One of the common themes from the workshops is the opportunity to provide space and time for innovation, a sandbox hub for networking, learning and experimenting. It set me thinking, what would it actually look like? I am a visual thinker and learner and sometimes can’t understand a concept without a picture next to it. Then I found this link: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/146/the-idea-lab.html
Stanford’s Design School “idea lab”….. And my logical thinking kicked in and I can see the concept but how could it work in reality? Who would run it? Does it need organisation? Structure? How would you know who was working with what and whom? How would you match common interest groups? How would you deal with knowledge transfer?
Surely the pure concept of an innovation sandbox would be to create space (and time) for thinking and playing to include anyone who wants to take part i.e. a history student looking at new forms of social media with a lecturer in Maths and Stats a Phd Modern Languages student and an administrator from the library – why not? Technology is moving far beyond the technical scientific sphere it once inhabited and is now more accessible and open to all for experimentation.
But I don’t quite get how you would control something this organic whilst allowing freedom to fail. Am I way off the mark?
I think this would be really beneficial. I suspect that time is more of an issue than space.
Maybe Google’s model/philosophy of 20% projects might be a good starting point? (although I doubt many could give 20%). Maybe we could start with 10%?
People will bring their own knowledge and expertise to the table while at the same time hopefully expanding their outlook and skill set.
When people are given the freedom to work on projects/ideas outside of their day to day subject/role there is nearly always cross fertilisation. Not only providing positives for the projects but also positives for the participants.
Maybe have ‘show and tell’ sessions every x weeks/months.
Google must have ways of deciding which of their 20% projects are progressed and which ones dropped (but still used as a good learning experience in the process).
I think that time is part of the problem, but the other issues are the ‘space’, and the ‘network’? How do you get these people together? It could be in a physical space, or it could be virtual. How do you identify the people who would benefit from, or give to, the meeting/network?
Over the years I have worked in a number of universities and departments that had ‘mixers’, where people could meet and discuss problems and ideas, but it is some thing that is very difficult to start, and to keep going.
The University should be a place that encourages free thinking in all of its members. When nurtured properly this can lead to great job satisfaction and greater productivity.