Engineering Creativity Workshop

Engineering Creativity Workshop

While creativity is normally associated with writers, artists and musicians, these are not the only fields where creativity is essential.

In order to successfully solve problems, engineers must be creative. An inventive mindset is essential for them to design new products and services or improve upon those that have already been created. Engineers need to constantly innovate in order to continue to drive economic and societal successes.

There is much more to the engineering mindset than a rational, methodical process. Take imagination. It’s brought us cars, medicine, electricity, and many of the other things we take for granted each day. In truth, behind every innovative idea is an engineer. Creativity just looks different in engineering, it’s in the approach to solving a problem rather than perhaps the more abstract notion most people might associate with the term. So it’s more a means to an end rather than an end in itself.

The best engineers are creative because they don’t just look back for solutions to current problems, they come up with brand-new ways to resolve them.

Creativity is very important for engineers because there are so many ways to solve a single problem, and the most creative ways can often lead to improvements in the design or machining process of a product. Creativity also leads to innovation.

Experts in the field of creativity say an important characteristic of a creative person is the ability to make connections between very diverse things and ideas. In the case of an engineer it helps to have a wide knowledge of various types of devices and applications of engineering principles. They should also try to be familiar with new materials, products and processes, some of which are used in recent products.

It also helps for engineers to be constantly aware of new technology which can be applied to old designs and solutions. Some existing designs might benefit from new materials or technologies. Don’t forget how computers can be useful in the design and simulation of almost anything. They can simulate a design as well as often generate many alternatives.

As creativity has become a requisite skill for engineers, tools are developed to help ameliorate the process.

One of those tools is called mind mapping, a technique that designers and engineers use to express and generate ideas. Mind mapping is a way to get all of the ideas in your head down onto paper. There is no right or wrong way to mind map. It is simply a visual representation of the thoughts in your head, and it often looks like organized chaos.

Another creative tool in the engineering field is the brain purge that helps participants empty themselves of their preconceived ideas or any idea they hold dear. a brain purge focuses on quantity versus quality. With this creativity technique, you don’t worry so much about what you are writing, but how much you can get down on the paper. There is no need to make decisions.  It is not the time to evaluate or make the plan or agonize over details.

Engineering Creativity Workshop Course by Tonex

Engineering creativity workshop helps you explore various factors that enhance and prevent creativity in people, teams, and organizations, in the field of engineering. We will concentrate on a various variable associated with creativity, including framing problems, challenging assumptions, and creative teams.

Engineering creativity workshop introduces you to a series of tools and methods for generating new ideas as an individual and as part of a team, containing opportunity identification, reframing problems, linking and integrating ideas, and challenging statements. We also cover team dynamics, creative communication, and cultures that encourage creative problem solving.

Tonex Engineering Creativity Workshop Format

Engineering creativity workshop is greatly experiential, which needs each participant to contribute in the activities and workshops actively. The workshop is consisted of lectures, group activities, case studies, and hands-on seminars. To nurture collaboration between the participants, we craft small groups for each activity. Each activity is done with a different group, so participants get a chance to collaborate with a vast range of individuals.

Audience

Engineering creativity workshop is a 3-day course designed for:

• Junior and senior engineers
• Project engineers
• Project managers
• Senior executives
• All professionals who are involved with engineering projects that require creativity skills

Training Objectives

Upon the completion of engineering creativity workshop, the attendees are able to:

• Comprehend the value of creative thinking inside the structure of engineering fields
• Comprehend the value of culture and team dynamics in creative problem solving
• Apply requirements to define the real problem
• Identify mental blocks and eliminate them by ‘blockbusting’ approaches
• Value a range of creative processes for determining solutions to the real problem
• Comprehend the process of executing a solution effectively
• Analyze a solution against the criteria of effectiveness, safety and ethics

Course Outline

Overview of Engineering Creativity

• What is engineering creativity?
• Definition of creativity
• Various approaches of creativity in engineering
• Engineering creativity theories
• Creativity vs innovation in engineering
• Importance of engineering creativity
• Value proposition of creativity engineering

Theories of Creative Processes

• Analogical thinking
• Second order change
• Lateral thinking
• Divergent thinking
• Creativity as search
• Preparation, development, elucidation
• Creativity as a mechanical process
• Creativity as nothing special

Creativity and Engineering Design

• Introduction
• The creative strategy of engineering design
• Creativity and developing engineering innovation

The Concept of Creativity and Innovation In Engineering

• Introduction
• Key concepts
• Creativity
• Defining innovation
• Creativity, innovation and engineering

Engineering Creativity in the Economy

• The knowledge economy
• The innovation imperative
• Creative engineering design and the knowledge economy

Engineering Design of Creativity

• Case based thinking and usage of first principles
• Enhancing dimensionality
• Overcoming paradoxes
• Purpose sharing

Creativity Methods

• TRIZ
• Brainstorming
• Synectics
• Morphological analysis

Creative Design Requirements

• Requirements development
• The Qualitative Change (QC) condition
• The Closed World (CW) condition
• Inventive solutions adequate conditions
• The logics behind the sufficient conditions
• The correlation between the sufficient conditions and creativity analysis

Creative Design SIT Method

• SIT method principals
• Details of SIT method
• SIT method effectiveness
• SIT vs other creative problem solving methods
  • SIT vs brainstorming
  • SIT vs RITZ
  • SIT vs synectics

The Creativity Components

• Introduction
• The creative person
  • Intelligence
  • Knowledge
  • Problem solving and creative thinking
  • Personality
  • Motivation
• The creative process
  • Cognitive models
  • Incubation theories
  • Big and small creativity
• The creative product
  • Analyzing the creative product
  • Analyzing the engineering product
  • Art and the creative product
• The creative place
• Creativity training (CT)
  • Brainstorming
  • Lateral thinking
  • Creativity games
  • Scenario planning
  • Mind mapping

Creativity and Organizations

• Introduction
  • Group environment and creativity
  • Leadership
  • Cohesiveness
  • Longevity
  • Team selection and diversity
  • Communicating knowledge
• Business management
  • Encouraging organizational construction and leadership
  • Encouraging organizational cultures
  • Understanding creativity
  • Knowledge priorities
  • Capitalizing on creativity
  • Employing for diversity
  • Proper rewards and feedback
  • Disciplinary measures, evaluation and creativity

Tonex Case-Study Sample: Creativity in Construction Engineering Design

• Description and background of construction industry
• International competition
• The innovation costs
• Breakthrough innovation
• Attaining practices and regulatory culture
• Conventional procurement
• Non-conventional procurement
• Risk reduction strategies
• Nurturing an innovative industry culture

Engineering Creativity Workshop