Idealab

**Idealab**
This page is made in order to watch the cocoon turn into a butterfly. We will try to present concepts and ideas we are working on to make the creativity and creative problem solving seminars as interesting and stimulating as possible. The idea is to present the core concept and share our creative thoughts and document the process.



So here we are now...

One of the most creative persons in human history was Leonardo Da Vinci. This also marks the start of systematic innovation so where else to start? We will try to analyze some of the basic concepts he developed (proportions, relations, perspectives). Leonardo also is a good example that a creative person is open to any field art, science, medicine and exploring all the aspects of life. We will try to built a bridge with Genrikh Altschuller the inventor of TRIZ. Overcoming phychological inertia and being open to exporing the creative potential ,the young child in us has, is the first step to be taken.

So we will research links between TRIZ and Leonardo Da Vincis ideas. Golden ratio as a guideline to apply TRIZ principles and other concepts will be explored. At the same time we will present the basic concepts of TRIZ and new fields of application (business, project management, product design etc) besides traditional engineering problems. One of the main research points has been mixing approaches like Object Role Modelling with basic TRIZ concepts.



Let's combine TRIZ and Leonardo's ideas

In both Project Management and Cooking need a lot of creativity to reach a result (satisfying your hunger or your stakeholders). What can we learn from creative cooking that applies in project management. Understanding standards, methodologies, using the ingredients that are available use recipes but also improvise. Go beyond what you know, adapt to the environment, manage lack of resources and be creative. Add some flavor to your projects. Everyday creativity is an important step to overcome psychological inertia. We will try to find underlying concepts that stimulate creativity in project work.



Project ingredients and tools

I think it will be interesting to talk about attributes of products and the functions they perform and look for further improvements. A systematic way of approaching product design or problem solving would be an interesting point in a seminar. Analyzing an object and looking for ways to improve either it's attributes ( weight, size, etc) or the functions it performs (accuracy, reliability, etc) is a good place to start. An idea pool for object to be used as examples is the [|Wired Gadget Lab] where innovative products are displayed. This can be a stimulating place to search for examples of real world products.

I think we can make a good example with [|Traffic Lights]



Traffic light tree

Another example I really have been thinking about is the evolution of stilts. Going from a simple wooden stick to today's complex designs. By using the new google patent search I found the patent for modern stilts described as a [|device helping a person to walk]

. Poweriser stilts in use

Sometimes I am amazed by the simplicity of some designs, the pure beauty of something that is amazing. Take a look because if you can not find a bike lane you might as well take one with you! A laser projection creates the [|virtual bike lane] and you get noticed by drivers!



The other way around, a bike lane on a bike

I spent the last days working with [|VUE] a tool for visual thinking. For those accustomed with mindmapping tools the basic logic is similar but in this case it is possible to work in a very interactive way. Work with ontologies is possible and in my opinion this is the most usefull creativity tool since mindmapping. Of course a big part of this creativity workshop will include vue maps.

screenshot of VUE