Microgaming has hailed the success of an exciting project encouraging staff to put their thinking caps on.

The Microgaming Idea Factory is open to all MGS House employees, including staff from Microgaming and Derivco Isle of Man.

The Idea Factory is a staff-powered innovation initiative that collects, filters, refines and presents ideas on anything to do with culture, processes and technology.

It was created and implemented by Lydia Barbara, Microgaming’s head of innovation strategy, and supported by 20 selection committee members and a decision panel of 13 senior managers, who decide which ideas will be taken live.

The contest takes place over six months and four rounds.

Ideas start as anonymous submissions from staff, then have to proceed through ever-tightening filters and refinement processes.

They culminate in a week of formal presentations to senior managers.

The winning ideas for the first six months of 2017 were:

lCharlotte Cain, Nic Le Merle and Geoff Walton for The Connect: a new way for staff to find one another and connect globally.

lSimon Woollams for Themed Bingo Rooms: a convergence of hosted slot games and the new bingo client.

l Lynne Taggart and Jeriel Bacani for The Health Hub: a package to collate and celebrate workplace benefits internally.

lQuinton Potgieter building an embedded AR reader into a website for a variety of uses.

The winners were announced to the company and each received a travel voucher for either £1,000 or £1,700, as well as a 3D-printed, glow-in-the-dark trophy.

It follows on from the highly successful inaugural contest which saw five ideas being executed: MGS House Lotto, EmotiCoins online slot, The Market, a New Compliance Portal and Ideas Workshop.

The initiative won The Spark Award 2017, which celebrates organisations that experiment with ways of working differently by empowering people and building happier workplaces.

A clear triumph, the Idea Factory is now being rolled out across all of Microgaming’s global offices, inspiring staff worldwide to put ideas forward.

Lydia Barbara said: ’The Idea Factory has been a tremendous project to work on.

’Watching people executing on ideas they’re passionate about has been a real joy.

’I’m so proud of everyone who has taken part, and grateful that I was able to be a part of making it all happen.’