365 DAYS AMBIENT INTELLIGENCE IN HOMELAB - Philips Research

Ambient 05-05-2003 12:35 Pagina 2
Ambient Intelligence:
BUILDING THE VISION
Emile Aarts , Philips Research
2
After 365 days of intensive research in
HomeLab it is time to take a break and
step back for a moment to have a look at
what has happened with the vision of
Ambient Intelligence and to see how it has
developed over time. Clearly, the concept of
Ambient Intelligence did not come into
being overnight. It took quite some time to
formulate it and shape it into a mature
vision that could not only govern research
and development processes within Philips,
but also have an impact on the company’s
product portfolio and marketing strategy.
The notion of Ambient Intelligence was
proposed in 1998 in a series of workshops
that were organized within Philips, and that
were commissioned by the Board of the
Management [Zelka, 1998]. The workshops
were aimed at developing different scenarios
that would lead a high-volume consumer
electronics industry from the current world,
which was called fragmented with features,
into a world near 2020 with fully integrated
user-friendly devices supporting ubiquitous
information, communication and entertainment.
Palo Alto Ventures, a US management
consultancy company, acted as the facilitator,
and they involved several Philips departments
including Research, Design and
Global Brand Management.
The workshops coincided with a number of
worldwide developments from which it can
be concluded in hindsight that the time was
right for developing a vision like Ambient
Intelligence. Let me mention just two of
them. Firstly, performance