A creative space to experiment with design thinking
Are you solving the right problem? In the introduction, we tried to figure out what is innovation. For us, it is simply a creative solution to real-world problems and the most challenging for any innovator is to know that they are solving the right problem. Did you know that many companies went out of business because they tried to solve the wrong problem?
In this section you will have a bit of a play! We have prepared a few games to get your creative juices flowing. Have fun!
Here is a question for you.
We know that there are many people in the world who don’t have enough food. What would be a simple solution to this? Send food?
This may be a good temporary solution to the problem. In long term, it may cause even more harm. The real problem is not lack of food, it is the lack of access to a self-sufficient ecosystem the local food producers can access, for example, access to bank loans.
A creative approach to problem-solving takes us out of our comfort zone and guides us to explore the context of the problem first, the human aspect and the needs the people who are impacted by the problem may have. It provides a framework for us to exercise patience and curiosity of exploration and an open-minded approach to problems. This is sometimes the opposite of what we do in business schools when we jump into solutions too fast based on our analytical approach to the world.
We want to encourage you to develop design practice as your innovation skill. The UK government actively supports innovation in companies and provides a lot of funding to the private sector. This is done via a funding body called Innovate UK which actively encourages companies to develop creative problem solving as an integrated component of innovation culture. We want you to be ahead of the game and develop innovation mindset that will get you that dream job!
We encourage you to just give in – there is no right or wrong, there is no winner, no loser. Let’s be an explorer for a while and just enjoy the process! Follow the sections in order – no skipping!
Let’s practice a mini problem-solving challenge. See this plastic bottle, set a timer to 1 minute and try to generate as many ideas of how this bottle can be reused! Go! See how many can you get? That was fun and I bet you came up with some really creative ideas. Anybody wants to share some really fun, unusual or even crazy ideas of reusing the bottle? Go on, we are curious to know. Share on our innovation board – Question 4.
Are you ready for a bigger challenge? We think you are. This will prepare you for the next section.
Here is a little game for you. Have a go and enjoy!
Imagine!
In this activity, you are given a scenario and a question about it. Get creative about how you answer it!
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Have you enjoyed that? Feel free to keep playing. Share with us, what has been the most challenging about this game – Question 5.
Well done on taking on all these challenges. We hope you enjoyed this section. Before we move on, take a little time to reflect on how you usually solve problems. Please, record your answer on our innovation board – Question 6.
Well, done! You are now ready to get stuck into a real-world challenge that we have encountered on our Campus.
Skills gained throughout this section:
Skill flower: [2]. Creativity [5]. Self-awareness and self-efficacy [8]. Learning through experience.
