Open testing

This is one of Google’s test cars. This fleet of hybrid plug-in vehicles is monitoring greenhouse gas emissions, the results of which are published online for public viewing. Image courtesy of Google, Inc.

Open testing provides transparency during the testing stages. Examples include tracking the performance of different plug in hybrid cars through Google, and C40 city governments. An example of open-testing, Google’s initiative hopes to educate the consumer body about the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of technology that is also environmentally friendly. The combination of social learning and technological advancement that open testing demonstrates has many applications in encouraging sustainable and systemic innovation that is both supply and demand driven.