Product Development Meets Speed Dating as Innovation Express Rolls into Miami

(From MasterCard’s “The Heart of Commerce” Blog)

Garry Lyons | June 13, 2011

MasterCard Labs recently gathered employees from around the world to participate in “Innovation Express,” a two-day, round-the-clock competition to develop new product prototypes.

This was definitely not your typical Miami getaway.

Yes, there was plenty of sunshine and great views, but our folks arrived eager and motivated by a highly aspirational mission: to jump-start the development of new, commercially viable payments products focused on one particular area of interest to us and our customers.

Four teams of developers, designers and business people were challenged to nurture the seeds of an idea into a functional product prototype – including a go-to-market plan and demonstration video – in a 48-hour period.

Participants came from departments and offices around the world, and most team members hadn’t even met each other prior to the event.  But they quickly came together to tackle the specific challenges put before them, which were based on ideas identified during a recent MasterCard Product Summit.

Although structured as a competition with great prizes, Innovation Express was marked by a spirit of camaraderie and community (complete with a healthy dose of good-natured ribbing).

Participants report being sleep-deprived but energized by the experience – not just because of the commercial potential for each concept, but also because of the opportunity to broaden their exposure to other people and areas of MasterCard.

The results were nothing short of amazing. I’m thrilled to report that all four prototypes are advancing into focus testing and further development. And the energy and excitement has spread – our colleagues throughout the organization are clamoring to get involved in future innovation events.

There’s a lot happening in MasterCard Labs at the moment and I look forward to sharing more over the coming months. Rest assured that we’re going to build on MasterCard’s rich legacy of creating new products that make people’s lives easier … save time… and give them more control.

Think there are limited opportunities for innovation in the payments space? Just you wait!

(From MasterCard’s “The Heart of Commerce” Blog)