Normally we don’t cover non-English websites, but in this occasion I’d like to make an exception. Dutch-speaking readers should definitely check-out the new Innovation Tools section on nieuweproductenbedenken.nl. The website maps 56 innovation tools used worldwide, including brainstorming tools, creativity exercises, and games. In addition, they also mapped 25 hands-on brainstorming techniques. Perhaps the authors could also integrate the concept of strategic intuition, as discussed in the previous article (in which Bill Duggan argues that regular brainstorming sessions should be eliminated or at least organized differently). Definitely an interesting discussion.

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When do you get your best ideas? You probably answer “At night,” or “In the shower,” or “Stuck in traffic.” You get a flash of insight: Aha! William Duggan explains in his new book, Strategic Intuition: The Creative Spark in Human Achievement, how the mind forms great leaps and how strategic intuition offers a 4-step method for identifying and capturing new opportunities. I had the opportunity to ask him some questions on the implications of his research for new product ideation, brainstorming, and open innovation.

1) What is the key message or take-away for practitioners in your book?

Successful innovation comes from new combinations of previous elements — the elements themselves are not new — and the method to make that combination contradicts the current practices of most companies who try to stimulate creativity and innovation among their employees.

2) How should for example a new product ideation project be organized if you take strategic intuition into account?

IDEO is famous for A) zany practices like an airplane wing sticking out of the office wall, basketball hoops, rollerskating down the corridor — and none of that matters. They also do B) rapid prototyping and intense customer observation — which is neutral, because you can do that and still get the actual creative part wrong. What they do right is C) bring people who worked on many unrelated projects together to design something new, to consciously bring previous elements together in a new combination. So I would say “do what IDEO does,” but C, not A or B.

3) Eliminate all regular brainstorming sessions?

Read the rest of this post >

Contributed by Anand Chhatpar
CEO of BrainReactions LLC

The Internet has become a powerful resource for any innovator, and there are a variety of online tools available to help you with various stages of the innovation process.

Let’s go down each step of the process and see examples of tools on the web that can be used along the way:

1. Opportunity Identification
For discovering opportunities to innovate and for finding areas of need and untapped demand, use the following websites:
ePinions.com: Reading consumers’ reviews and complaints about certain products tells you which problems could be valuable to solve.
Inventory.Overture.com: Searching for keyword terms and phrases on this website tells you how many people searched for that phrase and similar phrases last month on the Yahoo network. When you get the number of searches, you can triple it to get the approximate number of total searches worldwide. If you find an interesting phrase that has high searches but not too many websites serving the need, you’ve found a good niche to innovate within.
Trendwatching.com: This website tells you about trends happening in the business world today that you could align yourself with to take advantage of their popularity. Every trend highlights the opportunities for business that lie within.
SpringWise.com: Another great website from the people who run trendwatching.com, which features interesting new businesses starting up around the globe. If you see a successful business in another country that could apply to your country, it is a clear-cut opportunity and you have lower risk because the business model is proven in another market.
Emily Chang’s Ehub: Emily does a great job of cataloging the latest Web 2.0 applications in her Ehub database. Many of these applications have become instant hits with the online audience and one can detect amazing opportunities by looking at the adoption rates of applications like Twitter. Read the rest of this post >