What’s Your Innovation Equation?
Innovative ideas are really the juxtaposition of seemingly disparate elements and making them all work together. Synthesis gives birth to new creations.
In this light, i’ve really found it useful to crystallize one’s thinking by expressing an idea in terms of an innovation equation (or iQuation, as i fondly call it).
In a nutshell, what are the brands and/or concrete people/things/places/events that compose your idea? Then, just spell it out : (brand 1) + (brand 2) + (brand N) = your idea.
And to show that i do eat my own dog food, see my innovation equations below :
[...] His thinking that ideas are just combinations of old ideas is straight on. In fact, it’s an exercise I go through with my students in class, this mashup-slash-juxtaposition of existing concepts, themes, and brands; It’s a concept I’ve also previously blogged about – what i call the ‘innovation equation’. [...]