Novel, Inc., Announces Strategic Partnership With University of Washington
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Redmond, WA (PRWEB) December 15, 2010
Novel, Inc., an emerging online game developer and pioneer in the enterprise simulations space, today announced a strategic partnership with The Center for Leadership & Strategic Thinking at the University of Washington Foster School of Business to drive the creation and market delivery of a new category of enterprise simulations products.
As part of this alliance, Novel will work with the Center to collect and analyze data that support the company’s effort to develop a new generation of management and leadership simulations. In collaboration with the Center, Novel has also secured its first enterprise customer, a Pacific Northwest Fortune 1000 company, that has signed on to begin using Novel’s enterprise simulations products as they become available, further establishing Novel as the key category leader in this emerging space.
As the concept of the ‘gamification’ of society-the idea that gaming is being increasingly applied to aspects of life outside mere entertainment-gains a foothold in the business world, Novel intends to leverage video game technology and emerging platforms to solve key business problems for large enterprises. The company has already completed the alpha launch of its first consumer-facing product, which provides a technology platform for the development of Novel’s core enterprise focused products. Novel is moving aggressively to pioneer and dominate the enterprise simulations space; this partnership, and the early interest shown by leading-edge large companies poises Novel to grow rapidly in 2011.
“Our shared goal with Novel is to become the undisputed heavy weights and thought leaders in the new enterprise simulations space,” said Dr. Bruce J. Avolio, executive director of the Foster School of Business Center for Leadership & Strategic Thinking. “Novel was a natural fit for collaboration, as they are further along in this kind of enterprise simulation development and in their vision than any other company we have approached to date. We share a vision for where this new category of products is headed, and we believe Novel’s team possesses the leadership and technology expertise to effectively bring it to market.”
“We see a huge amount of untapped opportunity in the gamification of business,” said Brayden Olson, founder and CEO of Novel. “At this early stage, we are the pioneers in this space, and are working diligently to forge partnerships and customer relationships that will secure long-term leadership of the enterprise simulations category. Simply put, our success in this space will be about enabling the business world to be more efficient, productive, imaginative and fun.”
About Novel, Inc.
Redmond, Wash.-based Novel, Inc., (www.novelincorporated.com) was founded in early 2009 by entrepreneur Brayden Olson as an emerging developer of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games and pioneer in the new category of enterprise simulations. The company’s mission is to bring innovative consumer online games to market and leverage proprietary game technologies for business application. The company’s first title, Empire & State is a social strategy MMO that will serve as the foundation for future consumer and business products.
About CLST
The Center for Leadership and Strategic Thinking at the University of Washington’s Michael G. Foster School of Business (www.foster.washington.edu/centers/leadership/Pages/leadership.aspx) is under the direction of Bruce J. Avolio, Ph.D., an international expert in leadership.
Contact:
Catharine Neblett
Catharine(at)novelincorporated(dot)com
208-521-0553
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/12/15/prweb4899764.DTL#ixzz18Oqf3eec