idea factory workshop

Idea-Factory

Program

Step 0: individual idea generation (incubation)

Step 1: small group interaction (build on)

Step 2: intervention (widen views)

Step 3: sharing ideas (broadcasting)

Step 4: sense-making (clusters)

Step 5: focus & develop

Step 6: present & vote

Step 0: individual idea generation (incubation)

Participants take home the question: “what will the

Internet be used for in 20 years?”

They ponder this question for 7 days individually,

together with the accompanying question: “what do you

use the Internet for today?”

Participants are 16 last-year students of Industrial

Design & Engineering (Industrial/IT). Average age: 22.

Activity is part of their Innovation course.

Sample responses:● Instant shopping: Reconstitution of purchased items on 3D home printers, hologram shopping centers online with full global catalogues, online fitting and test rooms of items with augmented reality and tangible holograms where people can try out what they will buy, showrooms that enter a personal preference database and shows the customer worldwide offers and discounts on items focused on personal tastes and preferences.●Communication: augmented reality rooms where people far away from each other can interact in a personalized environment with tangible virtual objects, neural gadgets where people can receive instant voicemails or have conversations without the need of an electronic device, wireless webcams that could life stream exactly what other people is watching, feeling and hearing to another person far away.●Business: electronic avatar robots controllable online that people can rent to do something somewhere else without having to be present, tactile screen tables where people can interact with files and images at the same time in two different places.

Step 1: small group interaction (build on)

“World Café” activity (http://www.theworldcafe.com)

Participants share, clarify and build on each others'

ideas in rapid sessions where teams are shuffled every

5 minutes and a leader makes notes that are presented

once all participants have participated in most teams

You may read these guidelines to formulate questions:

Step 2: intervention (widen views)

Workshop organiser gives a 10-minute presentation in

order to give some perspective, widen the issues at

hand and complement the World Café's results.

Ideas presented here include: Internet for development,

future of semantic web, intelligent/creative online

agents, future hardware devices, knowledge society...

Step 3: sharing ideas (broadcasting)

Participants are given 10 Post-It notes and asked to write

down one idea on each paper and paste it on the wall.

Ideas are prioritised, summarised and shared with

everyone.

Step 4: sense-making (clusters)

In groups of 3, participants read and organise the ideas

into clusters, grouping them in topics. Each group has

only a couple of minutes to contribute, all participants

have a go at arranging and re-arranging the ideas.

Step 5: focus & develop

Teams are self-organised around the main topics chosen

by the workshop organisers. They work on a concrete

theme, build a set of proposals and prepare a quick pitch

to present to the entire group.

Step 6: present & vote

Teams present their results and the rest of the group

provides feedback in three categories: “I like...”, “You

should look into...”, and “I didn't like...”

They do this by writing down their feedback in Post-It

Notes that are pasted on the wall

RESULTS

( to come )

DISCUSSION

( to come )