GE WattStation Innovation Challenge! ! GE WattStation 2011 Innovation Challenge Question I.

Background:

By 2015, estimates project there will be more than one million electric vehicles (EV) on the road. Fuelling this projection are five growth drivers: manufacturers investment in and production of EVs, cost and environmental sustainability considerations, shifting consumer mind-sets, government funding and support and new business opportunities.

In July 2011, General Electric (GE) entered the electric vehicle (EV) charging station market in the U.S., Europe and China with the GE WattStation. The GE WattStation is an easy-to-use EV charger designed to help accelerate the adoption of plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) by significantly decreasing time needed for vehicle charging. It is capable of reducing charge time from 12-18 hours to 4-8 hours. Click here for GE WattStation Promo Video GE sells WattStation to the four customer segments or needs spaces listed below. Long Term Parking (LTP): Locations where EV owners park their car for at least 4 hours. LTP locations include: retail/shopping centers, stadium, amusement parks, airport, hotel, office parking lots, universities, schools and convention centers.
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Municipalities: A city, town, village, county or district organized for self-government under a municipal corporation. Municipal public locations include: golf course, parks and recreational areas, public parking, train, airport, ports, etc. Fleet: Groups of automobiles owned or leased by a business or government agency. Examples of fleet vehicle operators include: car rental companies, taxicab companies, delivery services, public utilities, public bus companies and police departments. Investor Owned Utilities (IOU): A business organization, providing a product or service regarded as a utility and managed as a private enterprise rather than a function of government. Electric utility IOUs serve residential, commercial and industrial customers.

GE WattStation Innovation Challenge! !

Click here to view GEs EV Infrastructure Segmentation Hypothesis PPT The GE WattStation is more than an electric vehicle charging station. It is a web portal and customer data center platform capable of enrolling and identifying users, processing and storing transactions (e.g. e-wallet, SMS payment), mobile communications, real-time reporting and an open application programming interface (API) and skinnable web interface for third party customization and integration. WattStation not only has the potential to save costs, but also create new, innovative revenue streams for GE and its customers. With a diverse range of business units such as GE Capital, GE Appliances, GE Digital Energy and GE Industrial Solutions, GE is uniquely positioned to be a network operator of the EV ecosystem and be perceived as a turnkey, integrated solution by leveraging its business units. For example, GE Capital can provide vehicle-financing solutions for fleet businesses to finance electric vehicles and WattStation EV charging stations and also provide infrastructure solutions (such as that support the rollout of EVs to municipalities. Other potential high profit pool opportunities to explore include the ability for GEs API to be the glue to connect with consumer information services (i.e. Google Maps, Yelp, FourSquare, etc), payment processing (movie tickets, GroupOn, etc.) or business-to-business solutions such as Fleet Energy Management, customer relationship management (CRM), advertising and business intelligence applications.

II.

Challenge Question

Information services How might GE help business customers leverage data collected at EV charging stations? III. Scope

A variety of concepts will be considered including (but not limited to) the following: concepts may leverage strategic partnerships concepts may be new business models or service offerings developed by GE concepts may specify a single service or product or propose a suite of products or services concepts may have a mass-appeal or serve a niche market or application
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IV.

concepts should offer solutions in the form of tools, applications, resources, and/or services that help customers grow their businesses or better serve their customers !

GE WattStation Innovation Challenge! !

Criteria

Concepts clearly should: be revenue generating for GE or customer simultaneously provide value to the end user or business customer differentiate WattStation from competitors difficult for competitors to replicate create brand loyalty clearly articulate strategy and implementation tactics in a specific market (U.S., Europe or China). be able to be rolled out within a 12 month timeframe

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V.

Submission Process

1. Choose ONE needs space or customer segment Review the EV Infrastructure Segmentation Hypothesis.ppt and choose one needs space to focus on. We do not want you to create a hodgepodge of unrelated ideas. 2. Give Your Concept a Headline & Summary The headline (100 character limit) and summary (300 character limit) will be the first thing that our judges and sponsors will see, so be creative, concise and compelling. The headline can be the service offering name or one sentence elevator pitch. 3. Tell the Story - Follow the outline in the online entry form and build your story to fit inside of the five sections listed below. Concept Overview Value Proposition Unique, Defensible Competitive Advantage Bottom line Results Feasibility

4. Add Supporting Documents Youll want to bring your idea to life with at least one visual aid. Past participants have created an advertisement, infographics, diagram, schematic drawing to further illustrate their concept. In the last two years, more and more students have provided a short video or screencast using tools like iMovie, Jing or SlideRocket.

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VI.

Judging & Evaluation

GE WattStation Innovation Challenge! !

Qualifying Round 1: Phase 1 & 2 Judging A diverse group of judges including innovation experts, past sponsors, Innovation Challenge alumni, professors and professionals will evaluate the entries in two rounds of professional evaluation according to the following criteria: 1. Concept Overview (20%) o How bold and fresh is concept? o Does the concept convey WOW or game-changing characteristics? 2. Value Proposition (20%) o How does concept meet / exceed customer need? o How important is this area of need to your customers and stakeholders? o Is the idea authentic? Can it be delivered? 3. Unique, Defensible Competitive Advantage (20%)
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4. Bottom-Line Results (20%) o How compelling are the concept's quantitative and qualitative benefits? 5. Feasibility (20%) o How well thought out is the implementation plan? Are the risks addressed? Semi-Final Round 2: Phase 3 Judging Determined by GE Final Round 3: Phase 4 Judging See Phase 1 scorecard (click here)

VII.

Additional Resources

EV Business Model PPT (click here) EV Ecosystem PPT (click here)

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