines of communication with society, through which it aims to co-create new lifestyles and user value in the future," said Sony's PR department.
Sony plans on sharing concept prototypes with consumers while products are still in the development stage. Of course, this instantly removes a layer of secrecy that keeps competitors from borrowing ideas, but it allows Sony to tap into the power of the masses for "inspiration" to "refine and evolve its projects."
The Program's logo was created using the initials "F" and "L" as a frame locking-on a target. The company says this represents the idea of attacking challenging problems with technological innovations developed hand-in-hand with the user community. Moving forward, the logo will change as additional letters are added to represent future products.
Sony plans to unveil the first Future Lab Program product at the SXSW Interactive Festival, beginning tomorrow (Saturday, March 12) in Austin, Texas. The company says this first project will be known as "N" and is a concept prototype featuring a hands-free user interface that creates a new way of experiencing audio such as music and sound. While this might seem like a rather bland entry into their new initiative, consider this: Sony says that "N" will ultimately allow users to receive audio information without having to insert any object into his or her ear.
Now that has potential to be something special.
Its unclear how many projects Sony will work on per year, but we do know the company will unveil a number of concept prototypes and technologies, including "N," at its booth ("Sony's Future Lab Program at SXSW") during the SXSW Interactive Festival. More information about the program and its innovations can be found FutureLab.Sony.net.
Here's a brief Future Lab Program movie released by Sony on its website: Watch The Video
Image Credit: Sony Electronics
