Innoversity

Learn here about our favorite videos, blogs and different inspirational tools which we hope will make you think about the role of diversity, and none the least, the dangers of homogeneity, in innovation in a new way

The video above (in Danish) describes a highly interesting innovation project which Susanne Justesen of INNOVERSITY did with Ishøj Municipality in Denmark; a really brave municipality who has decided to turn their approach towards child care upside down - and explore how the municipality can become better at supporting the families, and thus reduce the need to place children away from their familiy. A both important and meaningful innovation project

Interesting movie about the gut it takes to be innovative, and more importantly, how difficult - or easy - it can be to get people involved. An interesting perspective on the importance of a collaborative approach when wanting to be different. It takes both leaders AND followers

Great little video about the need for diversity in innovation; and none the least how innovation is NO longer stemming from the lone genius but rather the result of collective collaboration amongst a diverse group of people. Maybe I should use this in my next innovation-diversity workshop?

The video above is a great illustration of Steven Johnson's main thesis on WHERE GOOD IDEAS COME from, which in brief discusses the historical origin of ideas and the role of diversity in this story, understood as the need for the collision of diverse hunches and ideas; and how chance - and the internet - may favor the connected mind

Listen to chairman, President and CEO of P&G Bob McDonald in the short video clip above, as he shares a few examples of how diversity drives innovation at Procter & Gamble…

Great and highly inspiring video above on how to motivate people to innovate by Dan Pink, his talk is illustated by a great cartoon which provides a powerful subtitle to the main-message: you cannot motivate for innovation by offering monetary incentives

A POWERFUL MESSAGE FROM AN INNOVATION GURU
Innovation IS actually - to a certain extent - quite simple, according to innovation strategist Tom Peters: you need diversity, weirdness and different people for innovation to take place. If you or your organisation think and act like everyone else, that is NOT innovation.

THE DANGEROUS DYNAMICS OF SOCIAL CONFORMITY
This funny and interesting video illustrates the power of social influence and conformity in groups; one of the powerful group dynamics likely to instill homogeneity into even the most diverse group of people, if not carefully managed.

VIDEO FROM THE MEDICI SUMMIT IN SAN JOSE, SEPT 09
If you have not already come across Frans Johansson's work and the Medici Effect, take a look at this video, or even better, get hold of his book - a book about how diversity drives innovation. Or read our review of the book right here

MATERIAL CONNEXION: INNOVATIVE MATERIALS LIBRARY
A New York based resource center with a library of 4500 samples of high-performance and sustainable materials, now also offers customized "innovation labs", aimed at making it easier for engineers and designers to develop new products. Previously, representatives from companies had to travel to Manhattan to view the firm's offerings. Now companies can install their own mini-labs with moveable walls to show off the materials they use.



IMPLICIT ASSOCIATION TEST (HOW BIASED ARE YOU?)
This is a great tool from Harvard University, which allows you to examine thoughts and feelings that we are often blissfully unaware off, and which tend to exist either outside of conscious awareness or outside of conscious control. Here you can test your biases re issues such as gender, religion, sexuality, culture etc. Are you as non-prejudist as you think you are? Find out using this unique tool..



INNOCENTIVE - OPEN INNOVATION MARKETPLACE
InnoCentive is the website where more than 145.000 people have posted or responded to engineering and design challenges since 2001. Amongst their many different disciplines you can search for a challenge that you can solve! When you submit a winning solution, awards range between $5,000 and $1,000,000. And if you can not solve the problems yourselves, the tool serves as a great inspirational source for understanding some the problems companies are struggling with right now.

GOOGLE ZEITGEIST - A GREAT TRENDSPOTTER TOOL
Again Google seems to get there ahead of the rest of us -and one of their good tools for inspiration is this one, which will tell you what's happening around the world in a different manner. Because the sum of our search patterns when we use Google will reveal new and popular trends. It is more fun than serious, but none the less interesting!

CREATIVITY POOL - A GREAT TOOL FOR INNOVATION
This site - called Creativitypool.com - has gathered a large pool of ideas and questions that need an answer, some of them quite funny - others highly relevant, interesting and none the least inspirational. Take a look and see whether some of these could be useful to your work

IDEA WORKOUT BY INNOVATION NETWORK
This is the place to come if you feel your brain getting moldy or it seems that your ideas are coming out like hard little cubes stuck firmly in a very, old box, very rigid box. So Break Out! Flex those synapses! Stretch those neurons! Break out of that box! These exercises only take a few minutes but they can change the way you think all day.

'WORKSHOPS BY THIAGI' - TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES
This organisation has the mission of helping people improve their performance effectively and enjoyably. Mr Thiagi himself has consulted and conducted training in such areas as diversity, creativity, teamwork, customer satisfaction, human performance technology, and organizational learning; and has published 40 books, 120 games and simulations, and more than 200 articles about these issues. At this website you will find a treasure of games, techniques, tools and methods of use and relevance for anyone interested in creativity and innovation.

IDEA FINDER - STORIES ABOUT IDEAS AND INNOVATIONS
At this site you can explore the exciting world of innovation. Whether you're a student, teacher, writer, inventor, history buff, or just looking for innovative consumer products, you'll find things you can use here

NussbaumOnDesign is a great blog from BusinessWeek about design and innovation, written by the legendary Bruce Nussbaum, who writes about innovation from a design perspective


InnovationTools is another example of a great innovationblog, with an implicit focus on tools, particularly IT-based tools - and less focus on diversity, but a great source of inspiration


IM-Boot weblog by Steffen Konrath is one of the most elaborate resources for innovation enthusiasts, with features such as a creativity gallery, a genious gallery, news, discussion forum, literature, and a wide range of different tools and methods from the field!


Permanent Innovation is a blog aring from and building on the book by the same name by Langdon Morris, but with four other bloggers apart from the authour contributing to the blog, all making it an interesting innovation blog.


The House of Innovation is a blog about marketing innovation and provides users with a good insight into what's happening in the field of innovation and marketing in Europe.


Herbst Lazar Bell's Innovation blog has great postings, only problem is that the blogposts are highly infrequent, so do not visit the blog to often. That said, the posts that you will find here I find to be truely insightful.


Guerrilla-Innovation is one of my absolut favorite blogs, because it brings together a diversity of innovation approaches from the worlds of design, art, architechture, activism and performance.