The Future of Work Starts Now
Johnson Controls and Steelcase bring their shared vision to life in the OpenBlue Innovation Center. The center is both an everyday workplace and a living laboratory to showcase the next generation of solutions built on Johnson Controls OpenBlue unifying technology suite to enable the future of work.
We recently opened our OpenBlue Innovation Center, based at NUS’ School of Design and Environment. The product of a partnership between NUS, the Singapore Government, Johnson Controls and ecosystem partners including Microsoft and Steelcase, the center is both an everyday workplace and a living laboratory to showcase the next generation of solutions built on Johnson Controls OpenBlue unifying technology suite to enable the future.
So what exactly does this future look like? As 2020 has shown us only too well, the way we work will be flexible, mobile and able to adapt to rapid changes in the environment. Recent research by Steelcase studying high-performing teams has highlighted that in order for innovation to flourish, work must be hyper-collaborative, agile and iterative. To effectively manage fluid projects, teams must be able to cycle between being actively connected and breaking apart for focused time.
As Julie Barnhart-Hoffman, Principal Design Researcher for Steelcase, said in a recent article on the new approach to work, “We need to design for multidisciplinary teamwork in a way that also gives the individual what they need to do their best work.”
Breaking new ground in connected buildings
The OpenBlue Innovation Center is part of a pioneering effort by Johnson Controls to link core building technology with behavioural, wellness and spatial data to develop Internet of Things (IoT) solutions that meet new demands for safety and sustainability in connected workplaces. It’s an area ripe for fresh thinking, as unlike the smart home industry, a common ‘language’ for building technology has yet to be developed.
“We want to create a blueprint for a human-centric, connected and dynamic space of the future,” said Alvin Ng, Vice President, Digital Solutions, Asia Pacific at Johnson Controls. “If you think about the build environment, you have technology, people and space, and new and efficient value is created where those three elements intersect.”
The center is housed in SDE4, Singapore first new-build net-zero energy building. Sensors fitted throughout the indoor space, including on furniture, measure temperature, humidity, volatile organic particles, noise levels, airflow and occupancy.
Download the full case study from Steelcase to find out more.
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