238 contributions – 1333 comments – 691 ratings – 247 participants – and the story of a happy winner

Making Mobility hassle-free

In the contest Making Mobility hassle-free for BMW, we asked the creative crowd what challenges they face on their routine drives. Whether business trip, daily commute or leisure trip – we wanted to know what challenges and needs arise on the routes and what solutions the users have for them.

The contest participants were asked to observe their personal mobility for a few weeks and consider the following questions:

• What challenges do you face, for example in terms of smells, weather, wasted time, noise, lack of comfort?
• Are there any needs along the way that are not yet addressed, such as grocery shopping, scheduling or private meetings?
• Have you already found a creative way to solve the challenge or satisfy the need or can you imagine how to do it?

HYVE’s crowd and community experts accompanied the contest participants during the entire five-week submission phase, assisting them in the further development of the ideas, with ratings or comments, and achieved a very high quality of the entries through excellent community management.

BMW, which has always reinvented itself in the past, is still reacting to ever-changing customer needs and expectations today. It was important to us to offer our contest partner BMW a real range of innovative ideas through active community management and to make it not too easy for the contest jury to select the best ideas.

Niclas Kröger, Owner HYVE Crowd

After the submission phase, HYVE’s crowd experts evaluated the ideas according to various predefined criteria (such as solvability of the problem, market potential, quality of contributions, clarity of the problem definition, relevant internal BMW expertise) and prepared a shortlisting for the jury meeting, in which the very best of the best submissions were chosen.

The preparation and holding of the jury meeting with a six-member jury of BMW employees was once again a real highlight for Niclas Kroeger, owner of the HYVE Crowd. Hot discussions and glowing heads later the winning idea was determined.

Silvio from Italy wins the ideas competition and ensures clean air

The challenge was to define problems in the first step and then identify possible solutions in everyday mobility. The ideas submitted ranged from “cable cars instead of traffic jams”, uncomplicated air travel, a fitness car, anti-theft protection and heads-up displays to air refreshment concepts. Precisely with such an ideas crowd participant Silvio, who describes himself in his crowd profile as a passionate fan of product and service innovation, won the first prize in the contest. His idea of clean air inside the car through a sophisticated control system convinced the competition jury.

With Silvio everything revolves around clean air – inside and outside the vehicle. In great detail, he dives into the problem of air pollution and provides pointers for solutions. Silvio’s contribution fits perfectly with BMW’s commitment to the planet, society and the driver at the same time. Congratulations on this excellent work!

Contest Jury

1000 Euro prize money and a workshop at BMW – priceless! Here, the winner tells us about his experience

Silvio was invited to a workshop at BMW in Munich and reported enthusiastically:

I met Dr. M. Schneider and his colleagues Mrs. A. Widmann and Mr. I. Kraft at the entrance of the BMW Research and Technology Center. After a brief tour of the creative space, which is used for brainstorming sessions and creative thinking, the experienced innovators gave an introduction to the processes and insights into the BMW Accelerator Program and the Startup Garage.

This was followed by a short summary of my idea proposal and an interesting brainstorming session on ideas from an internal competition to give further suggestions and develop them internally. I was very pleasantly surprised to learn that each employee can block a certain number of hours in their daily work for idea generation projects, so that they can personally help shape the future of the brand.

A final “wrap-up” session on the structure, format and content of the competition concluded the workshop.

I was very pleased to receive a certificate of participation to remember this unique and beautiful experience and take Dr. Schneider’s concept of innovation with me in my thoughts: Like an elastic band, it should be tightened with care without ever reaching the point of tearing.

Finally, we visited the BMW World and were given an exciting guided tour, in which we travelled through the history of BMW. Together with my family I spent very nice and carefree days in Munich before we returned to Italy. 2 weeks later the Italian lockdown started.

It was probably the last trip for a long time and we would like to thank Dr. M. Schneider and his team for their hospitality and friendliness during the informal workshop and the innovation contest. I would also like to thank the HYVE team who gave me the opportunity to participate in this unique experience.