We're excited to announce that version 2.9.0 is now available! This marks our biggest feature rewrite since the launch of The Next Lab, bringing you a faster, more reliable, and more durable team management experience.

What's New in This Release

While this version focuses heavily on under-the-hood improvements rather than flashy new features, the significant code rewrite delivers substantial benefits to your daily workflow.

🔧 Major Improvements

- Multi-tab Support: You can now work seamlessly across multiple tabs

- Enhanced Team Management: Completely rewritten team handling system for better performance and reliability

- Improved Navigation: Fixed redirect issues between "My Work" and team workspaces

- New Innovation Opportunity Layout: Refreshed detail page design for better usability

🐛 Bug Fixes

This release addresses numerous bug reports and stability issues. The extensive codebase rewrite has eliminated many edge cases and improved overall system reliability.

What This Means for You

The new team management system is designed to be:

- Faster - Improved response times and smoother interactions

-*Less Error-Prone - Reduced bugs and unexpected behaviors

- More Durable - Better handling of edge cases and system stability

Help Us Test

Since this represents such a significant rewrite, we encourage you to explore all areas of The Next Lab. If you encounter any bugs or unexpected behavior, please report them to help us continue improving your experience.

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*Thank you for being part of The Next Lab community. Your feedback helps us build better tools for innovation and collaboration.*

We’ve just rolled out a fresh update packed with smart improvements:

✨ Smarter AI Chats

Say goodbye to chat IDs! Now your AI conversations are automatically titled based on the topic—making it easier than ever to find what you’re looking for.

📚 Resources + Small Bets = Big Wins

You can now attach resources directly to your small bets. Add context, inspiration, or supporting data to make your bets even smarter.

🛠️ Bug Fixes

Thanks to your feedback, we’ve squashed a few bugs to keep everything running smoothly.

Keep the feedback coming—we’re building this with you!

We’re excited to announce that Next Lab version 2.7.0 has officially been released!

🎉 What’s New in This Release?

🤖 AI Assistant in the Next Lab | Instigators Experience

You can now chat with an AI Assistant that helps you find the right drill—faster and smarter.

• Use natural language to describe your needs—no need to know drill names.
• The assistant uses RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) to search our 250+ drill database, surfacing the best-fit options for your situation.
• It can also help you design a full session tailored to a specific subject, problem area, or goal.

Whether you're working on a high-stakes innovation sprint or just looking for a warm-up drill, the AI Assistant has you covered.

📍 You’ll find it inside the Instigators experience. Give it a try and see how quickly it can spark your next session idea.

💬 AI Chat Histories in Instigators and Leaders

You can now view and revisit past chats with the AI Assistant in both Instigators and Leaders. No more losing context—pick up right where you left off.

🛠️ Bug Fixes

We’ve addressed a handful of bugs to make everything a bit smoother and faster.

💡 Example Prompts to Try with the AI Assistant

Here are some example questions to help you get started:

• “I need a drill to help a team prioritize innovation opportunities.”
• “What drill can I use to enhance lateral thinking?”
• “What’s a good drill to find the root cause of a problem?”
• “What’s a good energizer for a group that doesn’t know each other well?”
• “Can you suggest a session structure for tackling regulatory roadblocks in healthcare?”
• “I’m working with a group of first-time leaders—what drills would help them align on purpose?”
• “I want to run a 90-minute workshop focused on breaking assumptions—what should I use?”

As always, thanks for being part of building the future of Next Lab.

On this version

• Added chat histories for ai chats in my work and teams on Next Lab | Leaders
• As a team admin I can now download the information of the users that belong to my team in a csv file on Next Lab | Instigators
• A bunch bug fixes

We're excited to announce the release of Next Lab Software v2.5.0, featuring a major enhancement to your innovation workflow with our new Intelligent Innovation Assistant.

Introducing the Intelligent Innovation Assistant for Teams

The centerpiece of this release is our new AI assistant now available in your team spaces. This intelligent tool seamlessly integrates with your existing innovation data to provide:

• Context-aware insights drawn from your innovation opportunities and portfolios
• Natural language processing capabilities that understand your innovation terminology
• Actionable workflow integration letting you create opportunities, manage expenditures, and analyze portfolios directly from the chat interface

Key Features

• Create opportunities on the fly - Simply describe your idea in the chat, and the assistant will help structure it into a formal opportunity
• Portfolio analysis - Ask questions about your innovation portfolio and receive data-driven insights
• Expenditure management - Add or track expenses for opportunities through natural conversation

Additional Improvements

• Small bet linking - Enhanced reporting with small bets now linked to LFI (Learning From Investment) implications
• Improved analytics with Mixpanel integration for Innovation Assistant interactions
• Bug fixes and performance enhancements throughout the platform
• Streamlined workflow for adding small bets as LFI implications

This update represents our commitment to making innovation management more intuitive and powerful. The Intelligent Innovation Assistant learns from your team's unique innovation language and processes, becoming more valuable over time.

The update is being rolled out to all users starting today. We welcome your feedback as you explore these new capabilities!

Intelligent Innovation Assistant Command Guide

Here's a list of questions and commands you can use with your new IIS AI Assistant:

Search & Analysis

• Search for an opportunity with name: <<name to search>>
• Analyze my opportunities that are in the <<stage>> in the next cycle
• Analyze my assumptions vs knowledge
• Show me my portfolios
• Analyze my portfolios
• Analyze all my opportunities

Budget Management

• What is my global innovation budget?
• Update my innovation budget to: one million.
• Add an expenditure to <<opportunity name>> of 5,000 on July 1st 2024
• Update <<opportunity name>> opportunity budget to fifty thousand
• Update <<portfolio name>> portfolio budget to 250000

Opportunity & Portfolio Management

• Add <<assumption description>> as an assumption to opportunity <<Opportunity name>>
• Get all my opportunities in the <<portfolio name>> portfolio
• Create an opportunity with name <<opportunity name>> in portfolio <<portfolio name>> with a budget of <<budget>>

Hypothesis & Small Bets

• Add a <<small bet description>> as a Small Bet to hypothesis <<hypothesis id>> with LFI <<lfi text>>, Outcomes <<outcomes text>>, LFI Implications <<implications text>>
• Update Small bet LFI with id <<Small Bet Id>> LFI <<lfi text>>
• Update Small bet with id <<Small Bet Id>> LFI <<lfi text>>, Outcomes <<outcomes text>>, LFI Implications <<implications text>>
• Update hypothesis <<hypothesis id>> with description: <<desc text>>, result <<True|False|Untested>>, hypothesis type <<Assumption|Knowledge>>

Version 2.4.0 has been released, the IIS AI Assistant is here

We're excited to announce a significant milestone in our Intelligent Innovation System (IIS) journey – the launch of our brand new AI Assistant! 🚀

What's New?

Today, we've deployed an MVS (Minimum Valuable Solution) of our AI Assistant, now accessible directly through the "My Work" (MW) section of the Next Lab | Leader platform. This beta release represents our commitment to making innovation management more intuitive, conversational, and dynamic.

What Can the AI Assistant Do?

Our AI Assistant is designed to be your personal innovation management companion. With just a few conversational commands, you can:

Help you with Budget Management

• Check your innovation budget, just ask: "What is my innovation budget?"

• Update budget allocations with simple text commands
• Track and modify opportunity-specific budgets. Just type: "Update the Grow portfolio budget to 500.000"

Opportunity Insights

• Retrieve detailed information about specific opportunities
• Add hypotheses and insights on the fly
• Log expenditures with ease, just text: "Add a 500 dollar expenditure to opportunity "Flying Cars" on February 1st 2025"

Portfolio Analysis

• Get quick analyses of your portfolios, just say: "Analyze my portfolios"
• Understand the landscape of your entire opportunity ecosystem
• Compare assumptions against known knowledge

Example Interactions

Here are some conversations you can have with your new AI Assistant:

• "Update my innovation budget to 50,000"
• "Give me information about my opportunity 'Opportunity One'"
• "Add 'People would love this' as a hypothesis to 'Opportunity One'"
• "Analyze my Opportunities"

Beta Release: We Need Your Help!

This is a beta release, and we're counting on our innovative community to help us refine and improve the experience. We expect there might be a few bugs, and your feedback is crucial in helping us iterate and enhance the AI Assistant.

How to Access

Navigate to the "My Work" section in the Next Lab | Leader platform, and you'll find the new AI Assistant ready to assist you.

Share Your Experience

Try out the AI Assistant and let us know:

• What works well
• Any bugs you encounter
• Features you'd love to see in future releases

Your insights will be invaluable in shaping the future of our Intelligent Innovation System.

The Next Lab Team

On this version:

• Download JSON data for all Next Tools, and also in real time, no need to reload the page to see the JSON data.
• Sign up more visible on lab home.
• Many Bug fixes including: Team Admins menu, Ai Focus Group with no file selected, Wanted? is no longer truncated.

🚀 New Release: Smarter Innovation Cycles & AI-Ready Data!

On this release:

🔹 Easier Cycle Configuration – Set up an innovation cycle for any team, any way you want—no limitations, just seamless adaptability.

🔹 JSON Data Export – Download data from Next Tools to power your AI workflows, integrations, and analysis.

🔹 Bug Fixes & Improvements – Smoother, faster, and more reliable than ever.

On this release:

• Bug fixes.
• Enhanced Integration: Next Tools now seamlessly connects with Innovation Opportunities.
• Improved Global Search Experience: We've redesigned our global search functionality to provide distinct, intuitive experiences for both Instigator and Leader modes. This update makes it easier to find exactly what you need based on your role.
• Introducing Custom Innovation Cycles: You can request a personalized innovation cycle tailored to your team's unique needs, while still maintaining access to our proven Next Cycle methodology. Contact us to set up your custom cycle.

Announcing Next Lab 2.0: A Tailored Experience for Innovation Professionals

We're excited to announce the release of Next Lab 2.0, featuring a reimagined structure that provides dedicated spaces for different innovation roles. This major update introduces two specialized environments, each designed to enhance your innovation workflow.

Next Lab | Instigator

Design and execute your innovation initiatives with precision using our comprehensive suite of tools:

- Complete access to our Think Wrong Drill Library and Templates

- Powerful Session management capabilities

- Sprint planning and execution tools

- Everything you need to drive creative problem-solving and innovation workshops

Next Lab | Leader

Take control of your organization's innovation ecosystem with our intelligent management platform:

- Innovation Opportunities dashboard (formerly Projects)

- Next Cycle management tools

- Next Tools integration

- Advanced AI Assistants to support your decision-making

Important Update for Existing Users

All your previous Projects have been seamlessly migrated to the Innovation Opportunities section within Next Lab | Leader. This transition enables better organization and management of your innovation initiatives while maintaining all your existing data and workflows.

These distinct spaces have been carefully crafted to support innovation professionals in their specific roles, whether you're facilitating innovation sessions or managing your organization's innovation strategy. The new structure ensures you have exactly the tools you need, when you need them.

We're confident these improvements will enhance your innovation journey, and we look forward to supporting your success with Next Lab 2.0.