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InProcess’ certified Research Laboratory for human sciences and engineering leads fundamental and applied research programs in 5 fields: the mobility, the health, the retail, the house and the Internet of things (IOT).
Over the last 10 years, InProcess has been investing in its own research programs on usages and rituals in both consumer and B2B environments. In addition to our R&D works, we welcome Ph.D. students in ethnology who help discover, create and nurture crucial knowledge on usages and how they evolve.
Since 2011, InProcess Lab™ is officially certified as a Research Laboratory by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research. This accreditation allows companies in France to benefit from significant tax relief on research carried out with InProcess.
To support the research of our teams of anthropologists, ethnologists, semioticians, sociologists and ergonomists, InProcess Lab™ created the LightRoom observation room and developed proprietary tools dedicated to ethnographic research.
In the LightRoom we observe, we augment experiences and we test innovation.
The LightRoom is a unique in vitro immersion and observation laboratory, coupled with a prototyping workshop. Created specifically by InProcess Lab™, the LightRoom offers the unique capability to immerge users in real-life sceneries thanks to non-intrusive technology, and to more easily observe them using prototypes of products and services which can evolve ‘live’ according to their reactions.
We also lead workshop sessions with our clients’ teams in the LightRoom.
How does the LightRoom work?
Immersion sceneries are tailor-made for each project to bring to life the key users contexts: breakfast in a family, hospital operating rooms or subway corridors during rush hours. They are displayed all around the room and can evolve according to the time of day, seasons, conversations… all in a short time!
The beauty of the LightRoom is that it includes a demonstrator workshop where designers and engineers build real-time mock-ups and prototypes while users are observed. They submit them on the fly to users in the observation room. As they iterate toward a solution, designers assess and reassess their designs.
The LightRoom also welcomes our clients in a room with a two-way mirror to attend the observation sessions.
InProcess Lab™ built innovation clusters on mobility, health, retail and the home: Impedimenta®, WhatHealth?, OnCourse and InHome. These ethno design clusters gather companies who share their knowledge and views on their shared client in order to build innovation opportunities. These incubators rely on InProcess’ ethnographic and design approach and enables us to:
InProcess Lab™’s online ethnographic tool is an interactive diary that allows immersion in the daily lives of consumers over a longer period of time than allowed for by traditional observation methods. It supports research in multiple countries to detect insights in various cultural, economic and sociological backgrounds.
What if tomorrow, smartphones replaced doctors? And if data led to customized treatment? If low cost offers cured for less? What If health was consumed just like any common good?
Patients have changed, prevention models and day-to-day care too. The entire ecosystem of health and well-being is being renewed. New players from technology or food, for example, engage in it. These profound changes create strong opportunities for strategic innovation!
WhatHealth? is the meeting of key players from non-competitor sectors who pool their visions of their “shared patient/customer”.
It brings together all those who want to take the lead on health evolutions: nutrition, pharmaceutical laboratories, biotech, medical equipment and devices (imaging, in-body, in-vitro), pharmacists and retail, insurance, household appliances, hygiene & beauty, telecoms & data management, sport & leisure…
Entering the WhatHealth? cluster is of course acquiring knowledge through an anthropological, "user-centric" approach - and not through a brand approach. But it is also getting the chance to participate in an open innovation program that builds strong solutions for hybrid innovation and business partnerships.
Our partners
WhatHealth? is designed with our academic partner Dominique Desjeux, anthropologist, professor of social and cultural anthropology at the Paris Descartes University and a specialist of the consumption.
The specific research fields they want to study
Our anthropologists observe and analyze the evolution of the daily experiences and attitudes towards healthcare
The major insights from the emerging needs and aspirations
Scenarios of ideal health experiences
Concrete innovation solutions on the short, medium and long term for a strong economic value.
It is said that the shopper...
Prescribes, sells, trades, finances, influences
Seeks to avoid the constraints according to his desires, his needs, his purchasing power and will
Decides at any time to redirect his purchase paths via multiple channels
Handle his purchases through his networks of individuals, without going through a distributor
How do retail players articulate themselves to provide fluid consumption experiences, online and offline, both relevant to the "shoppers" and profitable for businesses? With which new players should you collaborate to offer them a quality experience?
On the model of the recent innovation cluster InHome about the house, OnCourse brings together companies who want to understand and make the most of the forthcoming retail changes to innovate efficiently.
Together, they co-create joint representations and scenarios of innovative experiences that reveal potential new models, offers and partnerships. This ‘ethno design’approach of the open innovation is based on the understanding and anticipation of changes in the purchasing practices.
OnCourse is designed with our academic partner Dominique Desjeux, anthropologist, professor of social and cultural anthropology at the Paris Descartes University and a specialist of the consumption.
The ways in which we inhabit our homes are constantly changing. Today our homes are multifunctional and accommodate an ever increasing variety of life styles. These shifts bring new needs to be explored and numerous opportunities for strategic innovation.
InHome is a dedicated space for creation and discussions. It gathers key players from a variety of sectors within the home area, including: property, interior furnishings, nutrition, entertainment, logistics, self-care, maintenance, financial resources, public policy, energy, communication, who come together to share their viewpoints on their common consumer.
Map out the InHome adventure together, considering the thematic research scope of each subscriber and the exploratory research on the home, already conducted by InProcess Lab™.
Observe traditional and emerging usage trends of home-dwellers across a variety of environments.
Identify the practices and usages to develop, according to the needs of each subscriber.
Zoom in on these practices and usages to reveal opportunities for innovation: new models, products, services and experiences.
Draw scenarios of new experiences with all subscribers to transform these opportunities into plans of action.
When “our” client posts a photo on Facebook from his mobile phone, orders a book on Amazon, buys a macchiato coffee at Starbucks and jumps on a bicycle rented from the city to meet his friends at night, he is successively the client of multiple companies and brands involved in mobility.
InProcess Lab™ and the Chronos Group set up Impedimenta®, the innovation incubator on mobility issues, in 2006. Impedimenta® aims at producing innovation leads for key players of mobility at large thanks to a unique method based on the sharing of their viewpoints and the co-creation of common material. The Impedimenta® approach always leads to the scripting of actionable concepts for products and services.
Each Impedimenta® session starts with an ethnological and anthropological observation, enriched by sociological analyses, to improve the understanding of mobility. Subscribers then gather for creativity workshops to design common prospective scenarios. Each company can leverage these scenarios to create new and fruitful products and services.
Accor, France Telecom, JCDecaux, Pages Jaunes, PSA Peugeot-Citroën, Airbus or Vinci Park were among the first participants of the Impedimenta® research programs.
paved the way for non-intrusive communication objects. Christophe Rebours co-founded Violet, a pioneer of the Internet of Things start-up, to provide connected technologies with a touch of human sensitivity. He intended to transform the traditional new technologies of communication by adding emotion and warmth. He wanted to add a true personality to the “things” of the Internet of things.
In 2003, InProcess Lab™ and Violet’s first researches gave birth to the DAL lamp, the Digital Ambient Light. Sensitive to noise and touch, the DAL lamp is an exploratory communication channel based on variations of light intensity and colors. The DAL lamp prefigured the Nabaztag rabbit – it conveyed information through calm and gentle technology and the human senses.
Christophe Rebours and the Violet team reached a new development with the creation of the Nabaztag rabbit. Initially foreseen as mere cuddly flower or rabbit toy, the Nabaztag benefited from InProcess Lab™’s insights and recommendations on the usage of the object. Families would only adopt the rabbit if its design was sleek, premium and non-childish.
The Nabaztag rabbit was born and its sleek design, its simple ‘signs’, its swivel ears, its soft lighting effects seduced thousands of families. It is a smart and cute communication channel to keep in touch daily with the community of the loved ones. It is permanently connected to the Internet.
Violet is also credited for the creation of the Nano:ztag (a tiny RFID enabled rabbit which launches the applications you want), the Ztamp:s (custom RFID tags) and the Mirr:or, an RFID reader that connects to computers via USB and performs actions based on them.
