I was invited at 3M Philippines' recent media event, the The 3M Experience: Innovation Tour and it was a very interesting experience.
I've known about 3M's innovation culture since my MBA days, where 3M has been a landmark case of corporate innovation. If my memory serves me right, 3M encourages innovation by making it a key performance metric for employees, and scientists and researchers are given ample portion of their time to work on pet projects. The result is often an glut of innovative products for the company.
The Innovation Tour is essentially a showcase of the company's different business groups and the products they offer. The interesting part about it is that it's presented in a practical and novel way, something similar to the Mr. Wizard's World in the 1980's.Each of the ten business groups had a chance to strut their wares.
Not all products were mainstream as most of the businesses catered to B2B markets. I personally was surprised that the unit that served familiar brands like Scotch, Post-it, and Scotch Brite was only a small portion of 3M's business.
From a design point of view, there were few notable innovations provided better user experiences. One example is a tiny toothbrush that acts similar to dental floss (cleaning gaps between the teeth). Another one is a very uniquely designed tape dispenser. Finally, who can forget those little tapes that you attach to your documents to let you know where you need to sign?
The Innovation Tour was a great reminder that 3M is one of the pivotal innovators of products, design, and user experience.
