What’s the secret to developing a great new idea? Collaboration. Because
when people come together to achieve a common goal, the result is always
greater than its parts. This philosophy is at the heart of NXP. Put simply, we are brighter together.
This idea that collaboration is an essential part of innovation is what led
us to develop our new Smart Home Innovation Lab in Austin, Texas. Five
years in the making, this new, multi-million-dollar facility will accelerate
advanced device development. From the ground up, this new lab will foster
even closer collaboration between NXP and you — our many community
partners. In addition to state-of-the-art engineering resources, it also
features interactive, furnished smart-home spaces that allow engineers to
immediately test infrastructure solutions in an active home environment.
The Lab features immersive home environments
It’s a place where people can come together to pioneer breakthroughs that
ensure tomorrow’s smart homes are better, safer and more secure. We can
better address the many complex issues related to the home of tomorrow, for
both developers and end users. Together we will deliver on the promise and
vision of the Autonomous Home. And, as a global hub for smart-home
innovation, our lab will provide a cutting-edge education and collaboration
space not just for our customers and corporate partners, but also for our
university partners, aspiring students, and so many more.
Not Your Typical Engineering Lab
This new space is unlike any innovation lab I’ve ever seen. Staffed with
more than 25 of our advanced solution system engineers, the
5,200-square-foot space replicates a fully furnished home environment,
complete with entryway, kitchen, living room, media room, bedroom, gym, and
garage, along with active engineering benches equipped with the latest
tools and equipment, and a spacious conference room for in-person and
virtual collaboration. There’s also a tech showcase of finished projects,
which serves as starting points for future development and enhancement, so
we can continue to push our ideas ever forward.
The unique lab setup allows us to anticipate new use cases and advance the
user experience well beyond what we can normally do in a traditional lab
setting. It allows us to immerse ourselves in real environments, to ensure
new solutions are easy to use, easy to fix, and that they look great in our
homes.
Designed for Developers, Focused on Consumers
At its core, the Smart Home Innovation Lab is designed to help our partners
spend more time on innovation and less time overcoming the complex
challenges of development.
The lab is equipped to help developers address critical challenges in the
design of smart-home solutions. As a valued partner, we’re invested in
helping developers tackle important issues like the advanced integration of
technology, including managing multiple hubs, working with proprietary,
open-source and DIY solutions, provisioning and removing devices, local
edge processing and ease of use. The lab also makes it easier to enhance
safety and security, from the standpoints of physical protection, network
protection and how best to manage and control private content on local and
cloud resources. For example, developers can even explore new ways to
support fault tolerance and anomaly detection, and voice recognition in
noisy areas.
The lab is also equipped to highlight the latest ways we’re addressing what
really matters to consumers—the user experience. That includes features
like seamless device interoperability, intuitive voice control, immersive
multimedia and entertainment, precise localization, trusted networks,
efficient energy management, advanced wearables and healthier living.
NXP engineers anticipating new use cases in the lab's kitchen
But, unlike other labs I’ve seen, our new Smart Home Innovation Lab goes
beyond showcasing our own unique solutions to providing a foundation for
future development. The lab also encourages students and aspiring
innovators to work with the latest and most advanced technologies, and lets
us all preview the exciting new smart-home technologies we can look forward
to using.
Previewed on Tomorrow’s World Today
Last year, as we were putting the finishing touches on the project, our
Smart Home Innovation Lab attracted the attention of George Davison, an
enthusiastic tech ambassador and host of
Tomorrow’s World Today, an innovation-inspired series on the Science and Discovery Channels.
The Tomorrow’s World Today crew paid a visit to Austin and made the lab the
focus of the season six premiere. It’s a nice way to get a virtual tour of
the space, and see some of the more than 20 partner collaborations and
nearly 30 active technology projects already in place at the lab.
Watch the TV episode featuring an early version of the Lab
Austin Is the Logical Choice
We decided to locate the Smart Home Innovation Lab here for a number of
reasons. To begin with, NXP has had a home in Austin for more than 50 years
and this lab is evidence that we remain passionately committed to the local
area. In addition to being home to some of our significant manufacturing
operations, Austin is a vital center for NXP research and development
(R&D) in a variety of areas, including Internet of Things (IoT) and the
Smart Home.
The Lab also features a garage for creating new connected vehicle solutions
Also, the importance of the region’s talent pipeline cannot be overstated.
This lab will play an important role in preparing the next generation of
talent for careers in the semiconductor industry and will serve as an
extension of NXP’s long-standing local education partnerships. The lab also
serves as an investment in Austin itself, to help the city continue to
thrive as a global technology hub with a prominent position in the US
semiconductor industry.
Join Us
The Smart Home Innovation Lab is just one more example of how NXP fosters
collaboration. Whether it’s working with other industry leaders to define
the new Matter
standard, building an ecosystem of partners to streamline smart-home
development or fostering new talent at local universities, we recognize
the value of bringing people together to share perspectives, skills and
experiences.
The NXP Lab staff
In many ways, the Innovation Lab embodies our core mission as a company –
to bring together technology’s brightest minds to build game-changing
solutions that propel us forward.
But really, this lab is for all of us involved in helping Smart Home evolve
and succeed. Now that the lab is fully operational, we want everyone to be
part of the picture. We invite our industry partners and customers to come
work with us, shoulder to shoulder, and we invite our many university
partners and aspiring students to enter a new world of educational and
skill development and consider a career at NXP.
Take the Next Step
We invite you to join us in our new Innovation Lab and to learn more about
how we’re using collaboration to take smart home to the next level. Please reach out to us at smart.home@nxp.com
