Johnson Controls celebrates innovation through 10 years of Tech Challenge

Johnson Controls recently held its 10th annual Tech Challenge, drawing 1,302 registrants from 27 countries who presented innovative and sustainable ideas in important growth areas such as decarbonization, customer solutions, sustainable environments, artificial intelligence, machine learning and more.

This annual flagship enterprise-wide global innovation experience brings the ideas and ingenuity of Johnson Controls employees to the forefront. Tech Challenge provides several event tracks such as new product prototype development, technology and business model proposal presentations, and hackathon style innovation jam sessions, which allow employees to showcase their ideas throughout the company.

The event occurred in early June and was kicked off with opening remarks by George Oliver, Johnson Controls CEO, and Gary Gavin, director of engineering for connected products and innovation. The main events – Tech Talk, Tech Innovations and Techathon – were employee-driven competitions over the course of three days, run and judged by key technology and business leaders from throughout the organization.

Tech Talk
Individuals or teams of two presented futuristic and sustainable ideas around building technologies. This year, 166 individuals/teams participated.

Congratulations to the winners, Tom Carter and Garrett Sutton, and their talk, “Direct CO2 Condensing, High Side Cascade, MTHS Enabled Chillers for IR Systems.”

Tech Innovations
Teams of up to five showcased working prototypes of customer-driven innovations, product ideas or process improvements. 951 teams participated – up by 25% from last year.

Congratulations to the winners, Jason Ouellette, Glenn Holton and Luke Ruter and their innovation in Access Controls, Video Systems, and Intrusion Security, presenting on “The Next Generation of Credentials for Access of People to Buildings.”

Techathon
In this new impromptu, hackathon-style event with limited resources and time for participants, 186 teams worked on innovative solutions to a given problem.

Congratulations to the winners, Ojasvi Bhandari, Anand Mallinath Dulange, Gurpreet Singh and Kyle Andrew Christian – the “Tech Wizards” – and their presentation, “Sustainable Food Sources and Combating Climate Change.”

This year’s Tech Challenge experience was a resounding success in bringing a record number of new ideas forward, raising global employee engagement and amplifying the innovation culture and mindset at Johnson Controls.

“We’re always thinking about how we can continue working towards innovation and sustainability,” said Vijay Sankaran, vice president and chief technology officer. “It was inspiring to watch our employees come together and build on Johnson Controls’ mission and commitment to a more sustainable future for our customers.”

Johnson Controls celebrates ingenuity, engagement and sustainability through Tech Challenge. In addition to internal competitions, Tech Challenge features both internal and external keynote speakers who present on trending technology topics.

Planning for Tech Challenge 2024 is already underway as Johnson Controls looks to continue driving innovation as a core pillar in building smarter, heathier and more sustainable tomorrows.