Thinking about Thinking, Creativity, Innovation and Design
Classical Rational Policy Analysis and interactive policymaking are basically reacting to existing problems that, for some reasons, get "high on the societal agenda". However, a real innovative policy can only come about if policymakers redefine themselves as designers instead of reactive problem solvers.
In "Education - 21 Century Challenges" about "What should we teach children?" we posed two additional questions: What advice should young people follow? Who or where should they turn for advice when adults' wisdom may only be outdated biases? We suggested two (visual) approaches; one that departs from the current situation and one that departs from …
There is a huge difference between "engineering" and "design thinking". It comes down to that engineers are problem-oriented, a design thinker is need oriented. That's a fundamental another approach. For an engineer the problem is obvious, As you can see in the image below, it is even not mentioned at all! Design thinking does not …
A business model is a plan for the successful operation of a business, identifying sources of revenue, the intended customer base, products, and details of financing. It tells the story around the kind of value the company wants to create. Facebook that has been rather negative in the news lately. It might be because Facebook has an almost …
There is no need for inventiveness - the quality of being inventive; creativity - because everything is already invented. Thus, leave your creative thinking to some geniuses that have a special talent for it. And the Internet, that information highway, will do the rest. The great and marvellous innovation that you need will appear on your screen …
What are Social Innovations? According to Wikipedia social innovations are new strategies, concepts, ideas and organizations that meet the social needs of different elements which can be from working conditions and education to community development and health — they extend and strengthen civil society. Social innovation includes the social processes of innovation, such as open …
Nowadays, innovation is very in fashion. As a person, you should be innovative (creative?). A product should be innovative to tempt you to buy it (why?). Research should be dedicated to innovations (instead of discoveries?). Or even worse, boards of directors feel compelled to proclaim a "year of innovation" or ask their employees for …
Most people think in words. When asked to imagine a traffic accident they come up with not very detailed descriptions, in comparison with people who are thinking in pictures. It became even worse if the words are becoming more and more abstract. Words as society, market, law, inflation etc. stay for them just words; they …
Concepts occur in solid form and are often not questioned. After all, they have proved their worth and value. Concepts as an abstract or generic idea, conceived in the mind, are generalized from particular instances. The more "solid" a concept appears the higher the chances are that the concept was conceived in the …
Continue reading "Out of Date Concepts – Thinkibility Nibble"
There are several ways to design a new concept deliberately. But what is a new concept? Not many people have a quick answer to this question, other than "differently than expected", "something else as normal", "not seen before" or just "interesting". One of the easiest ways to design a new concept is to escape from …
The West Wing of the Thinkibility University - our exciting recent project - is dedicated to thinking patterns in sciences. At the West Wing, scientists dissect the basic thinking patterns in a scientific discipline. Although philosophers of science will work there, the research agenda will not be philosophy of science - roughly this discipline is …
Continue reading "The West Wing of the Thinkibility University"
Can you design something so that people stay politically engaged? How would you design a fabric that is made out of waste? What if it was possible to design a spot where people feel safe? Or a game that provides people suffering from Alzheimer game with a channel of communication? The artist and innovator Daan …
According to a Dutch report, the number of people with intellectual disabilities getting paid care, increased between 1998 and 2011 fivefold (the figures for other Western countries will not be much different) The large increase is not because more people have a disability, but because the diagnosis is now made more often by changing demands in …
Key Performance Indicators are meant to keep an organisation on track. By measuring the performance over time, you are able to look at deviations and to take measures. As Wikipedia defines it: A key performance indicator (KPI) is a type of performance measurement. An organization may use KPIs to evaluate its success, or to evaluate the …
Look at the photo above. What is your first thought? Lots of ideas flashed through my mind when I saw the organic shape but bicycle was not one of them. Arion 1 was designed by a team of engineering students from the University of Liverpool. The bicycle is more aerodynamic than most cars and the …
Recently we came across a handsome book by Jodie Newman called Business Creativity. In the chapter about Creative Toolkit, we found five tools that we clustered around the theme Change Point of View, because basically they come all down to the same principle. As we earlier pointed out each of us looks at the world …
Continue reading "Change a Point of View – Thinking Strategy"
Is more innovation needed in the social sector? Or is it better to play it safe and not take any risks? Innovation carry risks and how risky an innovation proves to be depends partly on the choices people make in using new ideas or products. A great example of how the choices we make influence …
Continue reading "Social Innovation – New Ideas that Meet Unmet Needs"
In times past there was a barter economy. Goods were exchanged for other goods. Yet the exchange did not have to take place at the same time, it could be up to a year later. A major economic innovation was the invention of money in form of silver, pearls or any other valued, but scarce …
Continue reading "The New Currency Is Time – Thinkibility Nibble"
In a Reversal, the usual supposed cause-effect relation between objects or subjects are turned upside down. For example, it is supposed that the establishment of a permanent observation post increases the safety of recreational sailing. A Reversal could set up that the establishment of a permanent observational post rightly effective decreases the safety of sailors. The …
Continue reading "World’s Most Interesting Reversals (1) – Thinkibility Boost"
Moscow Subway Ticket Machine Accepts Physical Exercise As Payment To promote exercise and the 2014 Olympics, Olympic Changes installed a very special ticket machine at the Moscow subway station. Instead of accepting money as payment, the high-tech ticket machine only accepts exercise. Riders could receive a free ticket by standing in front of the machine’s camera. We …
Continue reading "Physical Ticket Machine – Thinkibility Nibble"
