Amnon and I presented last week in Greener by Design (GbD) in San Francisco, subtitled “Greener Products for Leaner Times”. Our innovation message for companies working on going greener was to focus on finding and tackling their fixedness.
Cognitive Fixedness, first defined by psychologist Karl Duncker, prevents individuals and companies from creating new configurations in the systems they manage. This often blocks us from seeing potential efficiencies and material reduction, and breakthrough solutions to problems. SIT tools help break 3 kinds of cognitive fixedness:
1. Structural – The tendency to view products and systems as a complete gestalt. Many of SIT’s tools help break this particular fixedness. The following water saving toilet (click to check out the cool animation!) was developed by Villeroy-Boch in an SIT workshop. Multiplying the water streams resulted in more pressure in each stream, therefore requiring less water. This product won the ISH Innovation Prize and was chosen by Deutsche Bank in its transformation of its HQ to be the most environmentally friendly high-rises in Europe.
2. Functional – Seeing objects as capable only of fulfilling their original function. SIT uses the Task Unification tool to help innovators find new uses for existing resources, thus forcing them find new functions for available objects and tackle functional fixedness. My previous post described several such uses of unexpected resources for generating energy.
Continue reading ‘Become greener by breaking fixedness’
Posted in Fixednesses and
Greenovation categories |
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Our latest Innovation Community meeting focused on Sustainability and Innovation.
The Israeli Innovation Community brings together, for networking and enrichment, top managers and individuals with an interest in innovation. The meetings are interactive, informal and down to earth, and always include discussions among the participants and with the lecturers.
Continue reading ‘Sustainability and Innovation at SIT’s Innovation Community’
Posted in Greenovation categories |
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Amnon Levav,
Assif Strategies,
Darden School of Business,
Dr. Noam Gressel,
Erez Zimhony,
Frost & Sullivan GIL conference,
greener by design,
innovation,
innovation community,
sustainability,
sustainability and innovation,
Sustainable Packaging Coalition,
Yoni Stern
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A few months ago, we were invited to take part in a conference, near Washington DC, called Greener by Design.
Our theme there – we gave one plenary session and several of what we call “Innovation Flashes” in between the other sessions - was Sustainability & Innovation. When they hear the title, cynics often say “this year’s buzzword and last year’s.”, and I have to admit there is something in this remark. Still, for most companies, both them and their clients do want products to be sustainable, and competition does demand that offerings be more innovative. So in the end, not much choice these days but to aim for both S and I.
But why do we sense that a tension exists between innovation and sustainability?
Continue reading ‘Sustainability & Innovation : a love-hate relationship?’
Posted in Greenovation categories |
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