1. Strategies for innovation
Mr. Elphick-Pooley
Tuesday 9th of June 2015
0 mins

2. Learning Objective: To introduce the concepts and principles of:
1. Analogy: An idea from one context is used to stimulate ideas for solving a problem in another context.
2. Chance: An unexpected discovery leads to a new idea.
As strategies for innovation.
1 min

3. Starter for 5: What are the items before you?
What are they and what are they used for?
Are they examples of innovation?
0-3mins:

4. “Innovation” builds on something else, it may be something new or it may be something better…for it to succeed it will preferably be both. It’s got to be something that results in improvement.
3-4 min

5. Strategies for innovation: chance

6. Chance
Many innovative ideas can be attributed to good, old fashioned luck:
1. Charles Goodyear accidently added Sulphur to rubber to make Vulcanised Rubber
2. John Boyd Dunlop invented the pneumatic tyre after observing the behaviour of his garden hose
3. Harry Coover invented SuperGlue while searching for materials to make clear plastic gun sights
3-5 mins: Chance
Chance: An unexpected discovery leads to a new idea

7. Chance Chance: An unexpected discovery leads to a new idea
Invention: Microwave Oven
Inventor: Percy Spencer
What he was trying to make: The engineer was conducting a radar-related research project with a new vacuum tube
How it was created: Spencer realized that the candy bar in his pocket began to melt during his experiments. He then put popcorn into the machine, and when it started to pop, he knew he had a revolutionary device on his hands.
Invention: Post It notes
Inventor: Spencer Silver
What he was trying to make: A strong adhesive
How it was created: While working away, Silver created an adhesive that was actually weaker than what already existed. It stuck to objects but could be pulled off easily without leaving a mark. Years later a colleague spread the substance on little pieces of paper to mark his place in his choir hymn book, and the idea was born
Invention: Air conditioner
Inventor: Willis Carrier
What was he trying to make:
A dehumidifier for newspaper factory
How was it created: Willis Carrier invents the Apparatus for Treating Air for the Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing and Publishing Co. in Brooklyn, N.Y. The machine blows air over cold coils to control room temperature and humidity, keeping paper from wrinkling and ink aligned. Finding that other factories want to get in on the cooling action, Carrier establishes the Carrier Air Conditioning Company of America.
5-7 mins: Chance
Chance: An unexpected discovery leads to a new idea

8. Strategies for innovation: analogy
7 mins: Chance

9. Direct Analogies
A biological solution to a similar problem is sought e.g.:
Velcro was designed using an analogy with Burdock burrs
Dolphins provided the analogy for military sonar
Bats provided the analogy for ultra-sonic tracking devices
7-8 mins

10. Personal Analogies
The Team members put themselves in the problem being solved e.g.:
how would I feel if I were a transmission?
8-9 mins

11. Symbolic Analogies
Team members use metaphors and similes, such as the “jaws” of a vice or wrench.
9-10 mins

12. Fantasy Analogies
Team members dream of an ideal solution to the problem, e.g.: Fireman having the feet of a Gecko so that they can climb walls in an emergencies.
10-11mins

13. Chance & Analogy
Biomimicry, or Biomimetics, is the imitation of nature in order to solve human problems.
E.g.: George de Mestral took his dog for a walk in the woods. When he and Fido got back, Mestral noticed burrs all over his pants.
Looking at the burrs under a microscope, he saw that they had tiny hooks that had attached themselves to the loops of thread in his pants.
11-12mins

14. “If you want a good idea have lots of ideas!” David Kelley
37 – 41
12-17 mins: David Kelley on creativity

15. Synectics: teaching creativity
State the problem (e.g.: how to fly and stay in place)
Use a direct analogy (e.g.: a hummingbird)
Analyse the analogy (e.g.: flap wings rapidly, times a second and the mechanics of how to achieve this)
17-18 mins

16. Task: team solution generation
We can't climb shiny metal or slick surfaces without magnets, say, or grappling hooks. Jumping spiders -- a widespread group that hunts prey without building webs -- lack such equipment, yet they can climb slick, waxy leaves without a care in the world – so do the Geckos in our homes, so, using analogies:
The problem: How to climb a wall without ropes or climbing equipment
Use a direct analogy
Analyse the analogy
Design a solution
DK: If you want a good idea have lots of ideas!
18-28mins

17. Strategies for innovation Plenary
28-30 mins