In the future forward film Minority Report, the PreCogs organized themselves as a hive mind with the capability to pre-perceive events that were to take place allowing for crime to be eliminated. While firms usually form R&D labs to create further innovations, design "groups" have also been used to focus and develop scenarios, testing environments and ultimately prototypes of goods and services that can be evaluated for next generation breakthroughs.
MIT's media lab, London's RCA IDE program and private initiatives such as Ebay's PreViz group do just that. More the lessons learned from Ebay's group are some of the basic building blocks for the development of consistent innovations similar to what GE, XEROX PARC, AT&T, etc., have been doing for years.
These programs and the internal mechanisms used in these groups are the building blocks of a firms capability to stay ahead of competitors and ultimately the marketplace. Firms consistantly staying on the cutting edge therefore are poised for growth by delighting customers with functionality BEFORE it is even requested or understood as valuable by the customer - one of the best definitions of innovation.
