Win a survival course with the Craziest Idea

Trebnje, Slovenia, 28th December 2009 – Trimo held its 7th anonymous competition, the Craziest Idea, aimed at encouraging employees and scholars to think unconventionally, from which the most creative and innovative ideas were awarded. This time 3 creators of ideas were awarded; Head of Business Excellence, Polona Briški, for “Trimopedia”; architect Ljudmila Koprivec, for development of the “Woven façade”; and a third unknown creator - who is, according to committee members, part of a Trimo subsidiary abroad - for the idea “an Insulated daylight façade element.” The 3 creators will be awarded with a 3-day survival course. This year we have received fewer ideas than in previous years, but so far employees have proposed over 300 ideas.
“This year’s Craziest Idea centred on what is happening around us – it was specifically 'anti-crisis' orientated.
In accordance with wishes expressed from previous years, we also made a few changes. Firstly, we changed the committee this year, which was comprised of people working in this business, our colleagues from most key process areas, and former prize-winners of the Craziest Idea.
Other changes were made to the main theme of the Craziest Idea, and so, this year, it was - no surprise - aimed at finding new opportunities for Trimo during this economic crisis,” said Miloš Ebner, MBA, Trimo’s R&D and Design Engineering Director, and Chairman of the Craziest Idea committee.

We were looking for suggestions for new, innovative, fast solutions; or products, services, processes, organisational methods; or marketing approaches and business models which would serve as a way out of this situation the world economy is in right now.

“Although we received fewer Bold Ideas than in previous years they were, therefore, even more valuable to us. Participants showed that it is in these difficult times that we need people who are ready to search for new solutions and new ways, and change the world around us. They have to be aware that 'opportunity' is not just a word, and that everyone is a master of their own destiny. To sum up, crazy times require bold ideas,” as Milan Ebner put it in his speech at the pre-New Year’s meeting.

As the applied ideas did not all meet the set criteria, the committee decided to give a joint award in the shape of a “survival course in the wilderness” to the originators of the 3 ideas.

The Insulated day-light façade element is an interesting and efficient idea for using fixed light openings as composite parts of panels.
The idea of a Woven façade is a fresh idea for new opportunities for woven façades, their use in modern architecture, and potential new technical solutions in this field.
Trimopedia is an idea from the field of 'knowledge transfer' which uniquely transfers practices from Wikipedia into the Trimo environment, with the goal of accelerating the transfer and search for necessary knowledge, information, and competencies.

Trimo has several channels for collecting employee ideas – Trimo’s Craziest Idea, TIPs (Trimo Innovation Proposals), a basket of ideas for employees and external partners, workshops for generating ideas with key customers and suppliers, the annual process of generating ideas, and a system for applying inventions and patents. This way every employee contributes at least one innovative proposal a year through these different tools.

The systems for awarding proposals are also divided into different categories. Past awards for the winners of Trimo's Craziest Idea include a ride in a Formula 1 racing car, a flight in weightless space, a visit to a nuclear submarine, and participation in astronaut training with NASA. The suggestions for inventions, patents, and TIPs in Trimo are regulated by the Rulebook on protecting and awarding innovation, which estimates a certain percentage for awards, according to the effect achieved by the proposal, with an upper limit of 12 x the average gross salary of employees. In the future Trimo will actively develop an Open Business and Innovation Model, using modern communication and technological tools.

This was Trimo’s 7th annual Craziest Idea. The purpose of the competition is to spread innovation among employees, encourage an open, free, and different way of thinking.  Initially, only parent company employees in Slovenia were allowed to participate, but after the competition proved successful we invited employees from the market network, as well as scholars, to participate.
For more information go to:

http://www.trimo.eu/en/work-with-us/competitions/boldest-idea/

http://www.trimo.eu/en/press-centre/press-releases/
Qbiss by trimo and ArtMe – best Innovations at the 4th Slovenian Innovation Forum