Did you know that you can learn to be innovative?
The current working life expects graduates to develop innovation competencies, no matter what subject they have studied. This means they want you to learn how to come up with new ideas, improve existing processes, and adapt to changes. By developing these skills, you can add value to your future workplace and make a positive impact on the world around you.
You might think people are born innovative, they carry innovation in them from their birth and release it once an innovation-trigger happens in their later life.
The truth is – you can learn to be innovative regardless of what you study! It’s a skill like any other that can be trained and mastered whether you’re going to be nurse, engineer or business professional.
Raise your awareness of innovation competences with our ONLINE MEMORY GAME below!
Click the cards below to reveal the innovation competences and their descriptions, and match the cards to complete the game!
If you match the correct competence with the question, the card turns grey.
The game was developed as a part of Erasmus+ funded SINCOE project that helps learners to develop and increase their innovation competences in digital learning environments. Turku UAS is the coordinator of the project.
What are Innovation Competences?
Innovation competencies refer to the ability to introduce, create, adapt, or apply something new or improved that adds value to an organization, society, or the planet. This can include introducing new ideas, methods, processes, devices, or inventions, or making useful improvements to something that already exists. They can be divided into five dimensions needed in different phases of innovation processes.
Ability to think beyond existing ideas, rules, patterns or relationships. To generate or adapt meaningful alternatives, ideas, products, methods or services regardless of possible practicality and future added value.
- Use intuition and own knowledge to generate ideas.
- Find new ways to implement ideas.
- Create original solutions to problems or exploiting opportunities.
- Make suggestions to improve current process products or services.
- Present novel ideas.
- Show inventiveness in using resources.
- Search out new working methods, techniques or instruments.
- Refine ideas.
Ability to analyze issues, evaluate advantages and disadvantages, and estimate the risks involved for a purpose. Optional items can be used to take into consideration ethical principles, sustainability and a research-based approach.
- Use trial and error analysis for problem solving.
- Develop and experiment with new ways of problem solving.
- Challenge the current state.
- Face the task from different points of view.
- Take into account multiple impacts.
- Ask “Why?” and “Why not?” and “What if?” in a targeted manner
- Take an acceptable level of risk to support new ideas.
- Adheres to the ethical principles and values of the field of profession.
- Make decisions based on data and evidence.
- Analyze sustainability challenges, their interdependencies and the various aspects of issues and problems.
- Use information in finding, implementing and establishing sustainable solutions and operating models.
Ability to make decisions or take actions to operationalize ideas that foster positive changes. To influence creative people and those who have to implement the ideas.
- Foster improvements in working environment.
- Dare to experiment new ideas.
- Go beyond expectations in the assignment, task, or job description without being asked.
- Take action to convince people to support an innovative idea.
- Act systematically.
- Start actions without hesitation.
Ability to work effectively with others in a group.
- Be attentive when others are speaking, and responds effectively to others’ comments during the conversation.
- Invite feedback and comments.
- Takes constructive feedback into account.
- Identify the sources of conflict between themselves and others and between other people and take steps to harmonise conflict situations.
- Provide and accept constructive feedback, cooperation or help to and from team colleagues.
- Work well with others, understanding their needs.
- Consult about essential changes.
Ability to cooperate with people outside the work team who are important to the task of the group.
- Discuss with people with different kinds of ideas and perspectives to extend your own knowledge domains.
- Bring ideas from outside into the group.
- Share timely information with the appropriate stakeholders.
- Build formal and informal relationships outside the team/organisation from the beginning.
- Interact well in multidisciplinary/multicultural/international environments.