Creativity and Innovation The Key to Advancement and

Creativity and Innovation The Key to Advancement and Social Wellbeing by Dr. Nalin Sharda Victoria University Melbourne, Australia Keynote Address IEEE Student Professional Awareness Conferences(S-PAC) & Alumni Fest-2010 Khulna University of Engineering & Technology (KUET), Bangladesh

Summary • Creativity and Innovation are the keys to continued advancement of human societies and their wellbeing. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have assumed a key role in the advancement of all societies today. • Engendering the spirit of creativity and innovation is more important than ever before as internationalisation of industry and education takes hold; however, social structures, and educational paradigms used in most countries work against the spirit of innovation. • Chris Stevens defines creativity as “the ability to generate and use insight”. To some extent everyone is capable of being creative; however, most people do not exploit their full creative potential, as they do not have a clear process to guide and sustain the flow of their ‘creative juices’. • Joyce Wycoff says that innovation is a “mental extreme sport”; therefore, like all good sports persons, innovators need to train their body, mind and spirit to do it well. Wycoff adds that innovation requires “pulling unrelated things together”; thus, to innovate, one must have a wide range of interests, as a corollary narrow focused programs and courses hinder innovation. • In this seminar we will see how creativity and innovation can be embedded in as an educational paradigm, and in particular for Information Technology education. 2

Presenter • Prof. Nalin Sharda gained B. Tech. and Ph. D. degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi. Presently he teaches and leads research in innovative and creative Multimedia and Internet Communications at the School of Computer Science and Mathematics, Victoria University, Australia. • Dr. Sharda publications include the Multimedia Information Networking textbook, and around 100 papers and handbook chapters. Nalin has innovated Movement Oriented Design (MOD) paradigm for the creation of effective multimedia content based experience, and applied it to e-Learning and other applications. Nalin is leading projects for the Australian Sustainable Tourism CRC, to develop e-Tourism using Semantic Web technologies, and innovative visualisation methodologies. • Nalin has been invited to present lectures and seminars in the Distinguished Lecturer series of the European Union’s Prolearn program. He has presented over fifty seminars, lectures, and Key Note addresses in Austria, Australia, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Japan, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, and USA. • For further details visit http: //sci. vu. edu. au/~nalin/ 3

Outline • What is – Creativity – Innovation • • Why do we innovate Invention vs. Innovation Models and Theories How: – To inculcate innovation – To create innovative courses 4

Creativity / Innovation • Creativity and innovation are widely used terms • However, their meaning is not always clear • At times, different people use them differently 5

What is Creativity • Chris Stevens defines creativity as – “the ability to generate and use insight” • To some extent – everyone is capable of being creative • However – most people do not exploit their full creative potential • They do not have – a clear model to guide and sustain the flow of their ‘creative juices’ Ref: C. D. Stevens, Coming to Insight, Eventually. Screenhub, March, 2007. http: //www. screenhub. com. au/news/ 6

What is Creativity • “Creativity is sought everywhere: – in the arts, in entertainment, in business, in mathematics, in engineering, in medicine, in the social sciences, in the physical sciences. • Common elements in creativity are – originality and imagination. • Creativity carries feelings of – wide ranging freedom to design and to invent and to dream. • But in engineering and science – creativity is useful only if it fits into the realities of the physical world. ” • Creativity helps Innovation Ref: Martin L. Perl: Key. Note, VIPS!-2007 Tokyo, June, 2007 Martin L. Perl: Stanford Linear, Accelerator Center, Stanford University, Winner of The Nobel Prize in Physics 1995 7

Helping Creativity Six factors that enhance creative potential: 1. Perspiration: Work consistently with creative absorption and intrinsic motivation, without burning. 2. Egolessness: ‘Lose self’ and to minimize self concern and ego issues within one’s creative work. 3. Modulating Two Types of Consciousness: a) Tighter mode – calculative, analytical and predictive thought; b) The looser mode – meditative, figurative and divergent thought. 4. Emotional Capabilities: Resilience, persistence, tolerance of ambiguity and intuition. 5. Abstractive Play: Developing skills in generating abstract thought, particularly analogy and metaphor. 6. Social Factors: Pivotal role of mentors, colleagues, managers / bosses and a field of practitioners. Ref: C. D. Stevens, Coming to Insight, Eventually. Screenhub, March, 2007. http: //www. screenhub. com. au/news/ 8

What is Innovation • Innovation implies – improvement to something that already exists; • Improvements can be applied to – a product, a production process, a business model, and even a course. • Joyce Wycoff says – innovation is a “mental extreme sport”; therefore, – like all good sports persons, innovators need to train their body, mind and spirit to do it well. • Innovation requires – “pulling unrelated things together”; thus, to innovate, – one must have a wide range of interests; and, – as a corollary, narrow focused work and educational courses hinder innovation. 9 Key. Note Address: International Conference on Embedded Systems, August 3 -5, 2007, PESIT, Bangalore, India

Why do we innovate • • Need is the Mother of Invention Competition is Father of Innovation Cross-fertilisation is an innovation accelerator The Innovation Equation Innovation = (Need x Competition) Cross-fertilisation + 10 =

Invention vs. Innovation • Invention – new concepts or products derived from new ideas or from scientific research • Innovation – commercialization of the invention • To commercialize an invention – find a target customer – application – market Ref: http: //innovationzen. com/blog/2006/07/26/invention-vsinnovation/ 11

Invention ==> Innovation • 1947 AT&T laboratories created the first transistor – patented the invention – but failed to develop innovations – 1952 licensed out the transistor, for $ 25, 000, to Texas Instruments, Sony and IBM – produced billions of revenues in later years • Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) Developed – – – – personal computer (years before Apple or IBM) graphical monitor word processing software workstation laser printer local area network Mouse, and many more. . . Yet it failed to profit from such inventions. Ref: http: //innovationzen. com/blog/2006/07/26/invention-vs-innovation/ 12 Transistor inventors • William Shockley (seated), • John Bardeen, and • Walter Brattain.

Innovation Models and Theories • • Innovation and Schumpeter’s Theories Incremental vs. Radical Innovation Henderson - Clark Model S-Curve • • • The Teece Model Abernathy - Utterback Model Disruptive Innovation • Ref: http: //innovationzen. com/blog/category/innovation-theory/ 13

Sustaining vs. Disruptive Innovation • Sustaining innovation – May not result in the closure of established companies – Improves performance of existing products for parameters that the customers values • Disruptive innovation – Cheaper, simpler (at times with inferior quality) compared to existing product (s) – Some marginal or new customer segment values it. http: //innovationzen. com/blog/2006/10/04/disruptiveinnovation/ 14

Sustaining vs. Disruptive Innovation • Some examples of disruptive innovations: – telephone (disrupted the telegraph) – semiconductors (disrupted vacuum tubes) – steamships (disrupted sailing ships) 15

Incremental vs. Radical Innovation • Two dimensions separate incremental from radical innovation: • First - internal dimension, knowledge and resources – Incremental innovation builds upon existing knowledge and resources competence-enhancing. – Radical innovation requires completely new knowledge and/or resources, therefore, competence-destroying. • Second - external dimension based on the technological market competitiveness – Incremental innovation involves modest technological changes • Existing products remain competitive – A radical innovation involves large technological advancements • Renders existing products non-competitive and obsolete. http: //innovationzen. com/blog/2006/08/04/innovation-management-theory-part-2 / 16

How: To inculcate innovation • To inculcate innovation we need: – Innovation Models – Processes that support innovation – Environment that encourages innovation • Celebrates innovation 17

The Innovation Funnel model • • • 18 Create a large number of ideas (1000 s) Evaluated some (100 s) of these Fewer (10 s) then be researched Prototype for just a few ideas, test even fewer To be able to launch but one product – Creating new ideas needs few resources; – as we move to the right heavier investment in resources is required

Innovative Courses • To train innovative workforce we need: • Innovative courses – That have innovative content – Delivered with innovative pedagogy – And encourage innovation (not regurgitation) 19

Innovative courses Innovative Program Architecture (IPA) Actions <-Theme 1: CREATIVITY-> Course Examples Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Explore E 1 E 2 E 3 E 4 Explore and use innovation processes. Learn L 1 L 2 L 3 L 4 Programming, Database, Networks, Web Services. Connect C 1 C 2 C 3 C 4 Game Design, Digital Movies, Drama, Health Informatics, Sports, Tourism. Apply A 1 A 2 A 3 A 4 Projects, Prototype, Learning in workplace. Innovate using the Innovation Funnel Generate lots of ideas Evaluate some options Research promising ideas Prototype one idea <-Theme 2: INNOVATION-> 20 Q 4 < Four Quarters > Take this idea for further testing and development in the industry.

How: To create innovative courses • Explore: – Expose students to new fields such as a creativity and innovation. Show people have created innovative solutions in the past • Learn: – Understand Learning Styles, and new ways of learning. Learn from diverse application areas. Around 25% of courses should be from diverse disciplines, e. g. Arts, Law, Business, even Sports. • Connect: – Building conceptual links between different domains is the key to innovation; even linking old ideas to new technology provide opportunities for innovation. • Apply: – Apply the understanding to generate new ideas – Traverse the Innovation Funnel from the beginning to the end – Create an innovative product 21

M. Sc. in Interactive Digital Media A New Generation Computing Course Incorporating Creativity and Innovation Actions <-Theme 1: CREATIVITY-> Course Examples Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 < Four Quarters > Explore Creativity and Innovation Workshops Computing Innovation History Recent ICT Innovations Explore and use innovation processes. Learn Mobile Computing Wireless Communications Web Services Web 2. 0 Systems Interaction Design Usability Studies Semantic Web Programming, Database, Networks, Web Services. Connect Game Design Animation Design e-Health Film Studies e-Tourism Drama Studies e-Learning Business Studies Game Design, Digital Movies, Drama, Health Informatics, Sports, Tourism. Apply Project Planning Project Design Technical Writing Prototype Building Usability Testing Project Completion + Industry Presentation Projects, Prototype, Learning in workplace. Generate lots of ideas Evaluate some options Research promising ideas Prototype one idea Take this idea for further testing and development in the industry. Innovate using the Innovation Funnel <-Theme 2: INNOVATION-> 22

Conclusions • Creativity and Innovation are the keys to advancement and social wellbeing • Systematic models and processes should be used to enhance innovation • The Innovation Equation: Innovation = (Need x Competition) Cross-fertilisation • Creativity and Innovation can be taught • New education models should encourage innovation using – Innovative content – Innovative delivery – Inculcating the spirit of innovation 23

Thank you Any Questions Please 24