4/6/2009 1 Creative Foresight Space (CFS) – Power from Imagining the Futures – Prof. Sirkka Heinonen Finland Futures Research Centre 1st International Conference on Strategic Innovation and Futures Creation Malta University. Edward de Bono Institute for the Design and Development of Thinking March 23-24, 2009 Structure of Presentation 2 I Challenge of Combining Creative and Futures Thinking II What is Creative Foresight Space? – Concept and Cases – III Foresight as Empowerment
Transcript
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Creative Foresight Space (CFS)– Power from Imagining the Futures –
Prof. Sirkka HeinonenFinland Futures Research Centre
1st International Conference onStrategic Innovation and Futures Creation
Malta University. Edward de Bono Institute for the Design and Development of ThinkingMarch 23-24, 2009
Structure of Presentation
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I Challenge of Combining Creative and Futures Thinking
II What is Creative Foresight Space?– Concept and Cases –
III Foresight as Empowerment
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I Challenge of Combining Creative and Futures Thinking
Thinking about the Future
• age-old activity
• has existed as long as human beings have existedas consciously thinking beings
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The Core Idea of Creative Foresight Space
• The concept of Creative Foresight Space is based on thechallenge to develop Spaces for stimulating bothcreative thinking and futures orientation withinorganisations
• Creative processes, innovation processes andforesight processes should be linked together incorporate strategies
creativity based innovations + futures orientation
• The Finnish Innovation Strategy 2008
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The Big Questions
• How to develop better work environments?
• How to support the processes of organisationalchange?
• How to implement Creative Foresight Spaces thatsimultaneously nourish creativity and futuresthinking?
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Which Theoretical Framework?
• A theoretical framework for the concept is provided bythe flexible proactive working mode and open innovationmodel.
• This will take place in experience-oriented knowledgesociety as enabled through ubiquitous digital society.
flexible proactive working mode (= time, place, tools, roles etc.)
open innovation model (= open source, collective content generation,consumers as producers)
knowledge society (= ubiquitous digital society, knowledge is power)
experience society (= products and services as experineces,search for identity and meanings)
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The Call?
• There is a lot of unused potential for creativity andforesight capacity building
• The potential for growing the competence of employeesand nourishing their creativity is calling for more actionand experimentation
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II What is Creative Foresight Space?
Creative Foresight Space (CFS)
• Creative Foresight Space is a combination ofphysical and virtual milieus where digital tools areused for futures-oriented content generation.
• Creative Foresight Space spurs creativity andimproves organisational foresight capacity(individual and collective/organisation level)
• Creative Foresight Space is a concept to bedeveloped, tested and piloted
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CFS as Hybrid Space
• The Creative Foresight Space is a physical spaceinside an organisation where the employees can popin and stay for a period of time when they need aninfill of innovative stimuli and proactive thinkingsupport outside their daily job routines – futuresshower or futures safari !
• Hybrid space – a cognitive combination containingfeatures from coffee corner, library, brainstormingroom, meditation room, playroom, artisan centre…. .
• The basic concept can be tailormade into severalvariations
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Conceptual Framework
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The Ambience is Enabler
• The ambience design plays an important role in formingsuch a space:
Choice and location of furnitureMaterialsColoursSoundsLightingScentsTouch (material and temperature)MovementTechnical equipment etc.
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www.merikeskuswellamo.fi
Pilot Cases
• The CFS has been initially tested on a fewoccasions
• The first pilots were made at a research centre(VTT Technical research centre of Finland)
• The users were asked to give feedback andsuggestions for further developing the concept.
• Accordingly, the concept will now be piloted invarious new settings.
• One of the main methods inside CFS is to useFutures Window (developed by Elina Hiltunen)
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Futures Window
• A method where visual weak signals are beingcollected and shown to indicate new emergingissues that may or may not lead to stronger trends inthe future.
• Visual futures signals are intended to activateviewers’ futures thinking. This may help them comeup with ideas for developing existing or generatingnew products, services, sytems, and businessmodels.
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The Futures Window
Elina Hiltunen
48 visualweak signalsprojected to the wall
group work based on thevisual weak signals, P1
a questionnaire of themethod for participants
2 pilots at VTT2006, 2007
Testing Futures Window
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Pilots: Elina Hiltunen and Sirkka Heinonen
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Futures Signals collected and shown on new issuesEXAMPLE: 18. VERTICAL FARMING
Other foresight methods to be used for CFS:- Futures Wheel- Foresight Wall- Backcasting scenarios- Futures Creation by Storytelling and Drawing- ...............
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Various Applications
• Besides an office milieu, the Creative ForesightSpace is intended to be installed in a library and in ascience exhibition setting.
• In this way, different kind of audiences and users willshare the interactive development process.
• Helsinki City Library• Heureka – the Finnish Science Centre
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Future of LibrarySpaces have different identities
CFS in library should on one hand be asilent, meditative place for relaxationOn the other hand it should be a place forstimulation, action and inspiration
Creative Foresight Space Pilot Casein the Finnish Science Centre HEUREKA in2009
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CFS Pilot will be run as Futures Window
...and as a prelude to Futures Exhibiton 2011
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III Foresight as Empowerment
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Power from Imagining the Futures
• is like fluttering the wings of a butterfly• seemingly small acts can lead to strong impacts, inunexpected areas as well• Creative Foresight Space is a test laboratory forimagining desired, but also unexpected futures
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Power from Enabling and EnrichingFutures Thinking
• Creative Foresight Space is to enable creativity andenrich futures thinking
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Dictionary: Enrich
• To make rich or richer.• To make fuller, more meaningful, or more rewarding: An
appreciation of art will enrich your life.• To add fertilizer to.• To add nutrients to: The dairy enriched its milk with vitamin
D.• To add to the beauty or character of; adorn: "Glittering
tears enriched her eyes" (Arnold Bennett).• Physics To increase the amount of one or more radioactive
isotopes in (a material, especially a nuclear fuel).
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EnrichingFutures Thinking
• Macrohistorical framework (long perspective – continuing themes)• Alternative histories, history in general• Networks models (dynamic networks/images of them)• Knowledge of radically different cultures= popularised antropology
• Visual foresight maps• Images and videoclips• Silent movies/movies from 40s/50s (Chaplin/Buster Keaton)• Gentle house-music• Walking, jogging, ”Wanderung” in forest(getting lost and finding your way back/new routes)• Sporty games• Board games ( you have to anticipate your own and youropponent’s moves)
• Scientific/academic literature•Expert presentations on hot topics• Customised futures coaching• Futures lectures• Methodological education (testingnew methods)
• Intertwining of leisure and work, i.e. possibility todetach oneself from the necessity of work• Substance-free zone•Time and space to stop and think•Travel (+”on the road”)• Cristallysed disciplinary working (routines mayhelp concentrate on creative and intelligent tasks)
• Parallel and diverse statistical dataon various issues
• Questioning continuities
• Children (children think different,not so serious; by watching thechildren you are inclined to wish forthe future/make visions, thinkresonsible, take into considerationoptions of future generations)• ”dissidents”
• Thinking options as attached to somethingconcrete• Extrapolation of skills and competences
• People are invited to leave their own comments andcontributions to the collective ideation
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• The Creative Foresight Space is a collective instrument andan interactive platform for organisational learning
• The expected result is to improve and integrate the foresightintelligence and creative capacity
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Spur to Work Motivation
• If successfully implemented, the Creative ForesightSpace is also expected to strengthen the employees’work motivation and job satisfaction.
• Furthermore, it can be used as an added value inrecruiting processes in order to attract competentworkforce.
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Collective Creativity from Cross-Fertilisation
• The Creative Foresight Space is used for invoking,enabling and exploiting community creativity, inparticular.
• It provides serendipity and cross-fertilization ofideas: employees from different departments mayjoin to idea sharing and elaborating the contents.
• They are expected to be empowered from morepossibilities of freely imagining various futures andprobing different future alternatives – whether theybe e.g. in product development, personnel practices,marketing or strategic development.
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Do you want to be something?
• Do you want to be musician?• Do you want to be actor?• Do you want to be TV host?
• The introduction of Creative Foresight Space inorganisational environment is a demanding challenge
• It requires a strategic foresight approach added tocreative management.
• Essentially, this means a great challenge for developingrelated leadership skills as well.
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Inspiration, Renewal, Learning
• Creative Foresight Space – by enhancing bothcreative thinking and futures orientation - is one wayof helping the leaders get their personnel to beinspired, to renew, and to learn?
• These are three major criteria of future leadership.
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Thank You!
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[email protected] of Futures ResearchFinland Futures Research Centre (FFRC)Turku School Of EconomicsHelsinki office: Korkeavuorenkatu 25 A 200130 Helsinki, Finland
