B2UXLAB – Business to User Experience Lab

Within the scope of the High Performance Center Mass Personalization, the term Business to User (B2U) was created in addition to the classical terms Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Customer (B2C). B2U describes the shift towards absolute user-centricity and this is exactly where the B2UXLAB comes in. Novel concepts can be validated and tested at an early stage. Not only technical parameters, but also user experience and the general evaluation and acceptance by users and user groups are examined.

Early validation can save immense costs when it comes to product development, marketing, sales, production and logistics. The B2UXLAB aims to put products and services through their paces before launching them on the market at high cost.

In addition to Fraunhofer IBP’s expertise, through being embedded in the High Performance Center Mass Personalization structure, the B2UXLAB offers access to the know-how of the Fraunhofer Institutes IGB, IAO and IPA as well as of the University of Stuttgart. However, the neutral terrain is also suitable for involving innovative external partners from the business world.

The laboratory area offers space for experiments, but also for events such as workshops or training courses. This makes it possible to include sales staff, product developers or managers in decision-making and development processes, for example.

The B2UXLAB can be understood as an interface between physical and psychological objects. In it, real things can be created, touched and tested - but processes, interfaces and methods can also be prototyped and validated. Why write complex software if a dummy can be used to determine at an early stage whether the product or service is of interest to the intended target group? Mixed reality applications also link the real world with the virtual world. Here we want to provide inspiration and present opportunities for innovative and forward-looking technologies.

Besides validating innovative ideas at an early stage, the B2UXLAB also focuses on networking different disciplines. All of Fraunhofer IBP’s expertise and fields of work are brought together and networked here. Furthermore, the expertise of the Fraunhofer Institutes (IGB, IAO, IPA) and the University of Stuttgart attached to the High Performance Center can be drawn upon. In this way, individual teams of experts can be put together for each validation task. It goes without saying that all resources which are relevant to the customer are involved in the process.