This document provides tips for finding creative ideas as a team. It suggests getting inspiration from problems users face, observing how people workaround frustrations, exploring your company's existing unused assets, tracking trends, researching history and old ideas, observing extreme users, and browsing sources randomly for Eureka moments. The overall message is that being open to diverse sources of information can trigger novel ideas.

1. IDEA HUNTING
Tips for your team to find more crea;ve ideas.
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Photo: flickr cc usfws_pacificsw

2. Tech
IN THIS DECK
TrendsYour assets History
Other industries Reverse Innova;on
VCs Science Fic;on
Problems
Extreme users Random
Prepare your team for an idea;on session.
An overview with prac8cal 8ps that literally everyone can use.
Get inspira;on from

3. Problems
How & where to find problems of users, clients,…

4. Observe how people create
workarounds to fix (small) frustra8ons,
or temporary solu8ons,…
It could indicate there is a bigger
problem to solve!
example: airport context, not losing things.
“people take pics of their own car,
in large parkings to help them retrieve their car
a7er 2 weeks.”

5. example: airport context, not losing things.
“The shoes of this girl make a sound at every
step to help her parents not lose her in the
crowd.”
example: airport context, not losing things.
“Do you no?ce how people are struggling with
the same black suitcases? How to fix this?”
Look around you, every day you can easily spot
+10 problems that need a beTer solu;on.

6. People discuss ‘problems’ on specialized Q/A plaZorms.
Browse to find similar pains that beg for a solu8on.
example: “How to + Invoicing”
on quora.com
example:
“/r/invoicing” on Reddit.com

7. Track what people search for via
Keyword monitor services
e.g. hTp://keywordtool.io
Filter on ‘Youtube’. Many use
this plaQorm to find video guides
on how to solve specific problems.

8. Browse ‘guides’ websites on how to
fix & repair products.
e.g. instructables.com e.g. ifixit.com

9. Need more structure in your
innova;on process?
just reach out to us via
hello@boardofinnova8on.com
or boardofinnova8on.com

10. Your Assets
Explore how you could re-use your exis8ng assets,
but in a different context.

11. 3 op;ons
How your own assets of your company
can lead to new ideas & revenue streams:
Sharing Alt Use Create

12. The most obvious, but least exci;ng way:
Make some of your own resources/assets
available to others + ask for rent or other reward.
example: construc@on industry
Via plaForms like anyquip.com companies can
rent out their assets that are idle or unused.
Sharing Alt Use Create

13. Find an alterna;ve use:
Let others access your assets for a different purpose.
example: Logis@cs & Pharma
Leverage the global distribu?on network of
Coca-Cola to distribute live-saving medicine to
the most rural areas. Coca-cola is everywhere!
Sharing Alt Use Create

14. example: Logis@cs
The US Postal office has equipped some of their
trucks with cameras & sensors to monitor noise
levels, pavement,… to offer to the local city.
example: Smart city
Some ci?es re-use their ‘trash cans’ to monitor
crowd density by integra?on of wifi sensors to
track smartphones nearby.

15. Most difficult op;on:
Use your exis8ng assets (+ new assets) to create something
new that could be valorized.
Sharing Alt Use Create
example: Byproducts from Cereal
An easy starter is to focus on “waste” that your
assets already create. An addi?onal process step
could make your “waste” valuable to others.

16. Trends
Spot changes in consumer behaviour & society in general
that could impact your industry.

17. It’s not your goal to predict the future.
Just use Trends & Forecasts to ask beTer “what if” ques;ons:
Time
example: “What if consumers only trust companies that
are fully transparent about their supply chain?”

18. Example tool (basic insights)
trends.google.com/trends/explore
Example: Rising interest for “parental leave” in Germany

19. Explore industry specific Trends (sites & reports)
Finance:
Travel:
Pharma/medical:
Telco:
Automo8ve:
Food:
airlinetrends.com
bankinnova8on.net
trendhunter.com/food
automo8vemegatrends.com
…
medicalfuturist.com
telecomstechnews.com

20. History
You don’t need to re-invent everything. Old ideas, in a new
context can trigger new opportuni8es!

21. Old ideas?
Ask yourself, why didn’t it work at that 8me?
What can we do be`er today?
1967 2017

22. Browse old (failed) patents on patents.google.com
Some8mes a patent is not the right solu8on yet,
but indicates there is at least a relevant problem to solve.
1994
Hands-free pet carrier
NYC Subway Bans Dogs
Unless They Fit into a Bag.2016
S?ll no decent solu?on yet…

23. 1948 Tucker Sedan
Way ahead of compe??on, 1948 Tucker
Sedan has incorporated seat belts, disc
brakes & fuel injec?on. 50 cars were
produced and it was considered a failed
product. 10 years later it became common
prac?ce.
Bar codes
Invented in 1948, but they only became
popular in the late six?es. What inven?ons of
10y ago could be commercialized today?

24. Tech
People can start dreaming when they see the poten8al of
new tech, but try to look beyond buzzwords.

25. Spoang new tech is easy…
But how to translate this info into new ideas?
MIT Tech Review Wired Tech Vimeo Tech

26. Example: start from this technology “Face Recogni;on”
The most obvious ideas would be:
Security; log into computer with my face; photo tagging; …

27. But, try to start by wri;ng down all new ‘features’
this tech could offer today/tomorrow. Be very specific!
- Detect disgust
- Count # of people in a room
- Check if someone lies?
- Track ?redness?
- Spot siblings
- Transi?on of emo?ons
- Aerac?veness
- Medical condi?ons
- …
Once you have a list, it’s easier to generate new ideas.
Where could this feature become valuable?
Example: Track Tiredness (use case in the car, produc?on facility, sports, educa?on,…)

28. Other industries
Explore other markets. Understand how other companies
innovate in their domain.

29. Start from a first idea. Put this idea in other contexts
(other industries) to generate alterna;ve ideas.
Fill empty fields

30. Check for your concept (or similar) in a database +
browse related items to find more inspira;on.
example: tracxn.com
How are ‘industrial robo?cs’
used in a wide range of sectors?

31. Example search via crunchbase.com
What are remarkable startups in different industries
that are using ‘auc8ons’.
All different industries

32. Reverse innova;on
Rural areas & development na8ons have to be more
crea8ve due to the lack of resources.

33. Designed for rural India:
The Leveraged Freedom Chair. focus: low-
cost, long distance rough terrain,…
Later on, adapted for wealthy
consumers who need an off-road
mobility solu@on.

34. You start from a context with extreme limita;ons:
(developing na8ons = an interes8ng context to explore)
Try to copy some of these principles to your
normal business context.
How to build a messaging
solu?on, without central
network or internet?
hep://firech.at
Cool food at a very low cost,
no compressor,..?
hep://www.chotukool.com

35. The 50-cent microscope to detect Malaria
and Tuberculosis
h`ps://www.foldscope.com/
Originally designed for
developing countries
Foldscope™ is being used by
schools and researchers all
around the world

36. VC & Investors
It’s their job to look ahead of what’s coming.
Understand why they move in a certain direc8on.

37. How to keep an eye on investors:
Quick & Dirty (Free) reports In-Depth
Whatever format fits you. Just regular but small updates,
or detailed reports!

38. Quick & Dirty (Free) reports In-Depth
whogoQunded.com/top-100
A monthly overview of
deals & investors
www.launch8cker.com
A daily news-mailing, including
funding rounds.

39. Quick & Dirty (Free) reports In-Depth
KPMG creates reports on
Venture Capital trends,
free to download.
CBinsights, one of the leading
analysts in this field, offers regular
extensive reports. Some are
free to download.

40. Quick & Dirty (Free) reports In-Depth
Specialized services
example below: CBinsights Mosaic & Smart Money
check other tools: ma`ermark.com/discovery/ or pitchbook.com/products/plaQorm

41. Science Fic;on
Get your inspira8on from sci-fi movies & novels
where they explore new ideas on how people
interact with products & services.

42. Step 1: Watch a movie for the story & entertainment value.
Step 2: Rewatch your movie, but pay close a`en8on to new
products & services. Omen there are remarkable but subtle
new inven8ons in the background, inspired by real research.
Example: BLACK MIRROR (S3e1) all
interac?ons with others lead to a ‘life’-
score. Some products are only for
people with minimum life-score.
Based on: voice assistants, smart
lenses, full connected API’s, credits
score,…

43. Remember the Power Mags from Back to The Future in 1989?
You can buy them for 720$ now.

44. In 2009 Young-suk Kim designed an
all-in-one credit card
In 2016 Stratos, Coin, Plas8c, Swyp are
figh8ng to become credit card of the
future by releasing all-in-one credit card
Designers are great at imagining how future products
could look like.
There must be a reason why car manufacturers create
future concepts of the cars, right?

45. Extreme users
Don’t focus on average users & customers.
Look for outliers. They will challenge your assump8ons.

46. People you want to focus on
while idea;ng
What would you current offer look
like if it was only used by extremes?
Example: What if smartphones were
used by people who want modern
design, but only use phones for calling?

47. The person who made TwiTer use #hashtag
You heard me right, it wasn’t Twi`er’s idea to use hashtags. Chris Messina and other
extreme & early users of Twi`er needed a way to group tweets by topic.
Follow your extreme user behavior
to understand their needs.

48. Inspira;on behind Epson’s new revolu;onary printer
Extreme users got fed up
with buying expensive
cartridges all the 8me.
Therefore, made tweaks to
their current printers
Epson came up with
“revolu8onary” printer

49. Random inspira;on
Have 8me and want to browse the web for possible EUREKA
moments? Here are some sources to start with.

50. If you’re stuck just try to free up your mind by browsing
some of the following sources for inspira;on:
behance.net adsomheworld.com tumblr.com
stumbleupon.com producthunt.com

51. So what are we missing here?
Send your 8ps to
zygi.krupskis@boardofinnova8on.com
www.boardofinnova8on.com