Michelin announces winners of its College for Creative Studies design competition:

Michelin and Detroit’s College for Creative Studies revealed the submissions to the 23rd annual CCS Michelin Design Competition, a celebration of student automotive design, crazy transportation ideas, and perhaps the future of urban transportation.

http://rumors.automobilemag.com/michelin-announces-winners-of-its-college-for-creative-studies-design-challenge-92863.html

This year, the challenge pit four teams – each comprised of four students — against each other in a theme called City 2046: Art, Life, and Ingenuity. The project: take a style of city, then create a slate of vehicles that cope with that city’s unique challenges, and design it all for the year 2046… interesting to see students being challenged to think creatively to solve real world problems.

One way to stimulate creativity is humor. Edward de Bono recommends this quite consistently in his works. And when you want to be jerked out of fixed pattern thinking what is better than a RGM - Rube Goldberg Machine?

Rube Goldberg’s legendary capacity to make simple things complex (yes, you read it right!) has captivated me from my first encounter with his works in mid 80s.

Here is a video just one of the umpteen ones on YouTube. Just an appetizer this. Caution: RGM is addictive!

Discoveries show creativity and diversity of behavior in early humans

Fun theory claims that fun can change behavior. And the proof here.

Poka Yoke or mistake proofing

these examples are really ingenious solutions. Which of them qualify as examples of lateral thinking?

Inventions that revolutionize the world are, in large part, a product of lateral thinking. Here’s a look at the very first electric light bulbs invented and produced by Thomas Edison.

Edward De Bono, the champion of Lateral Thinking, discusses the importance of teaching youngsters the “skill” of thinking. This is a valuable element of academic teaching that is very rarely considered.

Often, knowing what “not” to do is half the battle. So, here are “Ten Mental Blocks to Creative Thinking,” followed by a terrific sci-fi example of creative thinking]:

http://www.copyblogger.com/mental-blocks-creative-thinking/

1. Trying to Find the “Right” Answer
2. Logical Thinking
3. Following Rules
4. Being Practical
5. Play is Not Work
6. That’s Not My Job
7. Being a “Serious” Person
8. Avoiding Ambiguity
9. Being Wrong is Bad
10. I’m Not Creative

Discuss: Where is lateral thinking needed more?

Today I was called in to judge a competition where management school students were presenting their new business ideas. I came away with the impression that students have novel ideas for new products or services but are weak in ideas for realizing those products into actual businesses. In a word they are fairly okay with the WHAT but not okay with HOW.

So I am wondering whether we have enough good examples of how lateral thinking helped in putting into the market a new product idea.

William Kamkwamba, the young man in Malawi who, at age 14, built a windmills to bring electiricity to his village is one of the great lateral thinkers. He built hiw windmills based only on pictures he saw in a book. Everyone in his village mocked his efforts, calling him crazy…until the electricity his windmill produced changed the life of everyone in the village.