Where Do Ideas Come From?

(By Vida Rizq and Lotfi Bencheikh, Aflamnah)

On the roof of the world, there is a wise old man who generates ideas and throws to the window just like a dandelion spreading itself thin. Unlike the dandelion, they are endless. These sewn ideas fly everywhere and land on everyone. They respect no colour, no creed, no gender and geography. Ideas blowing in the wind?This is what I read somewhere.  Is this an attempt to explain that ideas are made somewhere unreachable and unattainable? Perhaps it is?  But this is a mythical and a visual representation of the origin of ideas.

Ideas are born out of chaos, not a methodical and structured thinking process. They are the results of an electrical and physiological process happening inside the human brain when neurons get excited and started creating new connections and forge new pathways that can lead to somewhere or nowhere. They can lead to ideas or half ideas.  If we look at the language we use to describe the process of coming up with a “bright” idea, the moment is fully “charged” with sparks of electricity: albeit invisible to the naked eye. Is this accidental or are we trying to frame an invisible process in flowery language to convey that idea? But what triggers this internal electronic storm inside one’s brain? “Brain storm.” Many things can do that. It can be a word, a colour shade, a shape, a song or a phrase or simply another idea. It can also be the result of a recent or old idea that you thought of, a thought you never finished processing. It can happen while awake or asleep. [Read more...]

Top 10 Innovation Articles – Sept. 2012

Top 10 Innovation Articles Sept. 2012September was a great month for innovation articles and blog posts! It’s as if everyone returned from summer vacation full of ideas and thoughts that they had to share (lucky for all of us).  Below you will find innovation advice for companies large and small, all curated by the experts at Innovation 360. We hope you find value in this monthly list. If you would like to suggest an article (or video) for next month, leave a comment below or ping @innovation360 on Twitter.

How Innovative Leaders Maintain Their Edge
Three key things innovative companies do to create and sustain an innovation premium.

4 Strategies For Winning Over Innovation Naysayers
Four questions to ask people who discourage innovation.

Bosses Think They Champion Innovation, Employees Know Better
Study shows gap between leadership and workers on innovation perception.

The Grand Challenge – How to use Open Innovation to Generate Worldwide Awareness
How to use open innovation and crowdsourcing challenges to generate worldwide awareness for your brand.

Setting Lofty Standards for UAE
Is the UAE actually an innovation economy or do we just think we are?

3 Ways To Kill Your Company’s Idea-Stifling Shame Culture
Creating a culture that makes people feel safe to express new ideas.

In the Age of Imagination, Small Trends Have Big Impacts
How identifying mini-trends can help small companies innovate.

The Secret Phrase Top Innovators Use
Three words that jumpstart innovation at Google, Facebook and IDEO.

Fresh Ways To Fish For Better Ideas
How to evolve good ideas into great ideas.

Why Big Companies Can’t Innovate
How established practices and policies hinder innovation.

Excitement Building around i360accelerator Program for Entrepreneurs

Kamal Hassan, Innovation 360When a company launches a new product or service, it’s often difficult to get anyone outside the organization excited about it. Only if it’s very compelling and offers a clear value proposition does it create buzz in the community. Such is the case with our new i360accelerator program for entrepreneurs.  In the past few weeks, we have had a good deal of media attention, including the promise of a television crew visiting our Innov-a-thon event on 6 October.

In addition, I have met with many people interested in the program, from budding entrepreneurs to potential investors, mentors, educators and service providers. Although they all have different objectives and reasons for their interest, one thing they all have in common is the desire to make the region a better place for entrepreneurs and SMEs. They know that entrepreneurship is key to solving the job creation crisis facing many ME countries, and that it also contributes to economic diversity, which many of these same nations are striving for.

Many people I’ve met also share an interest in innovation, and are just now starting to understand how innovation applies to small businesses as much as big corporations. In fact, innovation is very important for SMEs who want to compete with the big boys, something which is attainable in this day of disruptive innovation possibilities. Innovation is also important so that new businesses don’t become just another “falafel shop” offering the same thing as the guy next door. [Read more...]

Do You Believe You Can Innovate?

Recently, I ran across an nice blog on innovation from Egypt. One of the posts was called “We are not intelligent enough for creation.” The author explains how Egyptian innovation is not valued by Egyptians:

Why don't we use our brains for innovation?“The Egyptian Consumers perception of an Egyptian made invention is not positive if not negative. An Egyptian invention has to climb a steep ride to be given a chance & put into use. In comparison to an international brand the odds of an Egyptian brand or idea succeeding are very low simply due to the fact that one of them is Egyptian. That is not to say that Egyptian Innovation is perfect. Believe it or not the major cause of that is not the international market or demands; it is the Egyptian innovator, executive, and consumer. Each one of these individuals, contribute to this perception with their lack of belief in an Egyptian made innovation.”

I don’t believe it’s a matter of not being intelligent enough to innovate (and neither does the blog author). As he says, people in Egypt (I would say most Middle East countries) don’t believe they are good at creating new things.

My question to you is… how can we get past this belief that we can’t innovate? Or should we even try?

Top 10 Innovation Articles – April 2012

Every day, we search the Internet for the best articles and advice on innovation, which we share with our followers and fans on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Below are the best innovation articles we found last month. Feel free to add to the list in the comments.

Top 10 Innovation Articles for April 2012The Challenges for Developing Innovation in the Middle East
How technological ‘leapfrogging’ allows developing countries quickly build innovation abilities

What It Takes To Innovate: Wrong-Thinking, Tinkering & Intuiting
Why inventors throughout history don’t mind failing – and trying again

Inside Amazon’s Idea Machine: How Bezos Decodes The Customer
Amazon’s incredible business model transformation

How to Create the Next Silicon Valley
Conditions that contribute to a regional center of innovation

10 Tips for Successful Innovation Teams
A talent management roadmap for high-performance innovation teams

The Secret to Keeping Your Company Alive
Clayton Christensen and Hal Gregersen on how the most innovative companies in the world keep #innovation alive

When It’s Time to Throw Out Your Business Plan
5 tips for innovating your business model

Go Innovate on the Periphery
Spotting trends and innovating in adjacent markets

4 Ways To Keep Great Ideas From Getting Stuck In The Pipeline
How great innovation organizations deal with the “pipeline paradox”

When Will this Low-Innovation Internet Era End?
Why we’re living in an age of low #innovation despite all the advances in technology

For more great innovation articles, follow @Innovation360 on Twitter, Like us on Facebook, or join Middle East Innovation group on LinkedIn.

Top 10 Innovation Articles – March 2012

With so much attention on innovation these days, it’s easy to find articles and blog posts on the topic. What’s harder to find is valuable information on innovation that sheds new light on the subject, educates or inspires. With this in mind, Innovation 360 would like to offer a monthly round-up of the best innovation articles we have come across.

Top 10 Innovation Articles - March 2012Below you’ll find 10 innovation articles from March that are worth a read (listed in date order starting with the most recent). If you know of an article or post we missed, feel free to add it in the comments.

Has Innovation Lost Its Meaning?
Percolate’s Noah Brier on the true definition of innovation.

Boosting Personal Innovation Capacity–Iterate!
Why iterative thinking is key for innovation.

The Five Personalities of Innovators
Research shows five different types of innovation personalities.

How to Get Rid of Old Ideas?
Tips for shedding old ideas to make room for fresh insights.

What is Innovation Governance?
A discussion of different models and which ones seem to be the most effective.

Accelerating Innovation in Lebanon
How Lebanon is accelerating innovation using startup incubators.

Disrupting the Public Sector
Why governments don’t do disruptive innovation – and how to change that.

The New Rules Of Innovation
Why world-changing innovation is not going to come from where we expect it.

Is Your Culture Kryptonite for Innovators?
How the wrong type of organizational culture can cripple innovation.

Three Innovation Drivers for Small Businesses
How SMEs innovate, based on research from Intuit.

For more great innovation articles, follow @Innovation360 on Twitter.