Science Fiction (Sci-Fi) as a Stimulus For Innovation

As part of my role as a Facilitator for Warwick Business School’s “Knowledge & Innovation Network” (KIN), I was privileged to be invited to a Sci-Fi Symposium organised by the Defence, Science &Technology Laboratory (Dstl). The event took place just before Christmas 2017, and was led by Dr John Carney, Principal Scientist and Mrs Caz Pitt (Innovation Process & Culture Lead) at Dstl. , The aim of the Symposium was  to explore whether the stimulus of Science Fiction might enable the development of new solutions and provide unexpected insights into future security and military challenges.

With this year’s schedule of events for KIN being focussed primarily on innovation practices and techniques, I was interested to learn whether the format for this event could be applied more generally as a stimulus for innovation within other KIN member organisations, or adapted as a model for the wider public and private sectors. I think we would all agree that British industry is facing an uncertain future, and we must be able to survive and thrive in an increasingly competitive global market. We can only do this with innovative products and services, delivered at competitive prices and assured quality.

The objectives for the symposium were defined as follows:

·       To provide a forum for verbal interaction between Science Fiction writers, Academics with a specialism in science fiction and/or creative writing, scientists and other interested parties from across the Ministry of Defence and wider Government.

·       To educate Government scientists in the value of creative writing and thinking differently.

·       To stimulate small group discussions on (pre-prepared) defence and security challenges through the perspective of science fiction with a view to generating new insights and ideas

Having set the context for the day, we heard from various academics and Sci-Fi authors who provided short briefings with the aim of providing stimulus for the group discussion activities that followed, as follows:

·       Dr Ping Zheng (University of Canterbury) and Dr Victor Callaghan (University of Essex) on how science fiction and fantasy have been used to stimulate innovation.

·       Alastair Reynolds – former Space Scientist turned Sci-Fi author

·       Nicole Devarenne - Lecturer in English and Film Studies with special interests in South African literature and film, science fiction and speculative fiction

·       Sean McFate – Expert in Future of War, author and novelist, including Tom Locke novels.

·       Nick Harkaway – Sci-Fi author, who reminded us that Sci-Fi is not always good at predicting the future.

Interspersed with the scene setting and networking activities, the core part of the day was based around small group discussions on 11 different challenges. The challenges were set by various Dstl subject matter experts and consisted of a broad theme and a summary briefing, setting out the problem or challenge and what was required from the group. Members of the 11 groups were allocated based on the preferences they had selected as part of the pre-symposium delegate instructions. Each group discussion lasted for 1 hour, and was led by a Dstl presenter and supported by a Dstl rapporteur, who summarised the outcomes from the discussion as part of a plenary feedback at the end of the day. The symposium was organised such that participants were able to contribute to at least two group discussions during the day.

Just to give some context to the group discussions, the headline topics for the 11 challenges were as follows:

1.     Radiation Protection for Humans

2.     Digital Diplomat

3.     Safe Spaces

4.     Human Behaviour in Smart Environments *

5.     Defence (in)efficiency: what does the future hold?

6.     Making our people more capable, in less time *

7.     Understanding and Exploring Threat

8.     Please report to the information assurance bureau for re-education

9.     Societal reactions to new technologies

10.  Expeditionary Warfare

11.  Where’s the baddie?

I think you will see from the above that - with some obvious exceptions – many of the topics could apply to just about any organisation seeking innovative ideas for improving performance.  The two groups that I participated in are shown asterisked, specifically chosen because the subject was fairly generic and played more to my personal knowledge and experience.

The key dynamic which (I believe) contributed to the overall success of this seminar, was the ‘free-thinking’ stimulus developed initially from the pre-workshop presentations, and the diversity of knowledge, experience and personality within each discussion group. Either by accident or design (I think the latter), each group had a blend of academics, Sci-Fi authors, subject matter experts and practitioners. An unusual mix, some might say, and the logistics of assembling such a cohort cannot be underestimated.

I don’t have the detailed outcomes from all of the discussion groups, but the two groups I participated in generated a number of new ideas that haven’t previously been explored by Dstl. Of course, turning these ideas into practical solutions may not be always possible, and this may ultimately be the measure of success for this type of seminar. However, based on my own experience, and with reference to the title of this blog, I think that Sci-Fi did indeed provide a stimulus for innovation in our discussions.

The question is, whether the overall approach could be a template for any organisation or sector that is serious about wanting to innovate or challenge institutional inertia. The cost and logistics of assembling the diversity of talent will be a major factor, but I think the process is scalable, i.e. a focus on fewer challenges with fewer participants. I don’t think it has to necessarily include a Sci-Fi element (though this might be useful for more technologically-oriented organisations) but does need to include participants with imagination and creative skills.

Authors and novelists seem to fit this criterion, but it would be useful to explore other creative arts, such as musicians, artists, actors etc., people who are more likely to think differently to civil servants or corporate employees. Innovation means doing things differently, and that starts with thinking differently. This will no doubt be the challenge for many organisations, moribund in “group think”.

Dstl will be presenting the lessons learnt and some highlights from this Sci-Fi Symposium at their showcase stand at the KIN Spring Workshop, The London Shard, 22^nd March 2018. Not to be missed!

Other Reference Links:

1.     http://educateinnovate.org/2017/show/home

2.     The European Alliance for Innovation

3.     The Creative Science Foundation

Steve Dale

KIN Facilitator

Knowledge Needs Action To Create Value

The theme for the forthcoming KIN Workshop (1st December 2015) is "Knowledge in Action". Hopefully a title that will resonate with anyone who practices knowledge management, since it reminds us that knowledge without some form of action is worthless.

We consume knowledge in a variety of ways, e.g. through academic courses, reading or experiential learning. But what's the use of all of this accumulated knowledge while it remains dormant in our heads, or stored on our bookshelves? We can only realise the value of knowledge if we do something with it, and we all know that "to do" is a verb. So knowledge plus some form of action will release value.

Readers will have noticed that I've used a stock image (with permission) by John Antonios which is a variation of my equation, i.e. knowledge plus action equals power, which perhaps give more emphasis to this 'knowledge + action' dynamic, but I prefer to think of value rather than power, partly because some people may associate "power" as "self empowerment". And no doubt we can all think of examples (mostly bad) where that has happened throughout history....or in our workplace?!

Value is a different matter, because it can't be personalised or self-attributed; it's a measure of the benefit that might be gained by other people, for example from goods or a service.

One of the simplest ways of creating value from knowledge is by sharing it. We may not realise what value has been created by sharing our knowledge. We don't know what decisions we have influenced or the impact of those decisions. We can sometimes recognise the value of something we've said or done by the reactions of others, or the feedback we've received over time, but that's not always the case.

Speaking for myself, I've learnt far more from people than I've ever learnt from books, though I don't wish to dismiss books as a very useful source of knowledge. However, the power of tacit knowledge can't be underestimated, and we've never had better opportunities to tap into this knowledge through our networks - personal, private and social.  Belonging to and growing these networks is no longer an option; it's an absolute essential if we want to ensure our knowledge and skills are continually honed and adapted to the rapidly changing environment around us. Darwin called it evolution, but it's more fundamental than that, it's about surviving.

So, coming back to the point about knowledge and value. Knowledge without action has no value. We can be the brightest and most intelligent person we know, but unless we do something with this knowledge we are as useful a chocolate tea-pot (I think that might be a British idiom, but I hope the meaning is apparent).  Doing means sharing, helping, supporting, tacit-to-explicit, speaking, mentoring, teaching....I'm sure you can think of many other action verbs. Doing nothing with our knowledge is an opportunity wasted, and our net worth (value) equals nothing, zero, zilch.

I'm looking forward to the KIN Workshop in December, and listening to the knowledge being shared by our line-up of presenters and facilitators, the knowledge shared between delegates during lunch and coffee breaks and doing my bit to share. For those unable to be with us, knowledge sharing doesn't end at the workshop. It's made available on-line (explicit), the action verb in this case is - you've guessed - "published".

I can't yet put a figure on the value of all of this shared knowledge, but I know we're going to have a room full of knowledge, plenty of actions, so one thing for sure is that lots of knowledge + lots of actions = lots of value!

Hope to see you at the workshop or online.

Steve Dale

The Big Launch - a counterintuitive view

The business need was articulated, lessons have been applied, investment made in marketing materials, senior people briefed and supportive, facilitators' training organised, content seeding primed. So, you are all set to launch the big push for your organisation's new Community of Practice?
Wait!


Is a big launch with senior people backing the new Community of Practice the right thing to do?


At the recent Knowledge and Innovation Network Roundtable event, it was posited that a 'big launch' or aggressive marketing may be counter-productive for online community initiatives. It appears from the work done by the UK Local Government Association that their most sustainable and vibrant communities gain traction and engagement best from word of mouth. This is borne out by the success of many 'viral' communities; those that have sprung up because of a grass-roots need to connect. In some cases these may initially be successful because they do not carry the imprimatur of the organisation.

KIN research has shown that most sustainable Communities of Practice do have a clear purpose, trained leaders that are given time to facilitate the group and support from the leadership. This investment by the organisation can be light-touch; providing the capability, tools and support for individuals to make connections. 

Perhaps the big fanfare is best left until the Community is established and achieving some of it's goals.