It takes passion, research, exploration, and plenty of tinkering to transform a hunch into an original idea with business value. Smart companies create cultural processes that harness the power of their ideas to propel a sustainable pipeline of fresh, creative business ideas. The biggest challenge companies face is finding ways to discover and cultivate brilliant ideas from their people, irrespective of administrative levels or functional roles.
One of the ways Booz Allen has tackled this challenge is by creating the Combustion Chamber. It’s Booz Allen’s premier crowdsourced pitch event where consultants compete against scientists, and technologists rival engineers to secure mentoring and investment funding for their market-ready business or product solutions.
Semi-annually, the Combustion Chamber is hosted in a different city. The inaugural event began in Washington, DC, at a local startup accelerator and seed fund. The second installment journeyed across the country to the tech hub of Los Angeles followed six months later by Boston, the innovation capital of New England.
After the Boston event, however, analysis showed the Combustion Chamber’s true value extended further than sourcing great ideas and engaging regional staff beyond the Capital Beltway. We could focus our people and ideas on specific business challenges based in particular regions.
So, we held the fourth Combustion Chamber in Atlanta. With the backdrop of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and largest health community in America, we directed our scientists and Internet of Things technology experts to improve the safety of infectious disease labs and reduce rapid response events in hospitals.