DAILY INNOVATION BRIEF BY MARYANNE KANE, JOURNALIST

  MERCEDES "SCUPTURE ON WHEELS" G-WAGEN

                                        Source:  Mercedes

• At the 2023 London Fashion Week, Mercedes and French luxury fashion brand Moncler debuted their unique, winter-ready 4x4 - Project Mondo G or the G-Wagen
• Mercedes calls the vehicle resulting from their 1-year collaboration with Moncler "a sculpture on wheels", which combines luxury motors with luxury fabric
• The G-Wagen is a 3-door, 4x4 SUV that is more of a work of art than a functional vehicle
• This is a huge SUV that's over 9 feet tall and 11 feet wide
• The vehicle has a removable top and the wheels are composed of Moncler's trademark fabric
• Mercedes calls the G-Wagen a work of art, molding the "strong geometry of the G-Class with organic forms of Moncler's puffed jackets"
• It is not known yet if a form of this radical car prototype will go into production but there is widespread belief that Mercedes will produce a "Mini-G", possibly the Ener-G-Force concept, for 2026.

CHATTANOOGA IS A VERY SMART LIDAR CITY

                                  Source: City of Chattanooga

• Chattanooga, Tennessee is deploying the biggest Lidar sensor infrastructure project on its city streets ever seen in the United States
• The city is leading the way in the use of Lidar technology on a big scale to provide vastly improved traffic flow management and to make city street intersections safer for cars, trucks, bikes and pedestrians
• Lidar is a new and rapidly developing technology that is usually used in self-driving cars to prevent and avoid collisions 
• In partnership with the US Department of Transportation, Chattanooga is installing Lidar sensors in 86 intersections around the city
• Seoul Robotics is installing the Lidar sensors and they call it the largest scale project of its kind
• If the Chattanooga project proves to be successful, the strategy and system could be deployable around the US and possibly many parts of the world
• This Lidar project could make Chattanooga the Smartest City for traffic flow management in the US and perhaps the world.

GUESS WHAT! THE 4-DAY WORK-WEEK WORKS WELL

                                                                Source:  Stock Image of Workers

• A first-of-its-kind UK research study demonstrates that the 4-day work week is a winner for companies and employees
• In fact, the UK study proved that the 4-day work week outperforms the traditional 5-day work week
• In the just released study, 60 companies and more than 3,000 employees participated in the shortened work week project for six months from June through December 2022
• The employees worked 4 days instead of 5 days at the same pay
• 90% of the participating companies liked the results so much, they are keeping the experiment going
• Many companies experienced higher revenues and lower staff turnover
• A number of the 60 companies are making the 4-day work week permanent
• This is said to be the biggest trial of a 4-day work week ever documented by researchers for results and it does validate the efficacy of the shorter work week.

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