How would you solve the following problem?

Construct a height-adjustable floor within a goods container, respecting a size of 80 x 60 cm, while ensuring the final product will be:

• adjustable by 45 cm by hand
• 3 cm thick when folded
• able to withstand a weight of 200 kg

Are these demanding requirements? Well, Migros concluded that this is a mission impossible, as they didn’t find a suitable solution even in collaboration with a university of applied sciences. The prototypes turned out to be sometimes too unstable, sometimes too fat, sometimes too difficult for a manual operation.

Was there another way?

At a kickstart accelerator party, Migros heard about Swiss Innovation Pool AG (swip.world). It offered to publish a problem statement publicly and invite the right minds out of 500 million social media profiles to work on a solution and submit it on the swip.world platform. Prize money was offered for the most convincing contributions.

The problem was published on swip.world as a “challenge” (innovation competition), in two stages. In the first stage, participants were allowed to write down ideas for solutions. In the second stage, concrete constructions (including drawings) were required.

What was the result?

Within a short timeframe, a total of 42 ideas were submitted for this seemingly “unsolvable” problem, out of which 19 met the minimal requirements. Migros was surprised by the variety of solutions imagined by lateral thinkers. Just to name a few:

Why not use a big lever?	Or tackle the problem from the top and pull up the floor with a cable?
A bellows can be folded thinly, and still obtain enough lifting power.	Or maybe hang the floor with feathers?

And the winner was…

Finally, Stephan Meier won with his elaborate cable pulling concept. In addition to the prize money, he was commissioned to produce a prototype. The highlight: he teamed up with his previous competitor Markus Roth (3rd-ranked challenge winner) for production. The prototype proved its functionality during a hands-on demonstration with the grocery products.

We are looking for problems

Do you have a challenge for which you would be glad to receive ideas or even implementable solution concepts? Studies have proven that Open Innovation can solve challenges more quickly and at a lower cost.

Whether for

• Product development (including market validation)
• Digitization
• Internet of Things
• Technical challenges of every kind
• Mechanical and digital designs
• PR & image campaigns
• Scouting
• Development of new business models
• New ways to the market

Our community does not limit itself to one solution only. Free yourself from your boundaries and experience the wisdom of the crowd!

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