Unleashing creativity of students

 A common misconception today is that innovators are innately creative people. In fact innovators aren’t born, they’re made. So we can learn the attributes that leading innovators share.

1. Risk- take risks. The real fun in life is taking risks and trying something new. To try and fail is at least to learn. To fail to try is to suffer the inestimable loss of what might have been.

2. Try-try lots of ways.There cannot be a thing called “good habit” in the context of innovation. Anything that becomes a habit cannot produce something new, cannot bring in some changes. The mind is programmed to function in the same way and to expect the same outcome. So there is no question of innovation.

3. Flip-flip yr plan from the end. Start with end in mind. A problem statement should end up with an interrogation mark. The question also should be an open-ended question which will lead to several answers. ‘Population Explosion" in India’ is a simply a statement. “Can we do anything for the population explosion in India?” is still not a problem as this is a close-ended question leading to known number of sure answers such as “Yes”, “No” or “May be.” It becomes a problem only when it is phrased like “How can we control the population explosion in India?”

4. Solve – solve a simple ordinary problem everyday. Moving from ‘yes, but’ to ‘yes, and’ is in fact moving from the limited left brain to the fertile right brain.

5. Grow- grow with each approach. SCAMPER is a ‘mnemonic’ that stands for: • Substitute •Combine• Adapt• Modify• Put to another use • Eliminate• Reverse. By asking questions about existing products, services or strategies, using each of the seven prompts of SCAMPER, one can come up with creative ideas for developing new and for improving the existing ones.

6. Inspire-find what inspires you.Inspired people seed the problems in their subconscious minds and at the unexpected moment, bout of ideas spring up. The subconscious mind is the storehouse of all our knowledge, which we have gained from our childhood.

7. Learn-learn more about the failures.

8. Explore- continue to explore wherever you are are.

9. Think- Take time to think.Sleeping on a problem is a common strategy successful people use for finding solutions. Unconscious mental processing, called incubation, has provided some greatest breakthroughs in history.

10.Ask- ask random people about things. Dissidents are the people who help us see things, which we fail to see, or are not able to see. Of course there are several of them doing this for various reasons.

11.Open- be open to Ideas. You cannot see something new by looking harder in the same direction.

12.Express-boldly express ideas.

13.Press- Press into an idea, Draw it out, share it, rework it.

14.Change-embrace change with an excited heart. Each day is a great opportunity to try something new and push yourself into areas that test your capabilities as well as widen your horizons. If you fancy taking on something extra special, start with the following personal challenges: Run a marathon, Volunteer for charity work, Exercise your brain by learning a new language or to play a musical instrument.Surprise yourself by doing things which you said to yourself, ‘I could never do that.’Get a new job. Overcome fear by doing exactly that. Join a sports club.

15.Raise funds for charity.

16.Act- act on innovation when the ideas come.act on it.The major issue in implementing an idea is the mindset. Five point strategy, 1) Persistence 2) Influencing people 3) Back to the drawing board 4) I’m in charge and 5) Taking systems view.

17.Search-search for another way.Treat it like a maze.

18.Process- be open to the process.

19.Challenge- find people who will challenge you.

20.Dream-Dream, record your dream, put it into action.

21.Share- share your idea with others, work together.

22.Draw- Draw out what the problem is – Draw out the solutions.

23.Pursue- Pursue innovation. Do not wait for it to come.

24.Reach- Reach beyond your own abilities.

25.Improve- Identify ways to improve every aspect of your life.

26.Dare- Dare to challenge the accepted. Create a challenge book.A challenge book reflects curiosity and curiosity is the mother of innovation. Sometimes curiosity is triggered by necessity. Increasing energy costs, necessitates one to look for alternate sources.

27.Create- Create an environment of innovation.Make it the norm.

28.Share- share ownership of innovation.Knowledge is available everywhere: Knowledge today stands distributed. So it is now crucial to identify promising ideas from anywhere before others do so.

Reading:

1. Who is Creative?

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1142469

2. 101 Ways to Create and Innovate, Annamalai Natarajan ,

https://www.flipkart.com/101-ways-create-innovate/p/itma8d5522bb4fd9

3. Video : https://youtu.be/ke8nFuG_FZw

Patents and COVID innovations

COVID Crisis unleashed creativity of Indian Researchers and Innovators like never before. Is India becoming an Innovation nation?  

Here, we look at basics of IPR and some of the COVID 19 innovations.

Business Accelerator in a Stock Exchange

I was intrigued with the news of a Canadian University launching a business accelerator in a stock exchange. Then I dig on to find more. The university is Ryerson University, Toronto incubating over 70 start ups in their Digital Media Zone (DMZ). Their model called DMZ Model has certain unique elements.

Linking Education to Ideation is the novelty. 
BSE Institute is subsidiary of BSE offering several specialized programs. See details.
A rare mix of skills and one that promises to uncover new pathways to groom global talent.  

Second International Conference on Creativity and Innovation at Grassroots (ICCIG’2012): Dec. 3rd –5th at TUFE, Tianjin (China), and, Dec. 7th - 8th, 2012 at IIM, Ahmedabad.

Pursuit of inclusive innovations today is considered not only essential but also inevitable for sustainable development. However, the role of grassroots innovators in achieving such a process of development has remained less appreciated except may be in India, China and to some extent Malaysia, Indonesia and a few other countries.

Including the excluded in the process of development has become a worldwide concern because the patience of the excluded is running out. The need for harmonious or inclusive development is being articulated by the major Asian economies like China and India. Other countries including the OECD ones are also debating different ways of harnessing the creative potential of masses to make the process of development more participatory and also innovative. The concept of the national innovation system has undergone complete transformation in India by incorporating the knowledge and innovations of common people in the formal S&TI system. There is a need to bring about such a transformation everywhere. No more is the formal R&D system considered equivalent to the innovation system. Even the large corporations have begun to look for ideas from strangers, users, observers, supply chain members and other people outside the organisation. There is no way that national governments can ignore the role grassroots innovations can play in the redesign of policies, institutions and social interactions to make society more fair and just.

Persistent efforts by numerous volunteers of the Honey Bee Network around the world over the last two and a half decades have considerably expanded the global understanding of the potential of grassroots innovators in alleviating poverty and generating sustainable development. However, a lot more remains to be done and understood. The second international conference on Creativity and Innovations at Grassroots [ICCIG] follows up the recommendations of the first ICCIG held at IIMA in collaboration with SRISTI in January 1997. The impact of the first conference was witnessed in the form of founding GIAN (1997) and later NIF (2000). Another international workshop on Building a Global Value Chain around Green Grassroots Innovations (GRI) and Traditional Knowledge [May 31st – June 2nd , 2007, TUFE Tianjin University of Finance and Economics] was organised to provide mentoring, incubation and online support to innovators and entrepreneurs in China, Brazil and India through a project supported by infoDev at SRISTI. The Tianjin Declaration for Promoting Green Grassroots Innovation for Harmonious Development was issued on the occasion [see annexure]. It commemorates the international solidarity for harmonious and inclusive development to support merging of grassroots, scientific, technological and institutional innovations and traditional knowledge. SRISTI had also organised capacity building workshops in six south-eastern countries in collaboration with APCTT and DSIR, GOI to trigger GRI movement during 2007-8.

It is therefore  the second ICCIG Conference is organised from December 3rd – 5th (noon) at TUFE, Tianjin City, China and December 7th – 8th , 2012 at IIMA to discuss:

a) How open and collaborative innovation platforms can be used to generate reciprocity between the formal and informal sector,

b) How the pursuit of innovation as public good can be blended with the protection of intellectual property rights of grassroots innovators,

c) What kind of eco-system interventions are needed to reduce transaction costs of innovators, investors and entrepreneurs, and regulators;

d) How policies favoring scouting, spawning and sustaining GRIID can be negotiated at national and international level providing incentives for disclosure by local communities,

e) How the youth can be engaged to overcome persistent inertia at different levels and in various sectors and spaces in various countries,

f) How to replicate emerging models of supporting grassroots innovations such as the micro venture innovation fund [MVIF], Grassroots Technological Innovation Acquisition Fund [GTIAF] and the social initiative, innovation and entrepreneurship [SIIE] fund for creating public goods based on sustainable knowledge systems,

g) How the goals of sustainable conservation of biodiversity, other natural resources and local institutions can be blended with the goals of rapid economic growth being pursued by most countries despite current economic slowdown.

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Tinkering lab at IIT Kanpur

Inspired by MIT's Fab lab concept and potential to unleash creativity, IIT Kanpur has set up its own version, called Tinkering Lab. Like in Fab Lab the lab is equipped with 3 D printing machine any student can walk in  with an idea and exit with a physical model. Tinkering lab is funded by DST and is housed in 4i Lab. 

Whole Brain® Thinking - Knowledge of thinking styles

Ned Herrmann, as Manager of Management Education within General Electric Corporation, pioneered the study of the brain in the field of business - specifically, how individuals' thinking preferences, or "brain dominance", affect the way they work, learn, and communicate. While at GE, Ned developed and validated an instrument now known as the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument^® (HBDI^®, and the organizing principle behind it, Whole Brain^® Thinking (WBT^®). 

This training program is available in India from Empowered Learning Systems. 

The Genius in all of us by David Shenk

The author, David Shenk, a journalist by profession digs into a huge volume of psychology research to reassure us that there is a Genius untapped in all of us. In the process he demystifies several myths on inherited talents:

• Like intelligence, talents are not innate gifts, but the result of a slow, invisible accretion of skills developed from the moment of conception. Everyone is born with differences and some with unique advantages for certain tasks. But no one is genetically designed into greatness and few are biologically restricted from attaining it.
• Talent is not a thing, it is a process. Records are regularly broken because people are training harder and smarter.
• Genes, Proteins and environmental signals ( including human behaviour and emotions) constantly interact with one another and this interactive process influences the production of proteins which then guide the functions of cells, which form traits.
• Children develop only as the environment demands development.
• Ordinary practice, where your current skill level is simply being reinforced is not enough to get better. It takes a special kind of practice to force yr mind and body into the kind of change necessary to improve.

Buy the book: http://geniusblog.davidshenk.com/     

The Future Of Innovation ... As Seen From A Risk Averse Culture

Read my contribution to the multiple author publication `The Future of Innovation':

The future of Innovation is inextricably linked to the value system of a society, and eastern economies might find transferring the routines that underlay the philosophy of western ethos that drivies innovation a daunting task. India and China are large economies, and forecast of their economic prowess vary from analyst to analyst. These potential competitors to western innovation systems face a major challenge: how to give their citizens 'freedom to fail'? Risk in innovation has been documented and analysed again and again, the success rate may be one in eight or one in ten, but the fact remains, there are more failures than successes. Economic risk can be underwritten by state but social stigma of failure lingers on, which becomes the major inhibiting factor for innovation-promotion programs to take off; it cannot be brushed aside as of no consequence.

I see the need for a major shift in the innovation programs of India and China which should focus on transforming the education system to allow children to 'experiment and learn' as opposed to 'teach to learn'. Arresting the fall of the 'creative quotient' due to premium on logical mind would become a national priority.

When could this happen? India and China have traversed the traditional road map, moving from 'learn to produce' to 'learn to design new products/ processes' and have reached a stage where China is considered a major player in mass manufacture, with India being strong in services. Can they cope with the recession without transformation? Unlikely, as both cater to the US market and Fortune 500 companies.

These large developing economies need to introspect and reengineer their innovation systems. Like France which is converting high end research into innovations in a seamless manner, focusing on strategic sectors like aerospace and defence. There is no light at the end of the tunnel for most research work in existing government structures for the simple reason that winners cannot be picked that way - only the market can - and that probability improves with quantity.

To stabilize the innovation system, like a production system or a software program, the nation needs numbers, huge number of 'creative minds'. China became the 'global factory' because of a massive infrastructure build up manned by millions of disciplined workers; the software boom in India is the result of cumulative investment made by millions of middle class parents in providing their wards with engineering education.

Are Indian & Chinese creative? Fortunately the percentage of creative minds does not vary from nation to nation, and countries with billions of people have a natural advantage here. India and China do not have to produce creative people by genetic manipulations - all they have to do is ensure the creativity minds are not shut down at an formative age.

This brings us to the basic issue of education, primarily science education, of making science teachers great facilitators of learning. With information and communication technologies, multi media content, the time is ripe to do away with text books. Give them reference books and provide them with platforms to experiment (real or virtual) to keep their curiosity alive. Give them an 'opportunity to fail' and they will pay back in later life by not failing.

Do you agre??

Toy of the year awards 2010

More than 400 executives from across the toy industry gathered to honor their peers at the tenth annual Toy of the Year (TOTY) Awards program and Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Well-recognized as the “Oscars®” of the toy industry, the annual gala paid tribute to the best in toys and children’s entertainment; outstanding achievements by individuals, teams, and companies; and the creativity and playful spirit upon which the toy industry is based.

Read: http://www.toyassociation.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=TOTY_Awards

Idea Bounty

Idea Bounty is a social think tank that provides a secure channel for the world wide creative community to offer solutions to creative briefs. A reward or 'Bounty' is offered for the Idea that best answers the brief and the contributor of the Winning Idea gets the cash.

Dare to Try program from Tata's

Economic Times covered this unusual celebration of creativity - by talking about failures, again an initiative pioneered by Tata's. In 2007, Tata Group Innovation Forum (TGIF) experimented by adding a very unusual category of recognitions called “Dare to Try” in its groupwide Tata Innovista program. Under this category , company managers and teams are encouraged to send in entries for innovations that were attempted, but which failed to get to the marketplace for one reason or another. Entries are reviewed by peer managers in ten regional rounds that are organised all over the world and the ‘finalists’ are reviewed by an external jury in Mumbai.
Read the full story: Economic Times

Brightidea products

Brightidea offers idea management tools such as Brightidea platform, WebStorm, Switchboard & Pipeline. For a demo contact
http://www.brightidea.com/products-schedule-demo.bix

Welcome 2009 year of million creative ideas from India

Innovation is manifestation of a socio economic system and in India, a critical factor would be parental support. Are Indian middle class parents ready to drive their children towards the uncertain path of creativity & innovation? This is story one such a parent, who now represents the aspiring class of Indians- aspiring to see India as Innovative India.

T.A.Vijayan is a successful physician practicing in Chennai. He had a daughter Aparna and son Anandvishnu, both engineering college students. He encouraged his children to take the path of creativity and innovation.

Aparna is developing inhaler for insulin. She has a dream of developing insulin inhaler better than Pfizer’s exubra, a dry powder inhaler. She feels that this Pfizer’s product suffers from poor efficiency, long size and is patient unfriendly. What has she got to prove that she can do better job than Pfizer? She participated in Intel science discovery fair and won prizes. That made her confident to take challenge of solving complex problems in a simple way. With encouragement from her father , she and her brother developed an Asthma inhaler. They learnt that patenting is a first step and there is long way to go before product commercialization. She developed a prototype of a insulin spray and is prepared for the long haul. The sprayed insulin was chromatographically found to be active as normal insulin. She is clear what a good inhaler should be- it should be simple for illiterates & women, it should be compact so that one can hold it in hand and inhale and it should propel insulin in a free mist to reach the lungs without much mouth deposit. Animal trials have been completed and the innovator backed by her father is ready to invest in clinical trials.

Brother Anandvisnu is not keeping quiet. He is focused on developing a mosquito free air cooler. His dream is to make Delhi and other areas dengue free. He also participated in Intel Discovery fair in school, won awards in IIT Chennai.He developed a prototype of healthy Air cooler, filed for patents under PCT and is all set to test the cooler in coming summer.

9 web tools to kickstart your creativity

Lyndi Lawson lists 9 web tools to kick start creativity. Details at gottaquirk.

Openness of western nations to adopt creativity tools is perplexing considering our belief Creativity is given (comes with birth), which cannot be improved by training, tools, techniques.
After seeing about 10,000 ideas I was disappointed at the quality of our creative thinking. It is easier to come to the conclusion that there are great stock of creative ideas , hidden somewhere, only people like us entrusted with the responsibility of nurturing those creative ideas are unable to reach them. It goes against national pride to accept that we are not creative enough to build an innovative nation. I am trying to push a proposal to establish a center for training trainers in creativity.

If you feel that country desperately needs one such an institute, write to me.

Play quotient of children

Play Quotient reflects the child's ability to get the most enjoyment and enrichment out of play time. Dr Toy, a frequent visitor to India, is an authority on this subject. Her book `Smart Play Smart Toys' is published in India too.

Techfest 2009

Techfest is the annual international Science & Technology festival of IIT Mumbai. There will be competitions,lectures, exhibitions etc. Some 20,000 students are expected to visit. Innovators can take exhibition space. Contact: Someshwar ,Manager, Events,Techfest 2009,IIT Bombay
+91 98338 25645

Maker Faire

Celebrating creativity is at the heart of innovation eco system in USA. Maker Faire is one such an event.Maker Faire is a two-day, family-friendly event that celebrates the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset. It's for creative, resourceful people of all ages and backgrounds who like to tinker and love to make things. When can we see similar celebrations in India?

4th annual Carnival of e-Creativity (CeC 2009)

The 4th annual Carnival of e-Creativity (CeC2009) is scheduled to be held February 27 to March 1, 2009 (a Friday-Saturday-Sunday in springtime/late-winter, as usual) , in the sylvan spaces of Sattal Estate, just above Bhimtal, near Nainital, in the Lower Kumaon of the new Himalayan Indian state of Uttarakhand.

A basic webpage on this has now been posted up at

http://www.theaea.org/cec_cac/cec09/index.htm,

Contact person:

Shankar Barua

Managing Trustee ~ The Academy of e-Arts

The 2nd Last Resort, on The Chill Street

near Nal Damyanti Tal / Sattal

Bhimtal (Uttarakhand) - 236136

INDIA

tel: (91-5942) 247598, mobile: (91) 9868732876

YehiSahi at SPJIMR

Arpit Agrawal is incubating his concept to help parents create stimulating home environment to their children at the incubator in SPJIMR, Mumbai. See his web site http://yehisahi.com/

"There are hundreds of items available in the market that claim to be beneficial to the child. Not all of them are well designed. Also parents, sometimes, tend to focus on just one aspect of the development (example intellectual) and may miss out on the others like social and emotional.
Hence we help parents purchase items keeping in mind age appropriateness, different skills required, fun and safety".

scratch for creative kids

A new programming language developed at the MIT Media Lab turns kids from media consumers into media producers, enabling them to create their own interactive stories, games, music, and animation for the Web.With this new software, called Scratch, kids can program interactive creations by simply snapping together graphical blocks, much like LEGO® bricks, without any of the obscure punctuation and syntax of traditional programming languages. Children can then share their interactive stories and games on the Web, the same way they share videos on YouTube, engaging with other kids in an online community that provides inspiration and feedback.
Developed by Mitchel Resnick, Professor of Learning Research at the MIT Media Lab, Designed for ages 8 and up, Scratch is available by free download from the Scratch website (http://scratch.mit.edu). The software runs on both PCs and Macs.