More Than A Game: IBM's Innov8 2.0

IBM has released version 2.0 of its Innov8 simulation game to help students and business professionals hone their business skills. Check out some screen shots from the application.

IBM's Innov8 is a 3-D simulation game used for teaching business skills to students and business professionals. Players, for example, learn how to eliminate waste while managing a "green" supply chain or improve customer service and maximize profits while running a call center. Based on advanced commercial gaming technologies, Innov8 helps players visualize how technology and business strategies can affect an organization's performance.





In the last year, more than 100 universities, including Duquesne University and the University of Southern California, have worked with IBM to add Innov8 to their business school curricula. Several major U.S. companies (which IBM can't name) and IBM business partners are already using the system. And by 2012, more than 100 of the world's 500 largest corporations will be using scenario games for training, according to the Apply Group.

Innov8 v.2, scheduled for availability in May, is a complete redesign of the game and adds a global collaboration feature that players use to work with virtual teammates to progress to the game's higher levels. Players collaborate to map out business processes, identify process bottlenecks and explore what-if scenarios. Some parts of the game, which even has heroes and villains, use Second Life-like graphics as seen here.





A 2008 study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation found that game scenarios were a highly effective way to teach leadership, project management, innovation and entrepreneurship skills. Students taught using game scenarios were far more likely to retain what they learned than those taught using traditional lectures and case-study methods.

Players use drag-and-drop graphics to advance through the game. Here, players make decisions as they seek more efficient ways to manage a call center and respond to customers. In addition to the call center and supply chain game scenarios, IBM has developed an Innov8 scenario that helps players evaluate city traffic patterns and reroute traffic based on sensor data about accidents and roadway congestion.





IBM offers Innov8 and associated materials for free to schools and IBM intends to make the new release freely available for businesses as well. While early versions of the game were available only on CD, IBM is delivering Innov8 v.2 via Web download. A demo can be found here.