The Innovation Diaries

Last week we journeyed out to limehouse town hall in hackney to witness the latest Dorkbot event.
Dorktbot London is the UK chapter of a global collective dedicated to people ‘doing strange things with electricity’. Now, this might sound pretty niche (and it is), but we fervently believe that the hackers are the future - look […]

Most objections against innovative ways to unearth exciting possibilities and opportunities are not actually a “No” at all.
When you ask people if they want to do something (for example “Let’s go and live with our customers for a week to discover how they actually use our products”), their consciousness will quickly rebound with what most […]

So you can find some loads of (we hope) great insights and posts here, but the folks from ?What If! can also be found blogging elsewhere - if you’d like to read more, check out some of the links below.
Blake Glenn tells how “Innovation is No Longer A Choice, It’s About Death or Glory”
Lou Burrows […]

Businessweek’s 50 Most Innovative Companies
“Strong companies understand this, and during a recession, they invest,” says Eric Schmidt, chairman and CEO of Google. “And they get pummeled for it: `How could you do this? You’re arrogant. The world is falling apart.’”
Innovation Lessons from World Of Warcraft
“One of the mantras that a large software development company uses […]

Always wanted to be an undercover agent and cause havoc in public?
Then I suggest joining Improv Everywhere’s social network where members are ‘undercover agents’ and have a license to cause scenes of chaos and fun in public places.
That’s right you heard me. Improv Everywhere’s agents create ‘missions’ where agents meet together at a designated public […]

Dear friends, family and supporters,
A huge thank you to you all for supporting me.  Last weekend I did the London Marathon in just over 5 hours.  I could have done it in a shorter time but at mile 14 my hips just locked and I had to walk for a few hundred meters - after […]

I spent yesterday afternoon at Under The Influence in Borough Market, run by Iris, who I think are the real hot agency of the moment. They had hired 5 pubs and packed them with interesting people and interesting speakers talking about all sorts of subjects to do with the future. Loads of beer, good chat […]

Would your approach to fixing a problem work better if you were thinking smaller and not bigger?
When people talk about ideation you often hear well worn phrases being bandied about – with ‘a blue skies approach’ and ‘thinking outside of the box’ coming up all to regularly. But what if your approach wasn’t to think […]

French philosopher Rene Girard, spoke of the importance of having inklings. He also points out that there are 2 elements that make up inklings:
1) A vague sense of a whole
2) A glorious detail
The first is all about how you can have an out-of-focus perspective on a a problem, like a hovering cloud. The second is […]

“Eternal Poppety-Pop” is a keyring sized game that allows users to pop plastic bubbles, which are replenished immediately and endlessly. Since its release at the end of last year, two million of the toys have been sold in a country in which bubble wrap popping is regarded not merely as a diversion from boredom but […]