What does it take for Innovation to happen?

I took an Innovation course in Berlin and, from this incredible journey, I'm taking several learnings with me. I've organized some of them here to share.

There were intense days of content, studies, projects and exchanges at the Technische Universit?t Berlin in the Summer Course for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. There were many stories, examples, models and tools that I now have in my repertoire.

A class with people from all over the world! Turkey, Mexico, England, Hungary, Spain, Australia, Singapore… to name a few countries. And it was already innovative starting there. So many different ways of seeing the world, so many cultures and histories.

My main understanding was about what is necessary to create conditions for Innovation to happen. If common sense says that Innovation is about Technology, mainly or only, I understand that it goes far beyond that.

In this text, I explore these elements that I learned with theory and practical examples and, at the end of each one, I leave you a question for you to reflect on how you are creating (or not yet) these conditions.

Innovation is about processes and tools

To create Innovation, it is not possible to leave everything loose and wait for things to happen, it is necessary to use processes and tools to work on the necessary points, to stimulate the group, to open up possibilities and to make decisions.

We thoroughly explore each step of Design Thinking to guide moments of divergent and convergent thinking and use numerous practical tools.

One of the coolest tools we tested at the time of Divergir was the Six Thinking Hats. I had heard of it but had not actually practiced it.

Six Thinking Hats was written by Dr. Edward de Bono. It is a way of exercising parallel thinking of associated ideas that provides a means for groups to plan thought processes in a detailed and cohesive manner and, in doing so, to think together more effectively.

Starting from a fictional brief focused on sustainability thinking in Berlin, in groups we used the hats to plan what we would do to seek a solution to the problem presented.

Each round, a hat is worn (symbolically, we literally didn't have hats in the room), and the focus of the discussion is directed by the hat. For example, when using White, for 10 minutes the whole group focuses on data and facts that we have or need about that topic. When switching to Red, for 10 minutes the focus is on emotions and feelings. With Azul we discussed the decision processes and so on.

After an hour or so of running each hat, we had a much clearer plan on how to approach the challenge, taking into account different perspectives in a healthy and productive way.

What tools can you add to the process to direct what needs to be done?

Innovation is about different skills together

We discussed a lot about how there is no creative profile, a unique way of knowing if a person is creative, there are different ways of expressing creativity.

Among other tools, we used Adobe's My Creative Type Test and had fun exploring our individual skills, profiles and strengths, connecting test results with group discussions. My profile is an Innovator, with strengths in understanding possibilities for the future, improving ways of doing things and focusing on problem solving. We set up groups with mixed profiles and took into account the strengths of each person when distributing the work. This made a lot of difference for everyone to be in activities that value them.

Another exercise we did was for each person to identify their superpower for innovation. Something that each one does very well, a strong skill that can contribute to creating the new.

Empathy, Curiosity, Determination, Organization... Innovation cannot be created only with a superpower, but in the mixture of them, in the multiplicity of the meeting of these skills, in the understanding that each person brings their value and, if used well, is enhanced in the future. meeting with others.

My superpower is being able to organize and bring logic to a lot of loose things with a focus on solving problems. I'm becoming more and more aware of it and I want to hone it and unite it with different superpowers from other people.

Have you ever thought about your creative profile, the superpower and the people around you?

Innovation is about ecosystem

Nothing is done individually.

We visited the EUREF Campus in Berlin as a cultural course activity and learned a lot about creating an Ecosystem for problem solving!

As in the space's own words, “EUREF-Campus in Berlin-Sch?neberg is a place of the future. This is where more than 5,000 people work, research and study in more than 150 companies, institutions and startups in the areas of energy, mobility and sustainability – in a collaborative, open and joint way.” The guided tour was part of the cultural activities of the course and Jonathan Lustgarten was our guide and gave us a lesson on how everything on EUREF connects.

Berlin is increasingly being recognized for its creative side and the existence of this space is part of this movement of a city in constant (re)construction.

Ecosystem is the word. We learned there that for problems in the field of Sustainability such as climate change, energy and mobility there is no single or short-term solution. Academia, the public and private sectors need to work together and, on this campus, different and complementary solutions are being tested.

The solution for charging electric cars, for example, is not unique, it ranges from expensive and super-fast stations to using public lamps on the street to have more volume. Partnership with the city, new research coming from universities, startups looking for cheaper solutions like Ubitricity and large companies producing in scale.

I was very inspired to see this construction around collaboration in search of solving problems and I really believe that it is the way for many others!

How can you connect to an ecosystem around you to enable Innovation?

Innovation is about people

Innovation is always done

by people

to the people

Innovation by People is to discuss who is creating the innovations, who has and who gives access to resources. With some startup founders in Berlin, we were able to chat with a native German, an African immigrant and a Peruvian immigrant. Different experiences and different results.

Innovation by People was the opportunity I had to be part of a super international group. It was being able to understand what is happening in Turkey, Australia, China, Singapore. What we have in common as several apps that everyone is using (see everyone even with WhatsApp, YouTube and Google Maps as main apps), and also different, like cultural issues.

It was also being part of a super multidisciplinary group and being able to value what each person brought to contribute and what they sought to learn.

Innovation for People is increasingly being able to delve into behaviors, real needs, capture real stories, test ideas with those who can potentially use them and learn from it. That's what we did throughout the course, going out into the field, interviewing people, talking, listening, going deeper.

The Technology in this whole conversation is medium.

People are always the beginning, the middle and the end.

How are you bringing people at the heart of Innovation?

Innovation is about solving problems

"Innovation is creating significant positive change" - Scott Berkun

Think about how to combine: your knowledge and skills + your passions and strengths + an opportunity from society and/or the market and you will have a field to create your own innovative ideas to make a positive impact.

Among several examples that I had the opportunity to know, I want to highlight REFRAMD . We spoke with Ackeem Ngwenya , the founder of this start-up that creates inclusive eyewear for a diverse world.

In the words of Reframd: "Inspired by the personal frustration of not finding comfortable fit eyewear and wanting to address the industry-wide prejudice against people with low and wide nose profiles, we created cutting edge custom eyewear built around the customer's unique facial features. ."

I got goosebumps when Ackeem told us about the idea and this focus on solving a problem that wasn't being addressed.

Can you unite your skills, passions and an opportunity/need from society and the market to generate a new idea?

It does not stop there…

To delve deeper into all these elements, the next step I'm taking after the course is to increase my repertoire. This pile of books is what I'm going to go through over the next few months to deepen my learnings.

All these books were cited by our teacher Klaus G. Kammermeier throughout the classes and I made sure I had them to explore at leisure in the coming months. Some I already had and now I'm going to reread them in a new moment.

?New tools

New models

New ways of thinking

And I keep learning to make Innovation happen!

#books #innovation #design #innovation #strategicdesign #strategicdesign #learning