Recently, The Distillery London headed to sunny Madrid to highlight the amazing technology company, BQ. The result was this stunning video commissioned by Google to show how Google Apps for Work has transformed how BQ innovates, educates and inspires people with technology.
BQ is a company made up of wonderfully warm, bright and innovative individuals that not only care about their work but are deeply socially conscious about how their work can help change their country and their world. They have a dedicated innovation team that are allowed to go off and create whatever they want without KPIs, deadlines or boundaries with the sole aim of allowing that team to dream the impossible and then see if they can use technology to make it possible. e.g mind controlled robotic arms for survivors of African genocides that have lost limbs.
At first glance, this is a story about how successful BQ has been at making mobile phones, but what makes BQ and this story so unique is that they are exploring and using their knowledge to create innovative and future changing technology like 3D printers, robots, applications, body sensors etc...
They have a higher aim and a much more difficult goal than just to be a profit making business. They want to invest back into their country, the next generation and ultimately educate everyone to harness the power of technology. They are completely open source and encourage the users that purchase their products to hack, programme, rebuild and recreate. They are truly committed to making technology accessible to all.
It’s no secret that countries of the southern EU like Spain, Portugal, Greece etc have undergone and are undergoing financial crisis, mass unemployment and poverty. This is well documented in press, economic studies, it’s not a revelation. What is inspiring, is a company like BQ not only surviving in such a climate, but flourishing and giving back to its community.
One of BQ’s unique problems is remaining focussed on their core profit making business and their more altruistic higher purpose and aims. Growing with stability. The journey of their core products (mobile phones, ereaders and tablets) is illustrated in the video case study but also their ambitions - 3D printers, robotics and why.
One of the main lessons learnt on this shoot was that a mobile company isn’t just a mobile company. If you give your people freedom and support and ethical business practices and goals you get the best out of them and may even be able to change the world.
If we were to give BQ a slogan it would be "never stop dreaming and never stop helping others". Not bad for a company that makes mobiles.