Advanced Materials · Smart Glass
A licensed technology for automotive sunroofs. What else could it become?
A global glass manufacturer had licensed suspended particle device technology for variable-tint automotive sunroofs.The question was not where else this specific technology could go — but what the application frontier looked like if feasibility wasn't a constraint yet.
Global glass manufacturer
First customer secured before end of the assignment
Growth Strategy · Future Foresight
A technology with one application — and a much larger question underneath it.
A global glass manufacturer had licensed Suspended Particle Device (SPD) "smart glass" technology in the early 2000s — initially for variable-shading automotive sunroofs. The technology worked.
The question was whether the underlying capability — glass that could change its properties on demand — had a future beyond automotive tinting.
Ignore feasibility. Map the frontier. Work backward to the science.
The brief Vaxa took on was deliberately unconstrained: explore application frontiers across a wide range of industries, without filtering for what was currently feasible.
The goal was to identify where smart glass technology could matter most — and then work backward to identify what additional scientific capability would need to be developed to get there.
Two parallel vision panels — near-term automotive, long-term architecture.
Application Frontier Mapping
Mapped potential applications for smart glass technology across a wide range of industries — deliberately ignoring near-term feasibility to identify where the technology could create the most value, and what scientific capability gaps would need to close to get there.
Automotive Vision Panel
Convened a thought leader panel bringing together automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers to explore near-term applications beyond sunroofs — windscreens, doors, and uses beyond simple tinting. The panel doubled as a relationship-building exercise with future customers.
Architecture Vision Panel
Convened a separate panel with the architectural and high-rise commercial building community — taking a decade-long view of how smart glass could address both energy management and the aesthetic and experiential dimensions of architecture.
Reframe: Glass as Adaptive Surface
Synthesized both panels into a single strategic reframe — every window, door, or opening as a potential adaptive surface, capable of instant privacy, semi-privacy, or transformation, not merely a tinting product.
A reframed technology category. And a first customer.
Application frontier mapped across industries
A view of where smart glass technology could create the most value — spanning automotive, architecture, and beyond — with the scientific capability gaps identified for each frontier application.
Smart glass reframed as adaptive surface technology
The strategic reframe — from "tinting product" to "adaptive surface" — repositioned the technology's addressable market significantly beyond its original automotive sunroof application.
Automotive and architecture roadmaps developed
Two distinct roadmaps — near-term automotive applications beyond sunroofs, and a decade-long architectural vision for energy management and aesthetic glass applications in high-rise buildings.
First customer secured through the panel process
The vision panel process served a dual purpose — strategic input and relationship-building. A major automotive manufacturer became the technology's first customer in its market, a direct result of the relationships built through the panel process.
The panels weren't just about gathering intelligence. Every OEM and supplier in the room was a potential customer — and the process of exploring the technology's future together was also the process of building the relationship that became the first sale.