Fostering Creativity & Innovation in Europe

Damini Kumar European Ambassador for Creativity and

Innovation

Creative Behaviour

• Creativity– Imaginative activity fashioned so as to

produce outcomes that are both original and of value

(UK NACCCE, 1999)

• Equal combination of

– Creative Ability– Creative Skill– Commitment to act

creatively (motivation)

Torrance’s Model (1979)

Creativity Abilities

• Creativity definable abilities are:Independence ComplexityFlexibility OpennessElaboration Curiosity

Risk-taking Originality Persistence MotivationImagination Think LaterallyAbility to see things differentlyUnbound Spirit of MindAcceptance of the ambiguousHigh degree of concentration

Barriers to Creative Thought

• Perceptual – most common, unclear understanding of

problem

• Cultural barriers – non-traditional approaches discouraged

• Environmental barriers • Emotional barriers• Intellectual barriers

– insufficient knowledge of a topic

Managing Creativity

• Remove obstacles• Ensure goals are clear• Realise that everyone has the potential

to be creative• Put a programme in place• Make use of multiple perspectives• Allow for mistakes

Ref: Edward de Bono, Six Thinking Hats (Little Brown, 1999)

Innovation

• Innovation is– A new or significantly improved product (good or

service), or process, a new marketing method, or a new organisational method, business practice, workplace organisation or external relations

(Oslo Manual, OECD 2006)

– The successful exploitation of new ideas(Innovation Unit, UK Department of Trade and Industry, 2004)

– Innovation is the specific tool of entrepreneurs, the means by which they exploit change as an opportunity for a different business or service. It is capable of being presented as a discipline, capable of being learned, capable of being practised.

(Peter Drucker, 1985, Innovation and Entrepreneurship)

Innovation

• Innovation is using creativity to add value

“Our goal wasn’t just to differentiate our products, but to create products that people would love in the future.”

Jonathan Ive, VP Industrial Design, Apple

Designer of the Apple iMac

Types of Innovation• Product innovation

– changes in things (products / services) offered • Process innovation

– changes in the ways things are created or delivered • Position innovation

– changes in the context in which things are introduced • Paradigm innovation

– changes in the underlying mental models describing what the organisation does

• Breakthrough innovation– is a key component of the future strategies of companies

looking to achieve sustainable growth– is the creation of a new platform or business domain that

has high impact on current or new markets in terms of offering wholly new benefits and high impact on the firm through expansion into new market and technology domains

• O’Connor G.C. (2008), Grabbing Lightning, p11.

Fostering Creativity & Innovation

• European culture needs to foster creativity and innovation by– Manage knowledge creation, storage,

protection, as well as flows in and flows out.

– Encourage and stimulate creativity and innovation

• especially in education at a young age– Encouragement to take risks– Try new ideas– Ensure creativity is channelled into

productive results– Don’t re-invent the wheel– A creative liberal education

Liberal Education

• Whole brained education

• Education without boundary, creating citizens trained to be at ease with and to bring value to all sectors of society.Mathematics & Philosophy

Integration & Imagination

Arts & Design

KNOWING

1

3

5

4

RATIONAL worldPHYSICAL world

LEFT BRAIN

EMOTIONAL worldHUMAN worldRIGHT BRAIN

THINKING

CREATI NG

Language & Literature

Science & Technology

2

Worldof

INNOVATION

21st Century LIBERAL WHOLE-BRAINED EDUCATION

Mathematics & PhilosophyIntegration & Imagination

Arts & Design

KNOWING

1

3

5

4

RATIONAL worldPHYSICAL world

LEFT BRAIN

EMOTIONAL worldHUMAN worldRIGHT BRAIN

THINKING

CREATI NG

Language & Literature

Science & Technology

2

Worldof

INNOVATION

21st Century LIBERAL WHOLE-BRAINED EDUCATION

A Creative Liberal Education

• Thinking – Knowing - Creating• An education that is free from constraint,

broad in range and is conducive to value creation in the modern world.

• Thus, the graduate of a creative liberal education befitting 21st century needs should – have common ground with every expert (from

technologists to politician to artist)– be able to create and add value– breakdown barriers between different disciplines

e.g. art and science

Creativity in Education

• Students should foster more innovative and creative mindsets– learning-by-doing – opportunity creation – problem-solving

rather than just

knowledge

transmission

Imaginate 2009

• Design Competition for all secondary school children across Ireland

• Stimulate an interest in creativity and innovation through design

• Improve Ireland’s growth and future by encouraging creativity and innovation at a young age

• Encouraged any form of creativity

Imaginate 2009

• Students asked to ‘Design an Object for the Classroom of the Future’

• Submission of designs were on poster format– Hand drawn or computer

rendered

• Work with the teachers and students curriculum

• Created guideline videos for teachers and students on how to enter

Junior Designs

Junior Designs

Junior Designs

Senior Designs

Senior Designs

Senior Designs

Senior Designs

European Imaginate

• Opportunity for children from different cultures across Europe to come together

• Compare, contrast, discuss and exchange ideas

• Improve Europe’s growth and future by encouraging creativity and innovation at a young age

– the next creative generation

Economic Transformation

• Need to encourage creativity to all school students in all countries in EU

• Foster the innovative and creative capacity of individuals, communities and institutions.

• Invest in stronger collaboration, partnership and linkages between universities, research centres, the public sector and businesses and to create synergies in their activities. – Build on Europe's diverse knowledge infrastructure

and encourage networking

Economic Transformation

• The current crisis creates opportunities for reform and change – e.g. Finland

• Develop people’s and organisation’s competences to engage and deal with change and complexity and to take risks

• Emphasise the fundamental importance of creativity and innovation for Europe’s future.

Economic Transformation

• Europe’s future has to be founded on building advantages based on the reservoir of skills, human capital and flexibility

• Competitiveness will depend on merging these attributes with a flair and commitment to innovation

• Technology, innovation and the application of knowledge will be the wellspring that will transfer to the next generation the benefits of wealth and prosperity we have built for today’s generation

Economic Transformation

• Increase investment in research, innovation, human capital and education

• Ensure that creativity and innovation takes a central role in all future policies.

• Boost Europe’s skills and creative capacity recognising that this is more important for the future than concentrating on short-term objectives

• Europe’s future depends on this!

Europe Needs to be Creative & Innovative!

“If you think about things the way you always thought about them then you will get what you always got”

“To do new things it is essential to think in new ways”

“I have not failed I have just found 10000 ways that won’t work” Albert Einstein