2013: 3Steps

First, an apology. Because we are in Canada we can't do anything too great. And because we're in a small city in western Canada, we have to set our hopes and dreams and expectations for life to a very humble level. That way we aren't disappointed. So all we want to do here is become the most innovative city in North America. And do it in one year. How? Disseminate a 3 step method for innovating to everyone in Airdrie.

Second, you don't need to be taught to innovate. That's because it's something humans do naturally. The main benefit of the 3 step method: it describes how humans already innovate in a written form - so it can be shared in a team, or done more systematically by an individual.

Third, the reason for picking a goal like this: Canada has a productivity gap with the USA of 20%, as measured per person, and that gap adds up to 10s of billions of dollars - it's bigger than the oil-sands. We will all be better off if we can close the gap. Economists think the gap is partly due to the structure of our economy -resource based industry, northern climate, dispersed population- and partly due to our rate of innovation. Special tax breaks for scientific innovation have limited impact (possibly because scientists are a small fraction of our economy). So this goal is to see if productivity can be boosted by explaining to everyone what innovation is, how to do it, and that it's important, and do it in a simple and free way -a broad-based, everyone included, culture-of-innovation approach.

Fourth, some problems are hard problems, and no new techniques will help.

Fifth, the 3 steps we're going to show you we didn't invent. We got it from a book. Our innovation is to spread it through a city for broad-based innovation.

With all that in mind, here's how to help us close the productivity gap, and become the most innovative city in North America in just one year:

Just 3 Steps to an Innovative City: break-it-down, search, combine

If everyone in Airdrie learns to apply these 3 steps to innovate, Airdrie will become a more innovative city, more productivity per person, and arguably the most innovative in North America:

1. break-it-down - say what your problem or opportunity-search is. Then break it down into bite-size pieces or mini-problems/puzzles called elements. This should be about 10% of your total effort.
2. search - for each problem element, look into different sources, industries and fields for working examples -called precedents- that have solved the element, until you have a few precedents for each problem element. This should be your main effort - about 80%.
3. combine - pick some combination of the precedents you found, enough to solve your problem. There's no rule on which ones to pick -it's a creative combo- so be creative, and your combo may be unique. This should be about 10% of your effort.

This method is like what you do in your own mind when you come up with something creative. By putting it in writing as a formal process it becomes easier for people to work in teams, get help with their problem, or -if its for a business- make sure their innovation process is efficient. Once everyone in a city knows the 3 steps, it's part of the culture, and it's easier to form teams for innovative problem solving - everyone gets it. And that in turn makes a city Innovative. See the Insight Matrix below for a way to organize your 3 steps (on paper, in a spreadsheet, in a document).

Insight Matrix

Example Creative Combo: 1B + 2C + 3D + 4A

Blank INSIGHT_MATRIX.rtf

But then when do you use it? When regular problem solving doesn't give you a good solution.

Regular Problem Solving: Shop & Adopt

Steps:

1. define the problem

2. assuming others have had the same problem, and solved it, search for solutions to the problem

3. adopt one of the solutions you find

Limitation of regular problem solving:

- your problem might be unique and complex in such a way no one has solved it as a whole, in one shot

- or you may be in a competitive market, looking for a new solution no one has thought of, to give you a competitive edge and better profits

Innovative Problem Solving

- this is where you do something new to the world, or at least new to your situation, to solve your problem

Two ways to do Innovative Problem Solving:

1) intuition - you study up, incubate/think-about it for a few days, and see if you get a stroke of genius or 'Aha!'

2) something a bit more methodical, that you can write down, and do in groups, like the 3 Steps

Where did we get the 3 steps and insight matrix? See our page on Creative Strategy.

Airdrie Innovation Institute 2013