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Posts Tagged ‘ideas’

Innovation

By admin on September 26, 2010 | Category: Innovation Process | Tags: , , , | No Comments

IEA believes that innovation should be accessible, tangible, and an immediate course of action.

What is innovation? Innovation is when a strong idea is turned into a successful enterprise, which has the stamina to survive fluctuating economies and obstacles. Bottom line- it can create and sustain economy.

How Does Idea Engineering Create Innovation?

  1. We dissect and valuate ideas using our uniquely blended neighborhoods of knowledge to ensure that we start with a strong idea.

  2. We create a bespoke process for each client, which will have a immediate course of implementation that is simple, easy to follow, and fits with the ultimate goal.

  3. Finally, we create a process of risk assessment and troubleshooting, which clients can take away to create sustained innovation and continue to implement their idea efficiently.

The process in detail is below…

Idea Catalyst

Before the brainstorming process of ideas starts, there is a process of exploration to analyze where good ideas come from:

  • Where to search and where to focus attention
  • Neurology based training

Idea Generation

Generating ideas is good, however generating strong ideas is optimal. The IE intelligence generates ideas that have depth, unique value, and innovation. Starting with a well designed idea makes the implementation process easier and reduces risk of failure:

  • Neurobics
  • Observe & Research
  • Cross industry & bespoke think tanks
  • Idea Maps
  • Neighborhood of thoughts using neurological processes

Idea Valuation

Knowing the value of the idea is important to decide whether or not it is good to move forward or pivot:

  • Analyse the value of the idea for originality
  • Analyse the depth and dimension of the idea
  • Create empathetic scenarios
  • Measurement of observational capacity
  • Evaluation of potential risks

Idea Selection

Once ideas have been generated it is crucial to create a selection process to know which to move forward and which to leave behind:

  • Measure the economic viability of the ideas
  • Measure the cubic space of the idea
  • Idea Map

Idea Prototype

After the idea are selected- an experimental environment from which to test run the idea:

  • Measure the limitations of the idea by including target market
  • Revise the skeletal processing and systems of the idea
  • Facilitate an empathetic process that observes and trials the idea with low economic impact
  • Flow Map

Idea Implementation

One the idea has proven its economic value and innovation, it is time for implementation:

  • Implementation Map
  • Creating economy
  • Revenue Map
  • Business Flow Map
  • Systems and process distillation

Staff Psychology & Utility

Neurological based application process to increase leadership in the workplace.

Communication Psychology

Business  should not ‘sell’ but rather communicate with their client base:

  • Analysis of sales strategy
  • Psychological observation of target market
  • Map out communication strategy
  • Create a reactive marketing map

Sustained Innovation

Idea Engineering is a intelligence that teaches individuals and companies how to be more effective thinkers. Therefore it is essential for innovation to be sustained a long time after the initial strategy:

  • Our industrial and systems engineer conducts a productivity, efficiency, and quality scan of your business to continue to produce a lean operation system.
  • Streamlining costs
  • Reducing growth risks

Creativity in Innovation

By admin on August 4, 2010 | Category: Blog | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

It always amazes me that people think that by spending a selected period of time observing creativity they can throw out theories. Expertise can not be gained from just observing, you have to be in the field making mistakes. The moment one puts a formula or a system to to something, we create pattern and once pattern sets in creativity and later innovation stops.

Some might say this is a contradiction as I’m one of the founders of Idea Engineering, however we always stress to our team that we are creating a process that is flexible to change and evolution. We are always react to new information and knowledge.

Some points to consider on how creativity plays a vital role in innovation, please see below

  1. Imagine that innovation is getting from Florida to California, idea is the vehicle and creativity is the fuel ( fuel that is composed of imagination, empathy and observation). How can you say that one is more important than the other? Or that you abandon one for the other? If one is to succeed one has to keep putting fuel in the car, select an appropriate vehicle (you wouldn’t select a beat up car as it would never get you there) and one has to keep the big picture of getting to California in front of us.
  2. By always keeping all the elements working at once, one stays incredibly agile. One may decide to cut through Colorado to void bad weather, or change vehicle for the last leg of the journey, and keep adding quality fuel. Never stop observing, creating, and reacting to keep implementation relevant. The last thing you want is to California and realise that ‘gold rush’ is over.
  3. You cannot have implementation without creativity and new ideas. For example, we are at the implementation stage with one of fashion clients and part of it is coming up with a new economic model for their enterprise to increase cash flow and reduce debt. How would we have been able to come up with new economic platform, if it were not for creativity?
  4. Creativity is the process that binds ideas and innovation; its the key ingredient. There is creativity at every stage of the process, you need it to come up with new accounting systems, create the marketing campaign, communicate your new product, retrain your staff to accept the new idea, and even to come up with the implementation strategy. We never stop creating.
  5. What makes implementation unsuccessful? It could have been because of the size of the company, it takes years for a big company to react even to the smallest of change. It could be because the implementation team was not creative enough to come up with a strong implementation strategy. It could be that their competitors were quicker of the mark to react to change. Many reasons and factors play a role to the success or failure of implementation.We all need to get better at implementation, but equally we need to get better at the idea catalyst stage and start out with a strong idea. We also need to see creativity as a process, which some people can do really well or some may do badly, as some companies can waste time and money implementing weak ideas. It’s not enough to say you are good at creativity just because you have lots ideas….you can have loads of bad ideas.

Lastly, creativity is not innovation, but it’s the core ingredient in making it happen.

Inception of Ideas

By admin on July 29, 2010 | Category: Blog | Tags: , , | No Comments

There is merit in the article ‘Start with an Idea’ by Dan Pallotta on the Harvard Business Review of only pursuing something once the idea comes and letting the idea come to you organically, however there is a danger in accepting that ideas just come to us. Idea Engineering has a process called Idea Catalyst, which looks at ways to instigate the brain to think in a desired direction in order to produce great ideas. Reacting only to when you are inspired is less time consuming and in essence the most ideal place to be, but what happens when that doesn’t happen, or if you are a creative director and you need ideas on demand? Idea Catalyst is like giving your brain a jolt when its batteries are dead. So how does it work? This is where the neurological studies of Idea Engineering come in. We know that when the brain establishes patterns, brain activity is reduced and thus unable to produce ideas. If you are feeling cluttered, frustrated or depressed, the brain cannot think clearly. The other common problem is fatigue. In other words you may be full of tons of random thoughts, but you are unable to extract one clear idea.

Five things that you can do to jolt your brain into creating Ideas

1.   Break away from your usual environment. Go to a park, beach, café- anywhere but your usual workspace. This will break up   patterns set in your mind and give your brain some new neurological connections.
2.    Play stimulating music in the background while you work. This is great for raising your dopamine levels.
3.    Look at things from a different angle- literally turn all your usual conceptions around by disorienting your workspace, and    start to imagine possible scenarios.
4.    Learn something new which is unrelated to your field: a language, sport etc. This will help distract your brain and give it a  break from your workload. When Dan Pallotta talks about how John Denver found the lyrics for his biggest hit while skiing,  this is why it happened. The brain is relaxed and not fatigued with idle thoughts, so bang- inspiration hits.
5.    Observe, observe, observe. There is inspiration everywhere- just hone in to the general area that you would like the idea to   come from and begin to ask questions. For example, if you want to write a business book that stands out, start observing the ways people are doing business. Look into business incubators, coworking spaces, even cafés. Ask questions like, ‘do they have different needs? What is it like to be an entrepreneurs now vs. five years ago? Are there new trends?’ Etc.

We believe in the plasticity of the brain and its great potential to churn out ideas. We as humans just have to learn to understand it and how it works, so we can become better creators of ideas.

Boundaries of Creative Freedom

By admin on July 28, 2010 | Category: Blog | Tags: , , | No Comments

Creativity needs boundaries to give it direction, purpose and structural support. Sustainable creativity grows when a clear and big picture goal is known with constraints. Creative freedom gives a sense of vertigo. Not knowing where you are makes it difficult  to know where to go. The freedom paralyzes thinking, creativity, and creates a state of paranoia. The paranoia hinders confidence and the ability for true innovation to flourish. The Idea engineering team understands that creativity is important for obtaining innovative ideas but innovation only exists if the ideas are implemented correctly.

Direction gives creativity a clear path to guide itself. The path itself should be a creative process. If the path is rigid it will not be conducive to creativity and it will deprive creativity from curiously entering into other neighborhoods of knowledge.

Boundaries also defines purpose for creativity. Purpose gives it soul to the creative process. Both direction and purpose gives the creativity a structural support. The support gives creativity the backbone for it to be able to have possible longevity and sustainable innovation.

Idea Engineering: Neurobics

By admin on July 27, 2010 | Category: Blog | Tags: , , | No Comments

The Idea Engineering team believes that a thoroughly stimulated brain creates better ideas. Through our neuroplasticity research we have concluded that dopamine is the ‘idea generating’ chemical. Dopamine is a compound present in the body as a neurotransmitter and a precursor to epinephrine, which is a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands, which increases rates of physiological reaction. In other words, dopamine prepares your brain to fire on all cylinders. When you increase dopamine in a brainstorming process, you have a greater likelihood to generate more exciting ideas because your brain is physically reacting to the dopamine. Every thought in your head creates a chemical release, which leads to a feeling. If you are constantly thinking positive thoughts you will release more dopamine, thus creating a feeling of joy. This is actually essential for your brain to connect with the right hemisphere and to begin to produce ideas.

So how do you increase dopamine? There is a new form of mind exercises called neorobics, which help create more dopamine, make the mind more flexible, and ease the brain’s reliance on familiar patterns. Making new patterns is especially important as it helps your brain make new connections for quicker and more innovative responses.

Some exercises to think about

Take a different path home: The change of scenery helps the brain absorb a new environment and create new patterns.

Brush your teeth with your non-dominant hand: Switching hands makes the brain use both the right and left sides of the brain. This helps strengthen the communication between the left and right hemispheres.

Random joy ride: Taking a drive without a plan raises dopamine levels and also forces the brain to observe new environments.

Learning a new sport: Sports are a great way to challenge your brain to become more coordinated with your body and also increases dopamine.

Try a few of these out and see if you find yourself feeling more stimulated, engaged, optimistic, and creative.

Graduates

By admin on July 26, 2010 | Category: Blog | Tags: , , , | No Comments

The Guardian gave some gruesome statistics on graduate employment and without being alarmist, it will continue to get worse towards the middle of next year. However, you can either see this as a time of difficulty or a time of change and opportunity. The rules for the economy are yet to be written and the leaders yet to be decided- so why not capitalize on what graduates do best …. CREATE IDEAS?

As John Lennon said once in an interview ‘there is nothing rock n roll about doing what some else has done’. This new era of economy will be driven by uncommon ideas, creativity, and innovation. Many industries are desperate for them as a matter of fact, which puts young fresh minds at a total advantage. Graduates who respond to these needs will have the competitive edge.

Stop waiting for someone to hand you an opportunity or to ‘learn on the job first,’ Just get out there and do it.

5 Things Graduates should be doing

Create new industries
Yes, instead of waiting for one to come along and capitalize on all of your newfound knowledge, start one of your own. Think Facebook (social networks). One of the next industries will be collaborative software. There are many software developers creating new online tools to help entrepreneurs communicate and share ideas. There is also coworking spaces, which will be the future of working and networking. What other industry can you start?

Create Think Tanks with other Graduates
Right now your network of people is at its tightest, so use that to start something. Form a diverse and interesting group of people and really push diversity, the last thing that you want is a room full of the same people thinking the same thing. Push away from your comfort zone to a create a group of people that will make for interesting ideas. Meet up every week and start thinking, observing, creating, prototyping, and discussing.

Create Partnerships
Once your ideas have flowed, start to create partnerships with other Graduates and start an enterprise. Create something that is lean and can be implemented straight away. That way you will not need to rely on investment or resources. You can bootstrap your way through. The best resource you will have will be the strength of your idea and the people that you have partnered with.

Turn your industry upside down
If you are entering a saturated industry then look for its failures and short comings. What are others not doing? Where are they failing their clients?  Could the industry perform better as a hybrid?  Does your industry need to pivot in a new direction? Are there new markets that your industry needs to reach?

Move away from the crowd
Leadership never occurs from moving with the crowd. Observe what all other people are doing and move away.  Too many are going through graduate training programs, dead-end internships, or simply sitting in isolated rooms sending one faceless CV after another.

The Idea Engineering team is currently helping to develop Incube8. It is a program that helps graduates become proficient in receiving briefs from clients and being able to create an innovative result. The program will teach the core values of Idea Engineering to help the graduates build on their experiences.

Idea Engineering: How to Run an Effective Meeting

By admin on July 23, 2010 | Category: Blog | Tags: , , , | No Comments

Meetings can often be unproductive and unsuccessful in accomplishing goals. Below are some tips from the Idea Engineering team:

  • Outline clear, ‘big picture’ objectives.
  • Start with a neurobic exercise to increase everyone’s dopamine levels.
  • Breakdown the big picture in 15 minute discussion sessions.
  • Engage everyone in the meeting by asking them to contribute their  own thoughts.
  • If you are looking to create solutions and need to brainstorm, then invite people from different departments and positions to the meeting. This creates a more interesting cross-pollination of thoughts, which will lead to more interesting  ideas.
  • Create an ‘idea wall’, where employees can leave their ideas, should time run out at the meeting.
  • Stay on schedule and constantly encourage people to concentrate on solutions rather than the problem.
  • Don’t engage in emotional banter, by focusing on ideas and solutions egos are easier to control.

INCUBE8

By admin on July 19, 2010 | Category: Projects | Tags: , , , | No Comments

Social Enterprise: INCUBE8

The Idea Engineering team has an ongoing commitment to community. INCUBE8 is a free program that helps graduates gain experience by interpreting  a professional industry brief. The graduates are taken through a step by step Idea Engineering process tailored to the project, using collaborative tools and neurologically-based exercises to increase the quality of ideas and breakdown patterns. We are delivering this program for Consurgo in partnership with Bracket Projects.

Client Thoughts

Without Idea Engineering, our business would not have been possible.

THECUBE
www.thecubelondon.com

Client Thoughts

It helped turn my ideas in to reality and I felt like an entrepreneurial support group that gave people the confidence, advice and even contacts to go for it!

Celia Norowzian

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