Does anyone here know about lateral thinking or even understand what it means? Again it’s another word, I don’t know if it’s used in schools a lot or…[response from audience] Pardon? Well lateral thinking, just to put it into simplistic terms is the ability to see things unusually. And I am going to give you a couple of examples of that now. So just going back to the failure point. Thomas Edison, he invented the light bulb and various other world famous inventions that have changed our life as we know it.
And this is one of his quotes, ‘I have not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.’ And he was delighted. He was jumping up with joy at this quote. He still hadn’t invented his product or the light bulb. But, again, those 10,000 ways that didn’t work taught him what would work later. And that is something that you really have to remember. If you want to be innovative, creative, whether you want to run a business, become a scientist, it doesn’t matter. Take those risks, allow for failure and learn from your mistakes. Don’t repeat them, obviously, don’t repeat mistakes. But you learn from them. So lateral thinking, just to make sure you are all still awake I am going to give you a lateral thinking puzzle. This is just trying to get your mind to think differently from the normal way of thinking. [Slide: Lateral Thinking Puzzle] So the rope ladder of a boat hangs over the side of a boat and just reaches the water. It has eight rungs, five inches apart. How many rungs will be under the water when the tide rises four feet? If you could put up your hand if you think… Yes.
Response from audience: It doesn't go into the water at all.
Damini Kumar: Pardon?
Response from audience: It doesn't go into the water at all – the boat rises.
Damini Kumar: Yes, there you go. Well done. [Applause] Had you heard it before?
Response from audience: Yeah.
Damini Kumar: Oh you have heard it before. I should have said, if you heard it before don’t answer. But basically that’s exactly it. So guys, those of you that were trying to calculate it, I am just trying to get you to open your minds into a different way of thinking. Don’t think the normal way. Be creative. Be curious. Be innovative. And think of it a different way. I am going to give you one more. If any of you have heard this one please don’t answer it. OK. [Slide: Another Lateral Thinking Puzzle] One day two mothers and two daughters were going shoe shopping. The trip was successful. Each bought a pair of shoes. And altogether they had three pairs. How is this possible? If you put up your hand, if you think you might know the answer. Yes?
Response from audience: It’s only three people. One is a mother and a daughter. Because you have got the granny and then the daughter and…
Damini Kumar: Exactly. Well done. Round of applause. [Applause]. So did you hear it before?
Response from audience: No.
Damini Kumar: Exactly. So it doesn’t matter, even if you did hear it. You are training your mind. Even if you have heard these, I am trying to get you to think differently. So basically, it was a daughter, a mother and a grandmother. That still counts as two mothers, two daughters. So I am just trying to get you to think. That’s all lateral thinking is. That's all…being creative, having an open mind, and not limiting yourself right at the beginning. And just don’t think of the obvious, think of other ways as well.
So now I am moving on to innovation. [Slide: "Innovation is using creativity to add value"] Again a word used a lot at the moment. For me… to give you a simple definition of innovation. Again all the newspapers, the Irish government, I don’t know if your teachers – everyone is using the word, innovation. Let’s be more innovative. There’s hundreds of definitions of innovation that you will find on the Internet. But to me it’s a basic one – innovation is using creativity to add value. So you are using your creativity which is being inquisitive, being curious, opening your mind, problem solving - all of those things to add value – i.e. you are doing something to either invent a product so someone has a better use of that product. You are inventing a car for the future. You are inventing a business that people want to use. It’s all about the user and user-centred design. So that basically to me is what innovation is. You are using creativity, but to add value, either if you own a company, to bring more money in. If you are at school you’re using innovation to help yourself understand all the subjects and to do well in all of them. So you are trying new ideas. You’re ensuring creativity is channelled into productive results. And one other tip I can give you right here is, ‘Don’t reinvent the wheel.’ Now I’ll give you examples of that.
If there is something out there in whatever you are doing, whether it’s science, engineering, design, and you’re trying to invent or innovate something, and someone else has already invented part of that product or the technology or something, there is no point you trying to do it yourself. Use what is already out there. And I’ll give you an example here, the Apple iPod. Can you put your hands up if you own one? [Show of hands] OK.
So leave your hands up if you think Apple invented that whole product. [A lot of hands go down] OK, so you are absolutely right, they don’t. Apple actually design the casing. So they are about designing the casing and the experience that the user has with that product. So what they are trying to do is, when you use your iPod you feel happy, you feel like it's doing what you want it to do. And there’s minimal bugs in it. The technology inside an iPod is actually not done by Apple at all. They have licensed the technology from loads of other small companies, scientists, engineers, technologists, computer scientists around the world, that are already experts in their field, that know how the technology works, have written the program, have written the software. And they license it off them, and then case it themselves and put it into a product. So my point here is, please don’t reinvent the wheel. With me, I didn’t reinvent the teapot. I kept the teapot, the vessel, and I reinvented it to make it non-drip. It’s every small step. And you need to also collaborate. So if there are people that have done it around the world, go and use the knowledge that they have. There is no point in you doing it yourselves.
And my last main point here about innovation is don’t innovate for yourself, don’t invent for yourself. Innovate for the user. There is no point designing a product that you might enjoy unless everyone else wants to enjoy it too. And you find that with a lot of good… a lot of design, a lot of invention. You can see inventors that are caught up in their own product. Because they think it’s the best thing. But then they go out and speak to people and they don’t want it. So design. What is design?
[Slide: "Design is the process that uses creativity and innovation", with images of futuristic cars and chairs] Again these are renderings of cars, futuristic cars. Design is the process that uses creativity and innovation. I am going to go very briefly through the design process, what it is. But it’s basically a tool. It’s a methodology. It’s something you can learn. It’s a process from beginning to end that teaches you how to use your creativity and how to invent a new product, or how to use your creativity and start a new business, or whatever it is you’re trying to do. It’s just a process. And it’s being used in so many different domains at the moment. It connects technology, science and humanity, because it’s about the user. All the products we are going to see – the next generation of products that you will have at home are all about the user. It’s how you feel using them.
Another example of this is the Nintendo Wii, where Playstation – Sony Playstation and Nintendo were both about to launch a new product. This is a few years ago. Nintendo went out and did their research and basically questioned everyone – young mothers, grandmothers, young boys like you, anyone, and said, ‘What do you want from a games console?’ The questions they got back were, "We want something interactive. We want something to lose weight. We want something that the whole family can join in together." Meanwhile Sony went off and questioned existing Sony users and said, "What do you want?" And they said, "Oh better graphics, better technology, better gaming." But they didn’t actually go out to the whole market, to the whole user. And you all probably remember Nintendo Wii, you couldn’t get your hands on one a couple of Christmases ago. There was a waiting list for everyone. You couldn’t buy one for Christmas. And they actually dominated the market. And Sony’s Playstation did that [she gives a gesture of a decrease] and Nintendo Wii sales [indicates an increase], you had to queue at six in the morning when they got a delivery to get one.
And then the other thing to remember is everything we have used in our daily lives has been designed. You are not wearing trainers, or runners as you call them here, at the moment because you are in your uniform. But in your runners, those airsole pockets, who do you think designed those? Scientists, engineers, technologists. The function, the runners that make you lose weight now, or just give you comfort to your foot, that’s all science. You may think that’s fashion design. It’s not. It’s actual real… they are solving real problems. And it’s the human body, so it’s very important - on what your shoes can do for you when you are running or you are in a sports field.
So again that’s a perception. Scientists, technologists, engineers and designers do real exciting things every day. This geeky image that is associated with them has to disappear, because there’s a lot of good work going on.
[Slide: "Research – understand user. Concept generation – new ideas. Develop. Test and Evaluate. Prototype"] So the design process, just very briefly to run through it. We have been through it anyway. You do your research. So you need to understand who it is you are designing for. Concept generation, where the creativity comes in, and you get new ideas. And at this stage the golden rule is, no idea is a bad idea. So no matter how weird, wonderful, wacky, crazy, insane your idea might be at this stage, you keep it. Because later on it might answer another question. Then you develop. Again be practical, you test and evaluate. [Slide: Dyson Vacuum Cleaners Testing] Here you can see the Dyson vacuum cleaners being tested for hours on end, on a piece of carpet, backwards and forwards to see their lifecycle. And then you prototype and you test again. And the main thing about the design process is that at any stage you can go back to the beginning. So if at the developing stage I realise the product I am designing doesn’t work, you go back. You go back to the beginning and you start again. Or you go back to another stage in it, and you start again. You don’t just carry on and at the end go, ‘Oh well this product doesn’t quite work and it’s not exactly what I wanted, but here it is.’ You keep going back, and you keep changing it ‘til you perfect it.
So creativity in education…. [Slide: "Breakdown barriers between different disciplines, e.g. art and science… everyone is creative!"] These are just some of my views on school systems, the education systems. And basically I think we need to understand that we need to break down the barriers between arts and sciences. Both are valid. Both are important. And both go hand in hand actually, especially in innovation and creativity. So remember you can be good at art and science. Or if you are more scientifically orientated, keep on your creative and artistic skills. And if you’re more artistic, remember that science, maths and engineering provides you with the knowledge to be able to be creative. So you really need to have cross-disciplinary thinking going on. Learning by doing.
So these are some of my students at the Product Design Degree. [Slide: Students of Maynooth Design Degree] Learning by doing, we teach them something. I teach them something, then they do it. They put it into practice. So they can understand why they are doing it - problem solving rather than knowledge transmission. And here’s the key word I think so far in this whole presentation, that everyone is creative. Everyone in this room is creative. Even if you came up to me and said, "I cannot draw a stick man. I can’t think outside the box. My mind is not open." Believe it or not you are creative. It’s something you’re born with. It’s something that usually is either not fostered in school or it’s not brought out. But I can give you examples of creativity as well, both with a competition I set up last year and my product design students. And I will give you examples of the reasons why everyone is creative. But believe me, you all are creative. So have any of you heard of Imaginate? [Show of hands] OK, a couple of you. [Slide: Imaginate 2009]
Imaginate 2009 was a competition I launched last year. And basically it was to get students your age to start thinking about problem solving, about being more creative, about being innovative. And it was simple. Last year we asked students to design an object for the classroom of the future. It was open to all secondary school children across Ireland, northern and southern Ireland. And I wanted you guys to go out and solve real problems you faced at school. There were two categories. I just really briefly want to go through some of the submissions. So you can see here, some of these students, they are all aged between 12 and 18, depending on which category. This is the Junior Category. Some of these students I met at the awards ceremony apparently aren’t creative, don’t problem solve, don’t have an open mind, so they think. And these are some of the ideas. [Slide: Wonder Bag] So here you have a wonder bag, this bag that does everything – makes popcorn, has an umbrella, has arms that come and massage your shoulders when your back hurts from carrying it, has a 3D hologram that tells you about all the latest things coming out, matches. And you can see, this is from a student just spending, I think it was 45 minutes problem solving. And her main issue was carrying her bag and why her bag didn’t have more features, which was an issue across a lot of students actually.
Here’s a couple more. I won’t go into them in a lot of detail. But here you have no more books. [Slide: Imaginate Design – Cyber-Visor] Another problem for a lot of schoolchildren they don’t want to carry books. They are heavy. So this Cyber-Visor basically transmits your teacher’s notes onto the glasses. You can send your homework direct to the teacher’s computer by pressing a button. And it has loads of other features. Again just creativity, innovation. It doesn’t matter will it work, will it not work. It’s ideas of problem solving for the future. This is a robot to replace the teacher at school. [Slide: Imaginate Design - iBot] And it does everything from… I don’t know… clean the floors as it walks, to give you information. And it does everything. And it has again a hologram thing.
This is a new seat … this student thought that every seat in school should be like this, with a touch screen. [Slide: Imaginate Design – S-Life] And this pen, you see here, actually corrects your spelling. [Slide: Imagine Design - Pen] So if you write a word and it’s the wrong spelling, it starts flashing red. Again what a brilliant idea for the school students being creative. This is now the Senior Category, the winner of the Senior Category. [Slide: Imaginate Design – Zen Workstation] This student believed that every desk by the year 2025, in Ireland, every school desk across the country will look like this. His inspiration came from a palm tree. And it’s completely ergonomic, a touchpad, and all your notes and work is on this desk. Again no more school books, no more school bags, which seemed to be a common theme among students. "The slate" does everything. [Slide: Imaginate Design - Slate] Again it manages your whole diary, your social life, your school life, completely electronic. [Slide: Imaginate – Bright Comfort Classroom] This is actually the classroom. This student designed the classroom of the future. So it’s got a solar panelled roof. You can see the chairs going around and then coming out. This is an enlargement of one of the chairs. They seem really comfortable for a school. It’s like a lounger, you can sit back, recline. You’ve got your touch screen here.
And you know… so again a completely environmentally friendly classroom of the future. Again just more ideas. And I am just showing you this, hopefully to inspire you. These are students your age brainstorming. So we had prizes and everything. The winning schools also got prizes. And it was webcast on RTÉ and shown on RTÉ children’s TV. And you can see here, sorry, we actually prototyped the winning ideas. [Slide: List of Imaginate prizes with photo of students and their prototypes] So you can’t really see it clearly. There’s the Cyber-Visor. And there’s the Zen Workstation. Because we have a rapid prototyper in Maynooth where you can basically draw something on the computer in SolidWorks, which I am sure some of you are aware of. And then it prints it in plastic in 3D. So we actually gave that as a present to the students.
So just to say there are ways of being creative, there are ways of using your imagination, we are going to be launching it this January again. There’s going to be a different theme, where we are going to ask all the secondary school students around the country to problem solve another problem in their school. And if you want more details obviously they are available on the Imaginate website.
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