Creating a community of inventors

Introduction

Inventors are not born, they are created. They come from a community where ideas and innovations have room to grow and be noticed. The most important part of this process is making sure that everyone can participate in the inventing process at their own level.

?? Make sure the community is diverse.

One of the most important things you can do to create an innovative community is to make sure it is diverse. Diversity is critical for innovation; it's not enough to simply have a bunch of people coming together and trying to solve problems. You need diversity in ideas, backgrounds, gender, age, skills and abilities, interests, personality types (even within one person), experiences that may be foreign or strange from your own culture's perspective but which are nevertheless interesting—and then some more diversity after that!

One of the most important things you can do to create an innovative community is to make sure it is diverse

The point here is that when you mix people from vastly different cultures together with those from similar ones (or just similar), then their differences will help them learn from each other—but also teach others about their cultures if they choose to share them with everyone else in the group.

The key is finding ways for everyone involved to benefit by sharing their knowledge bases with one another without feeling threatened by being exposed as less knowledgeable than another person. That might be at something specific like cooking or sewing clothes, or whatever else comes up during such interactions between individuals who don't know each other well yet, but hope someday soon they might become friends because they share common interests/values/goals while having nothing else really tying them together. Maybe they may just want something different from life than what society expects us all to strive toward achieving something meaningful during our life journey.

These elements were behind our recent initiative called FIFI (Female Inventors of the Future Initiative), that was awarded Best Digital Solution in Finland during the last WSA .

?? Make sure that it is open to everyone.

The next step is to make sure that your community is open to everyone. You want people to feel comfortable expressing themselves, so you can't have any requirements that might discourage someone from participating in the community or even just experiencing it.

• No age restrictions: If you create an online community for inventors, don't make it exclusive only for those over 18 years old. Some of the most brilliant minds in history were young when they created their first invention—like Thomas Edison and Marie Curie (she was 36 when she won her first Nobel Prize).
• No gender restrictions: Don't limit your users based on their gender identity or presentation, as there are many people who identify as male who like things traditionally associated with female spaces (e.g., pink), while some people who identify as female prefer masculine aesthetics and activities like playing video games rather than sewing crafts together during Sunday afternoon tea parties.
• No social constructs or nationality restrictions: Some groups may think it's okay if their members come from certain countries or ethnicities but not others—they may even actively discriminate against certain groups on purpose! This kind of discrimination is morally wrong and will destroy any community within which it occurs because no one wants to spend time around people who only care about themselves instead of helping others succeed at whatever they're working towards achieving together.

?? Make sure that it is safe and has a minimal level of supervision.

You should also make sure that it is safe and has a minimal level of supervision. Safety is important because you don't want anyone getting hurt, so it's your responsibility to ensure that everyone stays safe while they're playing around with their inventions. The best way to do this is by having the kids wear protective gear (helmets, goggles, etc.) when they are working on projects where there's a chance for injury (like building robots).

You should also supervise the adults who are working so that if something goes wrong, someone can step in immediately and correct it before any serious harm occurs. This could mean stopping an adult from doing something dangerous or taking away materials if you think it's necessary for safety reasons. Remember: Your goal as an inventor-mentor should be making sure everyone has fun while learning how things work. Naturally, these don't apply when you are simply in the ideation process with pen and paper!

?? You need a collection of parts and tools.

When you're trying to build a community of inventors, you need a collection of parts and tools. This can be challenging, since the parts and tools aren't always easy to find or use, but if you do it right, your inventors will be able to create some pretty amazing things.

Here are some tips for creating a great collection:

• You need a wide variety of parts and tools. There's no point in having only one kind of screwdriver if your inventor is going to need several different types for their projects. But don't go overboard either—if there are too many options, it'll be hard for them to choose just one. Naturally, when thinking about an idea or invention, the best tool is the pencil first, of course! You need to be able to imagine it and draw it.
• The tools should be easy-to-use as well as easy-to-get-to and easy-to clean up afterwards (so no sharp edges). And they should preferably not take up too much space so you don't have trouble storing them all on shelves or under desks where people can find them easily when needed during an emergency situation like "I'm getting hungry" or "Someone needs help making something".

?? You need a way for people to share ideas, designs and prototypes physically as well as digitally.

You need a way for people to share ideas, designs and prototypes physically as well as digitally. When you are working on your own project, it is easy to get stuck in the idea that you can only work alone. If there were other people with similar interests, you might be able to call them up and ask their opinion. But how do you find those people?

The solution is simple: create a community of inventors! You will want some kind of physical space where inventors can meet each other and share their ideas, designs or prototypes with each other in person. This could be at your house if there's room for guests (or if it's easier for everyone), or a studio. It could also be at an existing venue like a library or coffee shop—these places have plenty of free parking too! But mind about confidentiality of ideas when you are in public spaces!

?? Creation comes in many forms, help people find and define their own mediums for expressing their creations.

As a creator, you should help people find and define their own mediums for expressing their creations. This can be done in several ways.

• By providing the (digital) tools necessary to allow users to express themselves in whatever way they want
• By helping users find inspiration from other artists and inventors who came before them
• By providing guidelines on how to approach creation with an open mind

?? If you want innovation, you need a community where it can flourish.

Innovation happens when people share ideas. The more people you have, the more ideas you have. The more ideas you have, the more innovation rises. Innovation is a social process; it requires collaboration and interaction with others to create new things.

Innovation is a social process; it requires collaboration and interaction with others to create new things.

Conclusion

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to how you can create an innovation community, but there are some great places to start. You need a diverse group of people, who are able to share ideas and prototypes with each other freely. You also need tools and parts for people to work with and access easily. Finally, give people a way for them to share their creations both physically and digitally so that they feel free from social pressures when sharing their ideas or even just looking at other people.

Located in Finland, our company,?The Adjacent Possible,?is about creating?positive sum games. We do this by leveraging technology and creativity. Our unique contribution to the ecosystems we collaborate with is organic growth. We provide expertise, tools, an entire intellectual property pipeline to guide and support inventors from the idea generation to the creation of a solution and/or the filing of a patent. We are an Open Innovation Studio and we enable the business of the future. We are The Adjacent Possible.