One major takeaway was that the Discover and Define phases took far longer than anticipated, this “diamond” truly was half the process. Creating and testing real prototypes seemed the best way to move it forward.  An interesting result of this process was the new question “How might we facilitate remote collaboration?” which arose as a result of the primary and secondary research into intersectional innovation.

A goal of mine was to make this project itself an intersectional innovation.  I do think that was successful–it lies at the intersection of remote collaboration and innovation strategy.  It is also a combination of database technology and design methodologies.  I was able to interview someone from another industry (law) that dealt with similar themes (making abstract connections), and incorporated the solution of a database. However, a particular aspect of this was the large number and variety of filters used in legal databases, which I was not able to incorporate into the relatively rudimentary database I created. 

The database is the least finished aspect of the project.  In its current form, it does not provide the users with the specific strategies from other industries, merely leads them to the industry for ideation inspiration. In this way it does not completely address an initial goal of mine. Future iterations will more successfully address this, and incorporate the filters inspired by legal databases. I envision it as a networked bubble map, selectable by theme and automatically reorganizing based on some selection of Theme→Industry→Field→Specific solution/technique/innovations for inspiration. Ideally future iterations would incorporate this into the immersive space, rather than relying on a screen share.  I would also like to explore 3D data visualization–perhaps each node is a sphere in the 3D space rather than a circle on the wall.  Another way to take advantage of the virtual space would be to change the setting and skybox to reflect the industry currently providing inspiration.  

I would also like to push the workshop exercises further.  Stakeholder exploration could be more effective and engaging if users could change their avatars to appear like the stakeholder in question.  This could increase empathy, and facilitates restructuring the exercise to an interview format.  Randomly generating 3D models in the “Abstract” room could provide an opportunity for unexpected associations and divergent ideation. I would like to test other exercises to potentially add to the workshop. Particular exercises mind mapping (brainstorming related concepts around a central idea),  analogy mapping (considering a challenge in a different domain industry and mapping it onto the current problem), and reverse brainstorming (ideate ways to exacerbate the problem, the work backwards to identify root causes).