Overview

The mission of the XRCE Technology Showroom is to support and enhance the business objectives of Xerox by providing a forum where emerging technologies are demonstrated in practical business applications.

The showcase

New ideas need a showcase. Without exposure, ideas – and the benefits they might bring – can easily be overlooked. Advances in technology are especially hard to communicate. The more complex technology becomes, the greater the need to present it in the right environment.

The XRCE Technology Showroom, in Grenoble, France, is a showcase for some of the world's best technology ideas. Located in a 19th-century chateau, the Showroom provides a facility for Xerox research laboratories from around the world to demonstrate their innovative ideas in an informal, "hands-on" environment.

The Showroom has a dual mission:
- to present the results of Xerox research activities to customers and staff in a professional and interactive way.
- to monitor reactions to new ideas and to gather data for further research and development.

A view on the future

Xerox’s record in technology research is of international renown. Its research laboratories have created many of the innovations that have helped to shape the technological infrastructure of the late 20th Century: innovations in computing such as windows interfaces, the computer mouse and local area networking.

Xerox research laboratories continue to push the boundaries of technology and the Showroom provides the first opportunity to see the ideas that will change the face of technology in the 21st Century.

Technology in context

Rather than demonstrating technology for its own sake, the Showroom presents Xerox’s technological advances in a context that helps to relate a technology theme to a real world problem.

Demonstrations at the Showroom have a "real world" appeal and show solutions to genuine business problems through examples inspired from the different industry sectors and markets of our visitors (Graphic Arts, Industry, Bank/Insurance, Public Sector). The Showroom demonstrations show how individual or combined technologies can solve concrete problems in new ways.

Who will benefit?

The Showroom’s multilingual team can give demonstrations to a wide range of visitors from all over the globe. Customers, prospects and the press constitute the major part of the audience.

Xerox’s customers gain confidence from seeing new ideas in practice and encouragement to work with Xerox as a long-term technology partner.

Showroom evolution

More than 30 different technology demonstrations are available at any one time. Xerox identifies emerging technologies from a number of sources and selects those that can be displayed in the Showroom.

The Showroom operates a formal monitoring process to ensure that current demonstrations are up-to-date and relevant to modern business needs.

Close contact with ideas

During a typical one day visit, the Showroom hosts a group of six to ten people to give them a close-up of the technology and see how it relates to their own needs. Special events can also be organized on demand.

Visitors can also take advantage of the facilities at the chateau – including a conference room and a comfortable and relaxing "Bistro" area.

Every event is professionally planned and coordinated, and followed up with a formal evaluation.

Summary

The XRCE Technology Showroom brings a new dimension to the Corporation’s mission to bring technology into the world to help solve problems and improve the quality of life.

The future starts here.