Journal # 3

My creativity level has flourished and my innovation level has raised since starting this class. My personal goal is to utilize the knowledge I have gained. I believe my creativity is at a 10 and my innovation level is at a 7. I still have a ways to go to become a 10 in innovation. I believe I have gained some milestones in innovation. I do exercises with my mind by looking at everyday household things and work on finding what else it could be or how else I can use them. I have had a lot of fun thinking about what I could make out of them. As far as the barriers go, I am still hurdling them. As I grow with the innovation, the barriers will become non-existent. My idea for our project that we didn't use was to use a cell phone that could project holograms. The phone would be used for medical personnel so that when they went to a crash site, the hologram of the Dr. could literally walk around the patient and diagnose what is wrong. It would be just like the Dr. was there at the site. He would be able to touch the patient and bend down to the patient. This would enable the medical staff responding to get a more accurate diagnosis and possibly save more lives. I think this could be possible in the future with the way technology is advancing all the time. This is the type of thinking I need to encourage in myself and use innovation in my future job. I will remember how to have fun while doing this and remember there is always more than one way to do things. If I go into manufacturing, there are endless possibilities such as finding a new way to make a product that is more efficient and less expensive. Being creative with new packaging is another way to be innovative. I could find a way to advertise our business in an innovative way. There are so many possibilities for being innovative. The list could go on and on. I know now that I will never look at an item in the same way again.

Individual Innovation Journal 2

After the first three classes, I find myself looking at things somewhat differently. I think about how I could make it better. I think about what it would be if I just add this or that. I think about how many right answers it could have.  My creativity is blossoming into a more open fashion. I am experimenting with more colors in my paintings and my writings are more creative and "out there" as opposed to a few weeks ago.
Our group has been working on our project and I think we can come up with some more innovative ideas as to how to present it. We have taken a common object and we are giving it a new twist. We are all working on developing our wiki and I think it is coming along fine. We are still working on the wiki and we are finding new ways to define it.
The barriers I faced in my last journal entry are still there but I feel they are loosening a bit. It will take time for me to become completely innovative and I don't know if I ever will, but I am working on it and I think I am making some progress.
Since I am not working at this time, I looked up what could be innovative ideas in manufacturing. I find it is a way to present a product, finding new markets for said product, or finding a new use for the product. Innovation helps find new, lower cost materials that deliver the same if not better results. Innovation is allowing your employees to come up with ideas for doing things better and for seeing the ideas through.(http://www.suite101.com/content/innovation-management-for-business-survival-a164571...)
The activities in class are helping me think about items in new ways and how we could change an item or enhance the item. I find innovation to be stimulating and gratifying. I am enjoying and learning new things in each class each week.