At Iriss we believe that innovation is not a practice reserved for 'the creative' or 'the experts' and that people innovate all the time. We focus on how to blend and adapt ideas to support social innovation and on how we need to accept risk and failure as central components of innovation. A toolkit - Development Impact and You - has been developed by Nesta in partnership with The Rockefeller Foundation to support and encourage social innovation. It aims to help practitioners get stuck into the practical business of innovating by providing a suite of resources that are grounded in existing theories and practices of innovation, design and business development. Hundreds of tools were researched and thirty of the most useful, tried and tested were selected for inclusion in the toolkit.
The DIY tools are categorised under a series of headings ranging from developing a clear plan and clarifying priorities, to collecting inputs from others, generating new ideas and sustaining and implementing the ideas. Examples of tools include: innovation flowchart; SWOT analysis; problem definition; theory of change; question ladder; storyworld; people and connections map; fast idea generator; value mapping; improvement triggers; blueprint; marketing mix; and scaling plan. Each of the tools include an explanatory video, downloadable worksheets, detailed information on how to use it, and related case studies. People that use the tools can also share their experiences and rate the tools on the website, which others can then view. There is also blog, news and notes sections for more in-depth knowledge on the tools.
Visit Development Impact and You
Read: Iriss On...blending ideas and Iriss On...failure.
