Wieke Oudhuis (project manager) on a circular refrigeratorsailboat
One innovation I find truly impressive is BluRoX, Liebherr’s latest insulation method. Instead of using conventional polyurethane foam (PU), they’ve developed an extremely effective cold insulation system using volcanic rock. This technology uses finely ground lava stone—perlite, a natural material with extremely low thermal conductivity that can also be reused. Combined with a vacuum, this material provides highly energy-efficient and compact insulation.

Efficiency vs. space: The design dilemma
European energy consumption standards have become increasingly stringent. Labels for appliances like refrigerators and freezers have already been revised several times. These standards help consumers reduce both their energy bills and CO₂ footprint, while pushing companies to keep innovating and develop even more efficient products. One straightforward solution might be to simply thicken the walls to retain the cold more effectively, but a major drawback is that it reduces the internal storage space.

More room, less waste
In traditional refrigerators and freezers, the space between the inner and outer walls, where many of the cables and components are housed, is typically filled with foam. This polyurethane foam makes recycling difficult, as it adheres to surrounding materials. BluRoX breaks that pattern: the perlite insulation can be easily removed. This means that not only the cables and vacuum panels, but also the outer panels and inner liner can be easily processed and reused. Even the perlite itself is recyclable. Thanks to the high insulation efficiency, the wall thickness can also be reduced, resulting in up to 25% more internal capacity, without changing the appliance’s external dimensions. That’s a huge benefit for the end user.

BluRoX is also significantly better for the environment. Polyurethane is a polluting material that contributes to CO₂ emissions and chemical waste, whereas perlite is a natural and non-toxic raw material.

A bold step toward innovation
I think this technology is absolutely brilliant. Innovation in the home appliance sector is often driven by cost-efficiency and marginal technical improvements. It’s inspiring to see Liebherr, as a market leader, take a bold step by investing in something truly innovative. It’s a move that sets a strong example for the rest of the industry.

If adopted on a wide scale, this innovation’s impact could be significant, not only ecologically, but economically as well: lower energy consumption, less material waste, and better recyclability. A fantastic example of circular design in action.

Would you like to learn more about product innovation management or discuss a specific innovation? Get in touch with us!

BEACON is thrilled to welcome Wieke Oudhuis and Mats Hellman. These two experienced project managers bring a fresh wave of enthusiasm and expertise to our team. Beyond their passion for product innovation, they share a love for water sports, Mats as an avid sailor and Wieke as a whitewater kayaker. Just as they navigate the elements, they’re ready to steer complex projects toward success.

Wieke Oudhuis: Connecting disciplines and collaboration

Wieke is an adventurer at heart, whether she’s kayaking, hiking, mountain biking, or skiing. That same love for challenges fuels her approach to leading multidisciplinary product development. With a strong background in strategic portfolio management and new product introductions, she has extensive experience working with major OEM partners across Europe and Asia, particularly in consumer electronics.

As a former product category manager, Wieke focused on aligning product development with commercial goals, an approach she now brings to her role as a project manager. She ensures alignment between teams, strategy, and execution. Her strength lies in connecting disciplines and getting projects on course; she keeps a clear overview, fosters collaboration, and believes in a collective mindset.

As a team, we have one goal, and we go for it together.

After working in large organizations, she’s familiar with corporate decision-making, procurement processes, and industry expectations. With hands-on structured expertise, she’s ready to apply her methodical yet dynamic approach to helping clients turn bold ideas into market-ready, sustainable innovations.

Mats Hellman: Balancing creativity and structure

With over 15 years of experience in product innovation, Mats has successfully led projects for start-ups and multinationals alike. His background as an all-around industrial designer gives him the ability to work across multiple aspects of product development simultaneously. He takes a broad perspective, gathering relevant input from the entire team while keeping a sharp focus on the client’s end goal.

As a project manager, Mats combines technical expertise, business focus, and a strong team mentality. He ensures projects stay on track while keeping team members engaged and motivated. His approach is built on trust.

When every team member feels ownership of their contribution, that’s when the magic happens.

Mats excels at tackling complexity in product development, balancing strategic planning with real-time decision-making. With a structured, business-focused approach, he ensures projects stay on track, teams stay aligned, and challenges are met with adaptability and precision—driving results while keeping the end goal in sight.

At BEACON, he’s excited by the diversity of clients and projects, but most of all, the team.

The colleagues here are strikingly smart, genuinely kind, fresh, and inspiring. It’s a great place to collaborate and grow as a professional.

Ready to work with them? Their expertise, teamwork, and passion for innovation make them valuable additions to the BEACON team. Want to see how they can help drive your next project? Connect with them and say hello!

Quintijn Innikel (partner) on a groundbreaking, innovative sailboat
This sailboat is truly remarkable, showcasing groundbreaking and innovative technology. It was designed for the America’s Cup, a legendary sailing race that has proven to be a major driver of innovation. The America’s Cup is the oldest sailing race and active sporting event worldwide. Since 1851, the world’s best sailors have competed with the fastest boats for the aspired “Auld Mug.”

The competition is a match race between two top-tier yachts. The one known as the Defender represents the yacht club currently holding the America’s Cup, while the Challenger, represents the club vying for the title. The Challenger is selected through a series of preliminary races. According to the Deed of Gift, the winner gets to set the specifications for the yachts in the next competition. This allows changes in aspects such as rigging, draft, maximum waterline length, or total weight, ensuring that each race hosts faster and more innovative boats. Over its rich history, the America’s Cup has driven many significant technological advancements.

The 1988 race: A new dimension
One of the most significant breakthroughs occurred in the 1988 race when the San Diego Yacht Club competed as the Defender. New Zealand, the Challenger, relied on conservative regulations, assuming their vessel—a large monohull (single-hulled) yacht—would have the advantage. It was an enormous 37-meter yacht with a massive sail (up to 1,600 square meters) and two large outriggers on either side to balance its 40-man crew.

On the other hand, San Diego noticed a gap in the rules: catamarans were not prohibited. Therefore, they built a massive catamaran with a fixed wing resembling a vertical airplane wing. Due to its narrow aspect ratio, this wing efficiently converted wind into speed.

During the race, the stark contrast between the two vessels became obvious. They were in completely different leagues. San Diego’s catamaran easily outmaneuvered New Zealand’s massive monohull, sailing circles around it. A legal challenge was filed to contest the results, but the court ruled that San Diego’s catamaran complied with the rules, making the Challenger the rightful winner.

The AC75: Four times the speed of the wind
Another revolutionary leap came with foils, enabling catamarans to lift out of the water and achieve even greater speeds. In 2021, New Zealand successfully defended its title against Italy. Both boats were high-performance foiling monohulls of the AC75 class, specifically designed for the competition.

Fixed wings were replaced by a “twin-skin, soft-wing” sail concept, a hybrid of a fixed wing and a traditional sail. These boats also featured two robotic arms on deck that hydraulically shifted the foils from port to starboard, lifting the entire hull out of the water.

Every aspect of the vessel was streamlined for minimal resistance. The technology has become so efficient that these boats can sail at four times the speed of the wind. With a wind speed of ten knots, the AC75 can sail at 40 knots—truly mind-blowing!

Seamanship and innovation
The faster the boat sails, the more lift the foils generate, raising the hull higher out of the water. If not managed carefully, the boat can lift too high and bounce off the water’s surface. This led to a new role onboard: the trimmer, who controls the boat’s flight height with a console. 

The races are highly dynamic, blending seamanship and technological innovation. The America’s Cup is a celebration of sailing and innovation. Teams must be incredibly inventive to surpass the Defender’s advantage. Every effort is made to stay ahead. Being just “as good” isn’t enough—you must always be better. 

As Admiral Rous famously told Queen Victoria in 1851 when the yacht America crossed the finish line first: “Your Majesty, there is no second.”

Would you like to learn more about product innovation management or discuss a specific innovation? Get in touch with us!

Have you ever designed an innovative product only to face unexpected challenges when transitioning from development to production? Suddenly, adjustments pile up, causing delays, frustration, and extra costs. There is another way: design it “right the first time” by using the DfX approach.

‘With the DfX approach, you establish the foundation for a smooth transition to production right at the start of your project.’

Focus areas
DfX (Design for Excellence) is a systematic approach that ensures all critical (product) factors are incorporated from the start of product development. This method provides practical guidelines to integrate and validate aspects like production, assembly, cost, reliability, and sustainability from the beginning of your project. This results in a design that is right the first time and that seamlessly connects to the production phase.

The “X” in DfX represents excellence and is replaced by the first letter of the focus area, such as:

The foundation of DfX lies in the accumulated and explicitly documented knowledge within the organization — in the form of guidelines, design rules, product requirements, and the presence of experts and knowledge bearers. This knowledge is applied by project teams in their projects. The quality of shared knowledge and the effectiveness with which it is applied are crucial.

Knowledge within the organization
From the start, it is essential to clearly define and specify the DfX focus areas within the project — choosing areas that support the organization’s goals or are crucial for achieving the project outcome.
As a project manager, you ensure that your multidisciplinary team has the expertise needed to tackle the required challenges. Regularly consult relevant experts, especially when making critical decisions. For instance, if you want to ensure a link to the production chain, include a production stakeholder in your team. Additionally, involve key suppliers in the project to incorporate their specific knowledge and skills into the development of the (sub)product. (It’s not the first time a beautiful design can only be produced with adjustments and higher costs.)

By consistently reviewing selected DfX aspects, validating the design for each stage gate, and involving experts in critical decisions, issues and risks are identified and addressed early in the process. This structured approach minimizes the chance of significant modifications (and thus delays and higher costs) in the final project phase.

Quality and reliability
This method works very well for me as a project manager. It helps establish an early grasp on critical design factors in the project. Additionally, it provides tools to maintain control and direct the project. It is essential to keep the right stakeholders involved and to make good use of available knowledge. Moreover, it encourages organizations to continually acquire and share knowledge.

This integrated approach fosters focus within the team, leverages specific expertise within (and outside) the organization, and regularly tests the design application, allowing issues to be addressed promptly. The DfX approach enhances the quality and reliability of the delivered product and the project.

Would you like to learn more about how the DfX approach works?
Contact me for information or advice. I’d be happy to set aside time to discuss the specific possibilities of this method for your organization.

On average, eighty percent of product innovations fail. These products disappear from the market within two years, often because they don’t sufficiently meet the target audience’s needs or aren’t launched at the right time. While this failure rate is high, some companies perform significantly better than others. Is it a matter of fate, luck, or chance? With Stijn Smet, managing director of Verhaert Innovation Academy, BEACON recently organized a workshop on this subject for a small group of clients. Based on this first-hand experience, we explored what sets these successful innovators apart.

Key principles for successful innovation

1. Alignment with business strategy
To achieve predictable success in innovation, the first requirement is that innovation must contribute to the business strategy. Every innovation effort must be aligned with the overarching short- and long-term business goals. As Stijn Smet emphasized during our workshop, “When innovation is not strategically aligned, it becomes a distraction rather than a growth driver.”

2. Portfolio approach
Rather than putting all eggs in one basket, companies should diversify their innovation efforts across multiple projects. This approach spreads risk and increases the likelihood of overall success. During the workshop, Stijn Smet illustrated this principle with a compelling case study of a leading tech company that adopted a diversified innovation portfolio. By spreading their efforts across various projects, they significantly reduced their failure rate and enhanced their chances of success.

3. Following the right process
Finally, the third principle is that innovation can be predictable if the right process is followed. This involves establishing a structured, measurable approach to innovation. A tool often recommended for this purpose is ‘innovation accounting,’ which consists of setting measurable parameters (metrics) and monitoring them throughout your innovation projects.

Making innovation measurable
Innovation accounting allows companies to measure their progress objectively. Metrics are divided into two types: activity metrics and impact metrics. During our workshop, a diverse group of professionals, including business directors, R&D managers, innovation delivery team leads, CEOs, and directors of product design & development, identified the top three measurable factors for successful innovation:

• Number of validated assumptions (activity metric): This was unanimously chosen as the most important metric. Validating assumptions early and frequently helps ensure that innovation is on the right track.
• Percentage of risk reduction per period/phase (impact metric): Measuring how much risk is reduced in each phase of the innovation process helps companies manage uncertainties effectively.
• Number of milestones (gates) passed per year (impact metric): Tracking the number of milestones achieved annually helps assess the overall progress and adherence to the innovation plan.

Implementing a structured process
Companies that truly excel in innovation understand that it’s not about eliminating risk but managing it effectively. They embrace the inherent uncertainty of innovation while utilizing structured processes and measurable metrics to navigate the unpredictable terrain. In the end, predictable innovation success is not about creating a rigid formula but finding a balance in a system where both creativity and structure can flourish by working side by side.

Struggling to make your innovation success predictable? A well-organized governance framework, supported by periodic checks and objective metrics, can significantly enhance your innovation success rate. Contact us to discuss how we can implement a structured innovation process tailored to your company’s needs and turn your innovation efforts into predictable success.

Jan Willem Dik (managing director) on a floating solar park
When I first saw this innovation from the German company Sinn Power—solar panels sticking upright out of the water—I thought, “Well thought out, a disadvantage turned into an advantage, interesting!” These double-sided panels take up less space and benefit from the reflection and cooling effects of the water, which provide additional yield. Additionally, they are less affected by bird droppings, a common cause of efficiency loss in flat panels.

Double peaking
The idea originated from German regulations allowing a maximum of 15% water surface coverage. In August, Sinn Power plans to start constructing 1.8 megawatts of floating solar panels on a gravel pit near Munich. The company has previously developed vertical solar panels on land, including as alternative fences, in combination with agriculture or mounted on facades. 

Interestingly, the upright, two-sided panels, when facing east and west, offer a different generation profile compared to traditionally inclined solar panels. Instead of a single big peak in the afternoon, the upright panels deliver peak output twice a day. While these peaks are smaller in absolute terms, they align better with daily electricity demand peaks in the morning and evening. 

Heavy construction
Despite the innovation, I’m still not entirely enthusiastic. Firstly, I find these large objects in the water to be quite unattractive. To withstand wind and waves, the floats’ construction must be very strong and non-corrosive, requiring a lot of extra material, undoubtedly making it more expensive. Additionally, the heavy construction is unnecessarily large compared to land-based panels.
Furthermore, I question the impact of covering the water’s surface. Has there been any research on its effects on waterfowl and marine life? 

Lack of space?
The primary reason for having solar panels on water is the lack of space. However, according to a scan conducted by the Dutch Governmental organization RVO, about 50% of the roofs and parking lot surface area in the Netherlands is available for placing panels generating solar energy, which amounts to 725 km2. Of this, 58 km2 (8%) is directly suitable for panels’ installation. Solar panels can be placed on 348 km2 (48% of the surface area) if obstacles like fixing grid congestion or structural roof adjustments are solved. This presents a significant and easily mined potential. 

In conclusion, while the concept of solar parks on water is ingeniously conceived, I question their necessity and added value. Why opt for a difficult solution when an easier one is available?

Would you like to learn more about product innovation management or discuss a specific innovation? Reply to schedule an appointment!

Sustainable project management involves integrating multifaceted elements that contribute to the long-term success and positive impact of projects. It aligns with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), established in 2015 by the United Nations which provide a framework for addressing global challenges. By integrating sustainability into project management, you create economically viable, environmentally friendly, and socially responsible solutions.

Project governance

One of the key elements of sustainable project management is project governance. This involves establishing clear roles, responsibilities, and decision-making processes within a project. By implementing effective governance, you can ensure that sustainability considerations are embedded throughout the project lifecycle and weighed against other project parameters such as product quality, business case and time to market. A governance board, such as a steering committee, should guide the project according to strategic sustainable business goals. Frequently reporting on project parameters is vital to achieving sustainability goals. The sustainability compass can summarize it very clearly, as applied in a project for one of our customers.

Sustainability compass

The sustainability compass is integrated into the product development process and provides an understanding of sustainability-related design criteria. The goal is to improve the sustainable attributes of a product portfolio. The compass includes eight dimensions:

1. Raw materials
2. Packaging
3. Virgin material
4. End-of-life reusability
5. Recyclability
6. In-life energy consumption
7. Carbon footprint
8. Financial cost

Is it a search for the prince on the white horse? How do you divide the pie? And can cultural differences be bridged with a sticky bun?

Quintijn Innikel shares his experience and insights on creating fruitful partnerships and lists the key challenges.

Watch his presentation during the study day on Collaboration and Innovation at TU in Delft for the PDMA and the DMN here.

Also read Quintijn’s blog article: Experiences of innovating through partnerships