KI tries to stay in touch with the scientists and academics who’ve come through our events, to track the progress of their projects, monitor the impact of the Sandpit (a.k.a. Ideas Lab) and how it accelerates scientific innovation and also just to hear from participants, with some time to reflect, about their experience at our workshops. Here’s another Sandpit tale, following up on two projects that we’ve had the privilege of midwifing in the last few years.
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Knowinnovation has been facilitating Sandpits and Ideas Labs for a number of years, and this has has given us the opportunity to witness the emergence of some fascinating science. In many ways, KI is like a midwife, creating an open environment for different perspectives to collide, which leads to new questions that ultimately provoke new ideas for innovative research. We get to see all these ideas come to life, but then what? Lately we’ve been trying to find out.

In December of 2008, KI facilitated the Digital Economy Sandpit, a 5-day event sponsored by the EPSRC and the TSB. An unusual point about that Sandpit merits mention: every proposal was strong enough to be funded and all the participants left with at least one role in a funded project. Keep reading »

You walk into the conference room to find a long string of tables, laid out in a U-shaped formation. Or maybe there are rows of narrow tables, at each chair, a place-setting of paper and a hotel pen, a small doily rests under each designated water glass. The fluorescent overhead lights buzz, the dark, dirt-hiding carpet ties the room together in a blandly professional way.

It’s going to be one of those meetings, you think, already dreading the next few hours or days that you’ll be sequestered in this room, suffering death by talking head or Powerpoint – or both. Keep reading »

We’ve received an increasing number of requests to run a shorter version of the Sandpit innovation event. This is, no doubt, a reaction to the recession and a reflection of the pressures on organisations to deliver greater value with less time and less money.

A five-day Sandpit often produces astonishing results, but what happens if the event is compressed into a shorter period of time? Do breakthroughs happen in the same way, or is there a minimum time required to achieved innovation? In an attempt to answer these questions we’ve designed a new event called a Jumpstart. It is literally that – a jumpstart to enable the right people to come together and start the creative process. If a Sandpit is a marathon, the Jumpstart is a sprint, the 100-metre dash that allows people to get their creative juices flowing, which hopefully results in solutions to challenges or problems. Keep reading »

So much depends on getting the right people in the room. A workshop designed to produce innovative outcome can fail – even with the perfect agenda design and the most astute facilitators – if the people who’ve been assembled don’t have the right spirit and motivation to help it succeed.  But how do you get the right minds in the right place?

Bharat Maldé is an organisational psychologist who works closely with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the first proponent of the Sandpit process.  We believe his guidance is critical to the success of these workshops, which is why we asked him to talk about his experience working with the EPSRC and other scientific research organizations, screening applicants for the intense Sandpit event. Keep reading »

There is an alchemy of elements to create a successful workshop. It includes a casual setting that creates an open climate, a thoughtful agenda design, delivery by facilitators who can build a rapport with the participants, and the presence of willing, committed participants.

We recently facilitated a retreat for an organization that brought together their staff for strategic alignment and team building purposes, and it was impressive how smoothly the meeting flowed. Every activity, from the ice-breakers to the serious up-to-your-elbows addressing-conflict exercises worked like a charm. When it was time to change sub-groups, the groups shifted around. When we switched activities, the group followed. When it was time to reflect, they went quiet and made notes. When it was time to debrief, they talked, with passion and commitment. When it was time for play, the group played. After three days together, we met all the objectives of the meeting. Keep reading »