Course Description
This workshop-based course focuses on the systematic generation, exploration, and refinement of innovative ideas within creative, technological, and entrepreneurial contexts. It integrates theories of creativity, cognitive processes, and collaborative innovation with practical ideation methodologies used in design, entrepreneurship, and cultural production.
Students engage in intensive creative sprints, problem-framing exercises, and collaborative ideation sessions that move beyond spontaneous brainstorming toward structured, research-informed creativity.
Emphasis is placed on divergent and convergent thinking processes, interdisciplinary collaboration, and rapid concept testing. The workshop develops students’ capacity to generate high-quality ideas that are novel, relevant, and strategically viable.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this workshop, students will be able to:
Knowledge
- Demonstrate understanding of creativity theories and innovation ideation frameworks
- Explain cognitive mechanisms underlying idea generation and creative problem-solving
- Analyze the role of structured creativity within innovation processes
Skills
- Apply systematic ideation techniques to complex challenges
- Facilitate collaborative creative sessions and design sprints
- Translate abstract concepts into structured opportunity statements
- Evaluate and refine ideas using feasibility and impact criteria
Competencies
- Generate innovative solutions in uncertain and ambiguous contexts
- Collaborate effectively across disciplines in creative problem-solving
- Integrate creativity methods into entrepreneurial and design workflows
- Balance originality with strategic relevance
Key Topics Covered
- Theories of creativity and innovation
- Divergent and convergent thinking processes
- Problem framing and reframing techniques
- Structured ideation methods (design sprints, creative matrices, SCAMPER, etc.)
- Collaborative creativity and team dynamics
- Rapid concept testing and feedback loop
- Opportunity recognition and evaluation
- Creativity under constraints
- From idea to early concept development