News

Connected Home Research Council launches ‘It’s the Magic Thing’ research project into the future of the digital home (16/7/2009)

The Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA), through its Connected Home Research Council, is launching a groundbreaking research project to explore what the future will look like in the digital home. Through a collaborative process, the primary objective of the research project, entitled ‘It’s the Magic Thing’, will be to evaluate future connected home technology and connectivity solutions that enhance quality of life. The research will identify gaps between consumer wants and existing technology, in an effort to translate these gaps into future wants.

“The goal of this project will be to develop new technological concepts, or ‘magic things’, that will completely redefine how families interact with technology in the home and create new opportunities for companies to capitalize on a new array of consumer-driven products and services,” stated Carol Priefert, senior manager at Whirlpool Corporation and Past-Chair of CABA’s Connected Home Research Council. “The study will determine what consumers want instead of what technology can do, and will then map out what future home technologies will look like in 10 to 15 years.”

Whirlpool Corporation, Texas Instruments, Tyco Electronics and Direct Energy have agreed to work together on this research project, which will take a “green field” approach to product and service development. A “green field” project can be described as research that lacks any constraints imposed by prior research projects. POCO Labs is conducting the research. The research participants will first evaluate applicable technologies including evolving infrastructure and platform capabilities, device and hardware opportunities and managed services that could impact the home. Participants will then share applicable research findings from their own endeavors and from past CABA research projects. Based on these findings, the organizations will ideate and discuss potential future products and services, in order to create new recommendations for digital home concepts. These resulting recommendations will then be selected by the research participants to be developed into working prototypes.

“CABA is proud to be engaged in a new collaborative, actionable research project that pushes the boundaries for developing new technologies in the home,” stated Ronald J. Zimmer, CABA President & CEO. “At the conclusion of this project, we expect to gain great insight into how the North American home of the future will look, work and function.”

www.caba.org/connectedhome