1. Humanities
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik
Aerospace Engineering Department,
Cairo University
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

2. Innovation
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

3. What is innovation?
● We often use the words "creativity" and
"innovation" interchangeably but we should
not. Creativity is about coming up with
ideas while innovation is about "bringing
ideas to life." While individuals may display
creativity, innovation occurs in the
organizational context only, by bringing
creative ideas to life.
"Business Improvement Architects"
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

4. What is innovation?
● The term innovation derives from the Latin word
innovatus, which is the noun form of innovare "to renew or
change," stemming from in—"into" + novus—"new".
● Innovation generally refers to the creation of better or
more effective products, processes, technologies, or ideas
that are accepted by markets, governments, and society.
● Innovation differs from invention or renovation in that
innovation generally signifies a substantial positive change
compared to incremental changes.
“Wikipedia"
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

5. The Idea Hunter
Andy Boyton & Bill Fischer
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

6. Idea vs Thing
George Bernard Shaw
“If you have an apple and I have an apple
and we exchange these apples then you
and I will still each have one apple.
But if you have an idea and I have an idea
and we exchange these ideas, then each
of us will have two ideas.”
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

7. Learning
“There are not one but two products of the
work that people do. The first is the actual
thing we make or the service we provide or
the process we manage.
The second product, no less essential is
what we learn along the way.”
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

8. The I-D-E-A Principles
● Be Interested not just interesting
● Diversify the hunt
● Exercise hunting for ideas
● Be Agile in hunting for ideas
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

9. Be Interested not just interesting
● “I have no special talents. I am only
passionately curious.” - Albert Einstein
● “Good artists copy. Great artists steal.” -
Pablo Picasso
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

10. Diversify the hunt
● “I almost never look to the existing
discipline for new ideas.” - Jack Hughes
● “It is hardly possible to overrate the value...
of placing human beings in contact with
persons dissimilar to themselves, and with
modes of thought and action unlike those
with which they are familiar.” - John Stuart
Mill
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

11. Exercise hunting for ideas
● “People learn by doing... and by reflecting
on what they are doing. Training yourself to
notice things is part of the observational
platform.”
● “Writing down your thoughts and
observations -and keeping them in a
readily accessible place- are necessary
habits of the Hunt.”
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

12. Be Agile in hunting for ideas
● Agile means to move quickly and lightly,
Wiki.answers.com
● Agile means quick or lively,
answer.ask.com
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

13. Where Good Ideas
Come From
Steven Johnson
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

14. Adjacent Possible
● Good ideas are not conjured
out of thin air; they are built out
of a collection of existing parts,
the composition of which
expands (and, occasionally,
contracts) over time
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

15. How to develop good ideas
● Liquid Network
● Serendipity
● Slow hunches
● Error
● Noise
● Exaptations
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

16. Liquid Network
● Not so rigid that ideas can’t grow and
develop
● Not so much space where ideas can’t
reach each other.
● Free flow of ideas allows ideas to connect,
grow, reconnect with others.
● Liquid networks complete ideas.
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

17. Serendipity
● You have to set out in good faith for
elsewhere and lose you bearings
serendipitously.
● Go for a walk, take a shower/bath - remove
yourself from the problem
● According to NYTimes, web has pushed
culture toward more serendipitous
encounters.
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

18. Slow Hunch
● Hunch that developed over time is more
common than sudden flash of inspiration
● Have to keep hunch alive
● Keep a journal or commonplace book and
review it to refresh your hunch
● Sleeping on the problem actually helps
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

19. Error
● Spark gap telegraph led to the invention of
vacuum tubes, which in turn led to
computers, television, etc.
● Fleming discovered penicillin by bacteria
accidentally entering his lab
● Error in reaching for a resistor led from an
oscillator that recorded heartbeats to the
pacemaker that regulates them
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

20. Noise
● Albert Einstein has been considered the
patron saint of useful messiness, and once
stated “The cluttered desk signs a cluttered
mind; what does an empty desk sign?
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

21. Exaptation
● Defined as using a feature or structure for
something other than its original intended
purpose.
● Ex. In Indonesia, Timothy Prestero
redesigned neonatal incubators out of
automobile parts because the locals had
access to and knowledge of automobile
engines.
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

22. Innovation You
Jeff Degraff
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

23. Prismatic Thinking
● Colors of Innovation
● The Russian nesting Dolls
● How you innovate is what you innovate
● Create Capacity
● Avoid the negative zone
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

24. Colors of Innovation
● Green – Create – Influential personality
● Blue – Compete – Decisive personality
● Red – Control – Careful personality
● Yellow – Collaborate – Social Personality
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

25. The Russian nesting dolls
● Look up, down, and around
● You, your community, and the whole world
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

26. How you innovate is what you
innovate
● Think through the whole picture, the colors
and the nesting dolls, and change your
way of thinking
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

27. Create Capacity
● Time is limited
● Money is limited
● Brain capacity is limited
● You have to give up something to give
room for new things
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik

28. Avoid the negative zone
● Too much of anything is bad
● Ask friends to help you out
● Think about why are you thinking this way
Genn001 – Humanities
Fall 2011
Dr. Mohammad Tawfik