Developers Workshop Inspires Innovation
Labs Canada’s d-shop trilogy
In Canada we especially like the number 3
3 oceans surround Canada
Rush is an all Canadian band of 3 amazing rock stars
We have 3 levels of government
3 of the most liveable cities in the world are in Canada
Canada hosts 3 amazing SAP Labs hubs (Vancouver, Montreal and Ontario (Toronto & Waterloo)
It is therefore natural for us to build not 1 but 3 d-shops coast to coast at Labs Canada.
What is a d-shop you ask?
- Short for developer’s workshop
- It’s a dedicated space for employees, customers, and partners to discover new IoT technologies
- A space filled with 3D printer, Oculus rift, Arduino machines, littleBits and Lego!
- Not just for developers we aim to make innovation accessible to all
In September, it all started with the launch of our very first d-shop in Labs Ontario where our passionate employees led the way with the support of our Emerging Technologies team. We immediately knew that we wanted Canada’s d-shops to be unique. We decided that our d-shops needed to be fully mobile to allow us to take our innovation on the road between our Labs Ontario locations, as well as right to the doorsteps of customers and local Universities.
Our employees are rock stars and our innovations can tour just like a rock band.
In February we announced at our internal learning event; d-kom 2016; that all Labs Canada locations would have a d-shop. Today we are proud to now also have d-shops in Montreal and Vancouver. This trilogy of d-shops represent what makes each of Labs unique in Canada. The platform is another way we invest to foster intrapreneurial spirit, innovation and cross collaboration. We even have a little robot mascot named Lektron who is part of the Labs Canada d-shop team.
D-shop Workshops and drop in sessions are available to all who are curious. I am especially proud of how we recently partnered with the Pacific Autism Family Center at Work on their program “Employment Works Canada” to run workshops for youth on the Autism spectrum to unlock their creativity, learn the basics of circuitry in an Arduino 101 workshop, and see a demo of 3D printer in action. Sharing knowledge using these d-shops bring our employees closer to IoT technologies. Best of all they help us to drive innovation, inspire curiosity and build more value for our employees, our community and our customers.
If you visit Canada and decide to stay awhile (and you will decide to stay awhile) visit us at Labs Canada and check out our d-shops to experience innovation at its best.
Go Canada! I encourage everyone to join us - Collaborate and Innovate in a D-Shop near you!
Visit our Jam pages
Montreal
Ontario
Vancouver
"inspire curiosity" is really important me.
I'm very curious, but limited hours in the day one cannot get hands on with all technologies. However, with many colleagues eager to share what interests them, the d-shop allowed me to get close to and learn some things with limited investment of time.
3D printing has be one such technology for me. I've attended two lunch time seminars and am looking forward to my third where I will be modeling and printing my own 3D object. So in about three hours spread over a couple of months I will be making something. There is no chance I could have come anywhere near this on my own.
The technology is cool! But without the people helping each other, it just wouldn't happen. My hat's off to all the rock stars who volunteer their time and share their enthusiasm to make this happen. 🙂
What I like the most about D-Shop is that it attracts creative people sharing a common passion for making things in a common area.
We all work on projects on our own, and suddenly, we hit a wall.
When it happens, you turn to your D-Shop friends, and there is always someone with the necessary skills and experience to give you hints on how to get moving again.
Or it is the other way around: you go to the D-Shop to share the success of your last build, and you end-up helping someone else by sharing your own experiences.
Of course, this kind of collaboration could happen online, but with the hours we spend in front of a computer screen, interacting with real people makes it that much better!