Creativity and innovation are borne out of allowing people to freely collaborate and think for themselves.
The notion of a "light bulb" or "Eureka" moment is a myth, said author Steven Johnson, during the keynote address at Internet Solutions' (IS') annual Internetix conference in Sandton yesterday.
"If you go back and look at the history of truly transformative ideas, most are preceded by a long incubation period, which can take years, or even decades, before the idea crystallises into something truly useful," he said, adding that organisations that allow these ideas to develop are the ones that are the most innovative in the long run. Johnson mentioned that Tim Berners-Lee's creation of the Internet was based on a hunch he had in 1982, and eventually became the global communication network we all use today.
Companies that allow their employees to spend 20% of their time to work on their own ideas and side interests have seen significant increases in innovation, said Johnson, noting that Gmail and Google News were originally conceived as a result of this '20% creative time' plan.
Johnson unpacked a concept called the adjacent possible, which outlines the finite set of possibilities or ways a system can transform itself at any given time. The adjacent possible is as much about the possibilities as it is about the limitations, he said. To illustrate the concept, he mentioned the invention of a neonatal incubator made entirely from car parts in an area where access to medical expertise is limited, but where there is an abundance of mechanical skill. "On the outside, it appears to be an incubator, but on the inside, it's a Toyota. If you can fix a Toyota, you can fix this medical technology," he said.
For the most part, good ideas are a collection of mismatched parts, he added. "All ideas are networks, cobbled together from other ideas. This makes it important to promote environments where a variety of ideas are on the table." He calls these idea hubs 'information networks', which promote people coming together and allowing ideas to flow. When discussing these hives of creativity, Johnson alluded to the coffeehouses of the 18th Century, where thinkers came together to discuss a variety of projects, and where diversity allowed them to learn from their peers.
"New configurations allow for something innovative and new to happen," Johnson stressed. He mentioned that the idea to use a hash sign to group information on Twitter was the brainchild of Twitter users, not Twitter developers. And hashtags have become one of the most important components of the social network's business model.
He highlighted the US' 311 service as an example of an effective collaborative offering. The service is a live platform that allows US citizens to contact a call centre to lodge complaints or find out information about happenings in their area. The concept dramatically reduced congestion on the nation's 911 call centre, and provided cities with information to help them service their citizens better.
"I think these concepts are particularly relevant here in South Africa," Johnson concluded. "Open collaboration and bringing people together exponentially increases the capacity for progress, innovation and new ideas. Chance favours the collected mind."
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