Ecology of innovation

An ecology of innovation balances play and efficiency.

Deep within the Valley Life Sciences building at the University of California, Berkeley, a team of scientists is hard at work. They watch their subject – a tiny cockroach – skittering back and forth across a table. Strange as it may seem, this little critter has a lot to teach.

The researchers want to know how this bug moves with such agility. It’s mostly out of curiosity, but the discoveries they make will be put to valuable use down the line. In fact, cockroach locomotion has already inspired this lab’s most notable creation: RHex, a bionic robot designed to crawl through combat zones.

This lab is successful because it’s created the ideal ecology of innovation – one that asks questions first and refines answers later.

Many people have a fundamental misunderstanding of innovation. They think that new ideas are generated when there’s a specific goal in mind. But, in reality, the opposite is true. Aiming for a predetermined outcome means you’ve already made numerous assumptions about the world. And, as we’ve learned, assumptions limit our creativity.

Innovation works a lot better when it’s treated like play. So, rather than approaching the tasks of learning, thinking, and doing with a specific objective, it’s better just to enjoy them as activities for their own sake. With this mindset, sometimes called “blue-sky thinking,” you’re more likely to follow your curiosity, try out new approaches, and come up with original ideas.

Once you have a lot of original concepts to work with, you can start refining them to see which ones are useful. This is similar to the process of evolution in nature. First, species will mutate and change in a variety of unpredictable ways. Then the process of natural selection will take over. Bad changes will be eliminated and good ones will stick around, resulting in new creatures perfectly adapted to their habitat.

This cycle of creation and refinement works in any field. Whether you’re a scientist experimenting in a lab or an artist crafting your own personal style, it’s always best to start with unrestrained thought. In other words, when it comes to innovation, it’s best to deviate from the norm now, and worry about the details later.