Need Good Ideas? Hang Out at a Coffee Shop

I was putting the finishing touches on “Turning Ideas into Market-Winning Products” and decided to include a reference to Steven Johnson’s enlightening and entertaining TED talk titled “Where Good Ideas Come From.”

Coincidently, I am sitting in a coffee shop writing this – an environment Johnson says fosters innovative thinking.  I think so too!

The philosophy of developing ideas, he asserts, includes the following concepts:

• The coffee house concept – tapping into different sources for ideas, which are then combined and built upon – is the normal wellspring of innovation.
• Ideas come from a network of people, rarely from an individual.
• Looking for ideas must be purposeful.
• Provide space for “hunches” to develop.

The video is very good.  Among the important concepts, the example of creating a neo-natal incubator for use in third world countries, using a design that can be maintained locally, teaches several important lessons.