Innovation – Arun Shanbhag

In teaching Innovation, I go over many videos, articles, lectures, notes, etc. Students often ask, how can they identify problems to solve, or how to get ideas. I invariably guide them to this beautiful video by Steven Johnson, who also has a book of the same title. There isn’t a fountain of ideas that you can drink from. Its only your hard work and preparation that lets good ideas bubble up to you. Certainly as Louis Pasteur noted, chance favors the prepared mind.

Some of the key points Steven Johnson identifies are:
1. There is no Eureka moment. It’s the slow hunch that gestates over long periods, sometime even decades before the solution reveals itself in the Eureka moment.

2. Social Interactions: He mentions the coffee bars and social clubs as places to meet a diverse group of people, facilitating an healthy exchange of ideas. It is this testing, tearing down and building-up of ideas that permit better ideas to sprout.

3. Spaces: Serendipity happens in physical spaces facilitating interactions with people and ideas. In these times of broadband connectivity, interactions can happen virtually, increasing opportunities for sharing and swapping ideas/ hunches, thus accelerating creativity and innovation.

Please share your learning points on this video.

Announcing Manipal Covid Challenge, an opportunity for all creative minds to get off TikTok, or whatever else you are doing during this Lockdown, and contribute to solving important problems in our society.

Create Something Useful

Click here for Problems Statements

Click here for details and Registration.

Just concluded the biggest, baddest Wearable Device Hackathon evah, organized by the Innovation Center Manipal and the Kasturba Medical College Manipal.

We had over 150 participants from ten different institutions, 25 mentors, 17 volunteers and five judges. What an amazing event that was.

For Innovation to serve the people and move the country forward, we ultimately need to reach the most underprivileged in our society. This was exactly our goal when we teamed up with the local government – Udupi District and developed this Grand Challenge.

The District officials under the leadership of Deputy Commissioner Smt Priyanka Mary Francis and Assistant Commissioner Shilpa Nag, picked issues they grappled with most.
Continue reading “Grand Challenge Udupi” →

During a recent holiday in the Netherlands, we got a chance to visit the Industrial Design School of the Technical University of Delft, thanks to Prof Jan Carel Diehl. I was struck by the design of their open lobby space and how they had created various nooks and crannies with simply different styles of furniture and lighting. The school building was a reconverted warehouse, so they had maintained the cavernous interiors, high railings and steep metal stairs. Everything on the main floor is movable and yet provides a cozy work environment for student teams.

It was an average Thursday afternoon and you can sense the intensity of the students working. No doubt it’s one of the top design and innovation centers in the world.