This is arguably the most exciting Open Innovation Program for the Energy industry in the world. Free Electrons, now in its third edition, has conquered the reputation of contributing to significant advancements in the Energy industry and boosting the growth of the startups that participate in this global program.
Make no mistake, Free Electrons has been designed for greatness from the start. Three years ago, eight energy utilities from all over the globe (AusNet Services, DEWA, EDP, ESB, innogy, Origin Energy, SP Group and Tokyo Electric Power Company) joined forces in a consortium built to push the boundaries of the energy sector, in order to find better and more sustainable solutions. Last year, American Electric Power and CLP have joined the gang, and are now part of the mighty 10 brave utilities.
The track record is unparalleled, both by the innovation injected in the utilities and by the growth achieved by the startups that become part of the big Free Electrons family.
So it comes with no surprise that the third edition, that wrapped up its third module last week, is already set to break some very high Free Electrons standards.
During this last module, startups and utilities had the chance to present the first pilots, after the match that took place in Module 1, with an impressive 27 pilots announced. Startups solutions are now being applied to utilities business challenges.
While on the second module of the program, Utilities and Startups also, based on the progress made on the first pilots, kicked off the development of new pilots and moved towards potential commercial agreements and/or investment contracts. Seven new pilots were announced by the end of Module 2, making the total of ongoing pilots of Free Electrons a mind blowing 41.
Free Electrons Utilities and Startups will now continue to work on their remarkable solutions that will be presented in an open day in Lisbon, on September 19 at Academia das Ciências. Hope you can join us there!
Lisbon Investment Summit happened over two weeks ago now, but for us, it is still going: through all the things that we learned, the moments we treasured and the relationships we started.
It’s all about community
The most important thing we learned at #LIS19 is something that we at Beta-i have always believed: it’s all about community. Innovation is only possible when different stakeholders join forces together and collaborate to thrive – and #LIS19 is the perfect melting pot that joins entrepreneurs, corporate innovators, investors and decision makers in one place.
The highlights:
Humanity Will Fix the Future
Andrew Keen, the best-selling author of How To Fix the Future and the headliner at #LIS19, spoke about the unfulfilled promises of technology – the promise that it would bring equality, boost democracy and create bridges between people. To overcome these challenges, we must take action through regulation, innovation and citizen engagement. The “fixing” of the future does not rest on more technology – it rests solely on our shoulders.
Investment in Portugal
Pedro Falcão, Managing Partner of LC Ventures, gave #LIS19 attendees an overview of the investment landscape in Portugal. You can download the report here:
Lisbon Investment Summit would not be the same without our amazing pitch competition, sponsored by GROW, which was one of the highlights of these two days – 12 amazing startups pitched on stage but there can only be one winner. The prize went to Musiversal, represented by founder André Miranda (and a Lisbon Challenge alumnus).
Several Portuguese startups and Beta-i open-innovation alumni were highlighted in the event.
The EntrepreneurXXI Awards are an initiative that seeks to identify, recognize and accompany young companies with greater growth potential.
At this year’s event, the spotlight was on portuguese startups Seacliq (invested by LC Ventures) and HUUB, both having created digital platforms to simplify the direct negotiation between providers and buyers in their respective industries (fishing and fashion).
Seacliq is a new electronic platform for the first sale of fish based on blockchain.
Fin&Insur Tech
Predictiva has developed, with technology based on artificial intelligence, a superbot specialized in the analysis and interpretation of spontaneous speech.
Commerce Tech
HUUB is an integrated logistics platform for the fashion industry.
Tourism Tech
Tracer has created a system based on blockchain to avoid the problem of abusive resale of tickets at major music and sports events.
Health Tech
Glycardial Diagnostics is working on the development of an in vitro diagnostic device (IVD) for the early detection of cardiac ischemia and prediction of patient evolution.
Impact Tech
Feltwood has developed an innovative process to transform agricultural vegetal residues into ecological industrial material of multiple applications and with characteristics similar to materials such as plastic or wood.
Taking the first steps in the entrepreneurial ecosystem can be daunting – the lingo, the fast pace, the new technologies. But worry not, we have a handy guide for any non-entrepreneur about what they need to know to navigate #LIS and what can they take advantage of.
What is #LIS?
Lisbon Investment Summit is an a surprisingly informal and slightly unexpected startup conference. The motto of the event? #nobullshit. That means business. During these two days, #LIS will promote thought-provoking conversations, will join at the table the most disruptive innovators and the most seasoned investors, and completely change the way you think about your business.
Get to know the lingo
If you want to blend in, you need to dominate the lingo. This is important to make sure you understand where each other attendee is coming from – a startup in the seed stage or raising a series B are not in the same position – which means they also have different things they can offer and are looking for different things. It’s easier than it sounds – we made a little dictionary of what you need to know – find them here and here.
Inspiring Talks
At #LIS you will get access to thought-provoking keynotes, given by world-renowned speakers. That is the case of the #LIS headliner, Andrew Kween, best-selling author of “How To Fix the Future”, who will speak about the dangers of a digital world and how can we overcome them. Maybe some of the talks about disruption will be a bit scary – especially if they fit your sector – but take the chance to be open to learn what chances are taking place – and how to take advantage of them. Check out the agenda of talks here.
Workshops
The workshop stage powered by Google, is the perfect place for you to learn new ways of doing things, from tools to digitize your business, to identifying business opportunities – get your hands ”dirty” in innovation.
Pitch Competition
The pitch competition is where up-and-coming startups (previously selected by the LIS team) pitch on stage to a crowd of angel investors and corporate venture capitalists, looking for investment or new clients. Why should you watch the live pitches? Well, for one, any of these startups could be disrupting your business, so you should keep an eye on them. But also, their new technologies might bring incredible advantages to your business – and they will most likely be open to partnerships, so take the opportunity to get to know them.
Unexpected Side Events
One of the best things at #LIS are its side events. Sure there are spectacularly fun parties, but it’s the unexpected that makes it fun, like in Dinner With a Stranger – you just have to sign-up and get selected to meet a curated group of people in a fabulous Lisbon restaurant. You never know who could meet – maybe your next business partner, maybe someone who inspires you to venture into your own business idea. We promise you one thing – it will be memorable. Wait no more – get your tickets to #LIS19 here.
UX Design is trending everywhere, and it’s no wonder – a comprehensive report on the impact of UX Design has shown that companies which invested the most, and who considered themselves to be fully user-centric, saw their sales increase by a staggering 75%.
Effectively, sales are one of the ways to measure the success of a design – but not the only. It can also be measured by other KPIs – such as retention or even the completion of a task – that can tell the designer if the experience if effective or not.
While designing, there are a few principles that can be followed to guarantee a better experience for the user, mostly used for interface design but also applicable to any kind of experience.
They are called heuristics and they represent cognitive shortcuts or rules of thumb that simplify decisions, and represent a process of substituting a difficult question with an easier one.
The 10 usability heuristics
1. Keep users in the know
The system should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within reasonable time.
Have you ever unsuccessfully tried to upload something without knowing if it’s being uploaded or not? No? That’s because the designers understand the “Visibility of system status“, which means giving the user the understanding of the task completion – hence the existence of loading bars, or the sound of a message sent.
2. Make sure the user understands
The system should speak the users’ language, with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order.
This rule is about matching the system and the real world – make the experience familiar to the user. That is why the trash icon on our computers is actually a trash bin.
3. Make an Exit Simple
Users often choose system functions by mistake and will need a clearly marked “emergency exit” to leave the unwanted state without having to go through an extended dialogue. Support undo and redo.
This is about giving your user control and freedom – to go back and alter the info on a form, to cancel an upload that is too heavy, to leave a task they don’t want to complete. Designers take it to the next level by helping us avoid or undo our mistakes – asking us if we’re sure we want to leave the page, or creating auto-saves that help us go to a previous version of our document.
4. Consistency and Standards
Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing.
Consistency is key – to make the users experience easy, information of the same kind should not be presented in different ways. “Buy” buttons should look the same across a website. It’s also important to adhere to external conventions – profile settings are usually available in the top right corner, and FAQ pages look pretty much the same across different websites.
5. Error Prevention
Even better than good error messages is a careful design which prevents a problem from occurring in the first place. Either eliminate error-prone conditions or check for them and present users with a confirmation option before they commit to the action.
Designers can delight users by helping them to not make mistakes – that’s why google search helps you correct grammatical mistakes and gmail does not let you live through the embarrassment of sending a second email with a forgotten attachment.
6. Recognition not recall
Minimize the user’s memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another. Instructions for use of the system should be visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate.
Basically, don’t make users memorize things. Google search suggests similar searches and Amazon lets you see your recently browsed items and similar objects.
7. Flexibility for newbies and experts
Accelerators — unseen by the novice user — may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent actions.
Experiences must be doable for both newbies and experts – that’s why designers create shortcuts. Experience users will skip tutorials, but use advanced settings (usually partially hidden to not hinder newbies). In real life experiences, escape rooms usually add extra clues for newbies, to help them make logical connections that heavy users already know.
8. Aesthetically pleasant and efficient
Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility.
This guideline compels us to use only needed information. Interfaces need to be cleared of unnecessary elements and content that do not support the page goals and tasks, so this is where prioritization comes to play. This rule is also the reason very minimalistic design – like the one used by Google – is wildly successful.
9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes), precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution.
Have you have repeatedly try to submit a form that says some information is wrong but won’t tell you which information is wrong? Ideally the user should be informed accurately of what is wrong.
Another important layer is the identification of solutions – if the password is wrong, a good design would suggest you a link to password recovery.
10. Help and documentation
Even though it is better if the system can be used without documentation, it may be necessary to provide help and documentation. Any such information should be easy to search, focused on the user’s task, list concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large.
Ideally, users should not need helpful documentation if the design is great. Still, it’s important to create useful documentation to clear any doubts. This documentation should be accessible and clearly structured to help users find the help they need.
Heuristics are a handy guide for UX Designers, as they mostly applicable to any web & mobile applications. You can also use them, or versions of it adapted to other types of experiences. The trick is to always put yourself in the user’s shoes!
