How can consumers use less energy when using Philips Domestic Appliances?

Ideation challenge for innovators, students and creatives

Philips Domestic Appliances (Philips DA) are used in homes in more than 100 countries. Taken together these appliances use an enormous amount of energy. At Philips DA we are on a mission to reduce CO₂ emissions through lower energy use. We don’t stop at improving our own (production) processes but want to lower the energy use of all the products we produce in their total lifecycle.

That is why we are looking for ideas to lower the energy consumption of our domestic appliances. We challenge you to lead the transition in becoming sustainable and join us in impacting our future positively. In the Innovate to Green Challenge, we DAre you to come up with innovative ideas and concepts that help to achieve this mission in one of three ways:

• Improve the energy efficiency of our domestic appliances by reducing the input power.
• Allow for a shorter use of the product.
• Influence the behavior of people to reduce power usage.

Do you have the idea that can help us innovate to green? Send us your pitch!

About us
Philips Domestic Appliances (Philips DA) is a global leader with EUR 2.2 billion sales in 2020 in kitchen, coffee, garment care and home care appliances. Philips DA is active in more than 100 countries, and has a global innovation, manufacturing, and commercial footprint. Its successful products include the Airfryer, Fully Automatic Espresso Machine with LatteGo, Perfect Care Elite steam generator, Air Purifier and SpeedPro Max vacuum cleaner. At Philips DA, we are on a mission to lead the way to enable a circular economy, while reducing CO₂ emissions and improving people’s lives at home.

What are we looking for?
Energy consumption (kWh) of a product is measured by looking at the amount of power (W) per use mode (on, off, standby, etc.), multiplied by the use scenario (amount of time (h) per use mode), multiplied by the sales of a product. This means that products with higher sales have a higher impact on the total energy consumption of Philips DA.  

Energy consumption can be reduced by lowering the power in different use modes or by reducing the amount of time in a use mode. For example, if a garment can be ironed with the same input power but in half the time the energy consumption is reduced by 50%. 

In this challenge we are looking for ideas that (but are not limited to):

• Improve energy efficiency by reducing the input power.
• Allow for a shorter use of the product.
• Can influence the behavior change of people to reduce power usage.

We are looking for new ideas focused on carbon neutrality, or improved energy efficiency of our domestic appliances. Proposals can address our current portfolio of products, preferably the products with high energy consumption (see table below), or completely new products. For any new product it is important to keep a clear link to our purpose to turn houses into homes. 

Minimum requirements for the ideas

• Sustainable energy reducing innovation.
• Ideas are for Philips DA products (Air Purification, including humidification, dehumidification and temperature control, Coffee, Floor Care, Garment Care, Kitchen Appliances, and adjacencies). Other Philips industries are out of scope.
• We accept ideas and solutions that are of early stage and/or with available proof of concept.

Are you a business (professional)?
We are also looking for solutions, besides ideas.

Look at our business challenge

What are we not looking for?

• Simple CO₂ offset mechanism proposals, e.g. tree planting are explicitly out of scope.
• Ideas focussing on Philips brand license industries, such as: TV, Lighting and Personal Health. These are out of scope.

For who
This challenge is for everyone (18 years and older) who has an innovative idea, students, young professionals, creatives, innovators, everyone is welcome! Teams of up to five individuals are allowed.

What you can win

• 5x €1.000,- for finalists: 3-5 ideas will get selected tp pitch their idea during the finals
• €2.500 if we decide to use your idea: In that case, we will ask you to transfer any rights that apply to your idea to Philips DA. 
• Coaching opportunities by one of our leaders: if you are interested in further developing your idea at Philips DA, you can get coaching and support from our leaders and experts from a field of your choice (e.g. R&D, Marketing, Sustainability etc.)
• Career opportunities: if you are student and your idea is selected, we will offer you the possibility for an internship at Philips DA 

The selection process

• First selection: A cross-functional team including Marketing, Strategy, Business and Procurement members will review the ideas. 
  • Optionally: additional questions (online or via email) will be asked 
• Finals: The best ideas will be invited to join the final round in which each participant will have 5 minutes to:
  1. Pitch their ideas, either in person or via a virtual call on the day of the finals. 
  2. Demonstrate the validity of their idea or solution (e.g. with a prototype).

The winners are expected to be announced on the same day!

Conditions & Criteria
All ideas submitted for the competition are expected to be original ideas created by the submitters themselves. Philips DA shall own all submissions from the date of submission to 180 days after the end of the contest. During this submission review period, submitters shall keep the details of the submission confidential and shall not disclose it in any other forum or make the information public in any way.

After the submission review period, Philips DA shall release submissions, that were not shortlisted, to the submitters, who are then free to publish it or use it as they please.

For submissions shortlisted into the finals, Philips DA shall retain ownership for an additional 180-day IP holding period, during which the confidentiality provisions mentioned above shall continue to apply.

Selection criteria
We will judge your idea based on three criteria:

1. Sustainability Impact 50%
2. Innovation Power 30%
3. Feasibility 20%

Complete conditions and criteria [pdf]

Your pitch
Idea submission must answer the following questions:

General:

• Idea description
• Why do you believe in the idea?
• How would you plan for implementation?
• Substantiate your idea with supporting files such as a picture, diagram, energy saving estimations etc.

Feasibility:

• How feasible is the solution to put into practice?
• Does the solution make sense financially?  

Innovation Power:

• How innovative is the solution in its use of new or existing technology? (vs other solutions in the market)
• What are the digital capabilities of the solution? (degree of digitalization)

Sustainability Impact:

• Product impact: What is the amount on energy reduction per device?
• Global impact: What is the estimated effect on DA carbon footprint? (how many people reached)  
• Consumers impact: What are the additional benefits?

The pitch may be submitted in free form (presentation / slide deck, letter form), but must be uploaded as a PDF file (landscape or portrait A4 - max. 30MB). Videos, example websites, etc. can be included as a link.

Timeline

• Launch challenge: Mid-February 2022
• Deadline ideas submissions: 17:00, April 11, 2022
• Selection announcement & Invites: by April 15, 2022 
• Event Finals: April 22, 2022

Background information

* Device Energy is the average energy spent by the use of a device during its lifecycle
** Global impact rank is based on the calculation of device energy multiplied by the number of units produced in 2020