A one-day workshop: Designing Innovation - Design for Innovation
LEARNTEC is the leading international trade fair and convention for vocational education, learning and information technology. The fair in 2010 is the 18th of its kind and will take place at Karlsruhe Trade Fair Center from the 2. to 4. February 2010.
The workshop facilitators
Pia Betton, Founder and Managing Director of framework identity will conduct a one-day workshop on 4. February together with a team of great thinkers and practitioners from the fields of strategy, innovation and design:
Thomas Fundneider, Founder and Managing Director of tf consulting, a consultancy for Strategy and Innovation.
Thomas focuses on collaborative innovation processes (open innovation, crowd sourcing and creating and executing development/design competitions), radical innovation, design thinking, supporting start-ups and conceptualising and creating innovation hubs and enabling spaces.
Markus F. Peschl is professor for Cognitive Science and Philosophy of Science at the Dept. of Philosophy at the University of Vienna, Austria.
Markus’ focus of research is on the question of knowledge (knowledge creation/innovation, construction, and representation of knowledge) in various contexts e.g: in natural cognitive systems, in science, in organisations and in educational settings. Markus follows a radically interdisciplinary approach integrating concepts from the natural sciences, philosophy of science, from the humanities, as well as from knowledge technology.
Peter Friedrich Stephan is a designer and writer focusing on Design Thinking: He works on various projects within Knowledge Design and Creative Business Design helping organisations develop clear concepts for internal and external communication. Concepts that meet user needs and promote tangible business results. Furthermore Peter is a professor in Theory and Design at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne and a tutor at the Masterprogramm Leadership in digitaler Kommunikation at Berlin University of the Arts.
The workshop…
At the Leading Edge Workshop, “New Methods and Tools for the innovation and knowledge generation”, participants will gain insight in what new tools and approaches are used when working with innovation and generating knowledge.
The workshop will be conducted as an open space workshop, where the different tools will be introduced in short group sessions. The participants will get a hands-on experience with how to use the tools and be able to discuss, in which situations what tool will be appropriate to us.
*About LEARNTEC *
LEARNTEC is a top notch source for information about different approaches to learning, using online and traditional media, which are both effective and free of time constraints.
During the three days more than 170 providers will be showcasing their solutions for vocational education, e-learning and knowledge management. International experts from both practical and theoretical fields will bring together business, science and academia and present the future of learning at Germany’s largest congress, complete with best practice examples.
If you wish to know more go to LEARNTEC’s website
Innovation and education in Roskilde
For months now we have worked on an innovation process with with Roskilde, a Danish municipality, together with our partners Per Løkken and Build Identity. The aim of this process is to develop a strategy that guides Roskilde in the direction of becoming Europe’s leading, educational city in the year 2030.
As an important part of the process, we wanted “the silent voice” (the users) that are often overruled or ignored by “the known voice” (the professionals) to be heard. In this case, we defined the “silent voice” as being students from Roskilde’s different educational institutions. In many cases, the future work force and citizens of Roskilde. The userdriven innovation process is divided into three stages:
Stage one, Involvement
We invite the students (the users) to become co-developers and share thoughts, wishes and dreams and contribute ideas on the project.
Stage two, Idea- and concept development
The material we are left with form the basis for stage two where the people that normally work with strategy development in the municipality (“the known voice”) take part in transforming all the thoughts and inputs into concrete ideas and concepts. Again, students are invited into this process
Stage three, realisation
Development and realization of innovative concepts for the municipality.
The grand opening
Last Tuesday (November 24) was the highlight of stage one. A one day innovation work shop were we had invited seventy students from various schools and universities to participate in six different work shops. Furthermore employees from the municipality (the educational institutions, politicians etc.) were working together in a seventh workshop. The workshops were designed as an experience for many senses where the participants through play and creativity explored future lifestyles within 6 areas of everyday life and education.
For you Danish speaking readers you can follow this link to watch a small video. A feature by a regional tv station that stopped by on the innovation day.
Innovation in Greece?
From mid July, my family and I will be situated mainly on Kythera, Greece for a period of 6 months. Since Kythera is located only 40 minutes by plane from Athens regular trips to see clients and partners while away is not a problem.
Everybody knows Greece as a great place for vacation. Simple pleasures like sunny weather, picturesque villages, delicious food at reasonable prices and a seemingly endless coastline attract visitors worldwide. But what does Greece have to offer when it comes to business?
It is no secret that the economy isn’t doing so well and The European Commission even predicts a greek recession this year. So what can be done to change things?
Together with the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB) the Kokkalis Foundation has pointed out three main factors responsible for Greece’s innovation underperformance: 1) venture capital creation, 2) legal framework and business start up requirements, 3) the relationships between the university and industry. In order to support and guide investors who show interest to the greek market Invest in Greece was founded in 2008. It is the official Investment Promotion Agency of Greece that promotes and facilitates private investment and support and it does so free of charge. They have initiated networks, services and events in order to attract investors over the next years. It seems like Greece is getting around to create the framework for innovation but do they have the potential to develop an actual innovation culture? I’m excited to get a closer view on the greek market and see for myself where the potential lies.
Innovative summer plans
Sunbathing at one of the many lakes in and around Berlin or gaining new knowledge and meeting innovative people for refreshing input and inspiration? If you feel more attracted to the second option, we suggest you join us at the summer camp at Berlin University of the Arts*
Many organisations are challenged by the rapid changes of today’s market and the increasingly high expactations of their stakeholders. To continiously generate and implement new ideas and market opportunities gives you a head start to your competitiors. Most managers are aware of this fact but are challenged in their everyday lifes because of structural and cultural boundaries.
For the Berlin University of the Arts Pia Betton and Prof. Peter Friedrich Stephan facilitate a three day seminar where Radical Innovation – design of concepts, processes and systems, ethnographic field work and cognitive design are on the agenda. Through talks, workshops and coaching you will gain new insight in how to embrace change. You will be introduced to methods and tools that can help you overcome organisational obstacles and actively and efficiently work with innovation in your organisation.
*Read more about the seminar here or contact Berlin University of the Arts for more information!
5 questions about fi
Following a discussion of how easy or hard it is to understand what goes on at fi and what our focus is, I decided to take on the role as an outsider and interview managing director Pia Betton for a few quick answers:
First of all: what’s the difference between innovation and creativity?
Creativity is an ability to change the usual perspectives on a situation or a challenge and through doing so, coming up with new ideas.
Innovation is a good idea that works. If it doesn’t work, it is an idea or an invention. In order for innovation to deserve the title, it needs to be viable (technology, processes, logistics), profitable and attractive. In this case attractive is defined as covering a need, solving a problem, saving time, opening up for new possibilities etc.
What methods do you most often apply in innovation sessions?
At framework identity we work with very different tools and methods, dependent on the challenge we have. Very often we use visualisation as a great way of creating clarity. A lot of the challenges we get from our customers are about creating clarity and overview. For this, an illustration is much stronger than words. We also use reduction as a very important tool. In today’s very complex world, reducing complexity and finding simple answers create overview. If you have overview, you can work on answers. If a group of people try to find a solution for a challenge that they don’t have a shared understanding of, the chance of finding a common solution is very small.
Managers have very little time. They come unprepared to meetings, because they don’t have the time to create overview. By interviewing people and by analysing the answers we can create an overview that can enable them to make the right decisions within very little time.
So… in other words, the goal is…?
To gain overview, clarity, shared perspectives and enable people to make the right choises
In general, what barriers do you find most important to deal with, when helping a company be more innovative?
To think out of the box, to collect the necessary information both quantity- and quality-wise
Not to work on assumptions
To ask open questions
To ask more questions
To see different solutions, dependent on the choises made
How do you/fi document your innovation-workshop findings?
We document our work very thoroughly. That is important for the next steps in the process. We also filter out all the most important decisions and key challenges and focus on them when analysing the results. We give clear recommendations for the next steps
Pia Betton
Founder, Managing Director and Senior Consultant
Not only is Pia Betton the founder and managing director of framework identity, she is also the personalisation of applying design thinking to business strategy development. As a trained graphic designer, Pia started her professional life in Danish design agencies and continued at the Berlin-based MetaDesign, where she became a member of the management board. Framework identity was founded in 2002.
Over the years, Pia has developed a strong business focus – both due to her managerial experience as well as to her facilitating the strategic decision-making processes prior to the execution of design processes. In her positions as manager, Pia has worked with many global brand clients.
Pia is a requested lecturer and facilitator. With her inspirational talks, she sets the scene at seminars and teaches at executive learning programmes. In her role as a senior consultant, she coaches management groups in change processes. Finally, Pia is a skilled concept developer and project manager with an excellent capacity for managing complexity.
Among other companies, Pia has worked for 180° Academy, G4S, DONG Energy, Stiftung Warentest, the Confederation of Danish Employers (DA), the Confederation of Professionals in Denmark (FTF), Nokia, YIT, Sparekassen Farsø and strandgaard & co.
p.betton@framework-identity.com
skype: piabetton