1 Producing a Torrent of New Ideas (in the idea generation phase) Opportunities Insight Ideas

2 Content: Theory about enlarging (quantity) and enhancing (quality) your ideas Practice 3 techniques

Creativity The innovation process as discussed before Triple diamond process Insight activation Define the opportunity area Know your customer Idea generation Innovation Trends market info, competitor info etc Three times diverging and converging

4 Some ideation methods: Brainstorming Creative thinking games Online – suggestion boxes With our without use of mind-map tools Available on application portal of Fontys

5 The innovation pipeline: Enlarging the pipeline (quantity of ideas ↑): 1.Involve many minds 2.Sow enough seeds 3.Widen the front end Enhance the pipeline (quality of ideas ↑) 4.Ideate using the insights 5.Increase combinations

6 1: Involve many minds (1 of 5) Ask different disciplines and different levels! Expect innovation from an exclusive R&D department to ordinary employees Introduce an “idea-box” Ask other stakeholders (universities, web, contests, relatives of employees, communities  like user platforms)

7 2: Sow enough seeds (2 of 5) The arithmetic of innovation: only a fraction of the generated ideas will in the end lead to successful innovations (killer applications) So in order to generate enough success, you will have to start with a lot of ideas.

8 3: Widen the front end (3 of 5) Innovations can relate to: Technology Product Service Organization / Social Cost cutting Processes (operational, BPR) Customer experience Management (strategic planning) Business model Industry breakthrough (internet)

9 4: Ideate using the insights (4 of 5) Combine the opportunities and the various insights (even if they seem opposite) OpportunityInsights - design a new and healthy product for a target group (08-14 year) - Focus on one opportunity! - Kids want to choose their own food - Parents want their kids to eat healthy Idea: a healthy pick and mix for kids

10 5: Increase the combinations (5 of 5) Combine ideas to generate an even richer idea Example: Improve product descriptions in shops (a large information card attached to a product) Advantages: Customers want anonymous information. Customers want to be better informed Less personal costs needed for informing the customer

11 Technique 1: Brainstorm Generate an idea for the opportunity of your company (based on the POM model): for example develop a sustainable product. This idea should be based on the opportunity and on the insights

12 Creativity technique 2: Step into the shoes of… Assignment: Generate again ideas as if you were: - a technical expert - a politician - an 8 year old kid - a senior - a housewife

13 Technique 3: Follow up with the Now we have several ideas. Select one and try to improve it by using the next technique: 6 thinking hats.

14 Technique 2: 6 Thinking hats in this order White:Calls for extra information Yellow:Optimistic, positive Black:Warning, difficulties Green:Creative thinking, add ideas Red:Emotion, subjective Blue:Plan the process

15 Attention points for this technique: Select the previous (final) idea Explain shortly every role again Define a chairman (time keeper) Apply every role by the whole group (about 3 minutes per role) Make notes Attention it is recommended to make comments on previous “hats” Report the results to class