Welcome to i-lab@HE

Thu 1 Sep 2011

This is the first blog entry on a new and innovative response to the current and forthcoming challenges facing higher education.

So, why create this new process and area of activity and why now?

Well, firstly I had the good fortune to hear and subsequently meet Clayton Chistensen at an event I was helping facilitate in Boston in 2009. I had read much of his work on disruptive innovation and was already a fan but hearing it in person inspired me to explore this topic in more detail. The more I did, the more I became convinced we have much to gain from the work he and others have been doing in this territory for many years.
Secondly, through my consulting work I have felt for some time that a number of the changes already underway in HE are truly disruptive and will have long lasting impact. I also feel that many HE institutions will need to find even more innovative responses to these disruptions and at a speed which is much faster than before.
Finally, and perhaps most influentially, was a sense that universities probably house more creative and innovative people than other organisations but it often feels somewhat paradoxical that whilst this latent capacity exists it can so often fail to be used to deal with the leadership and organisational challenges facing institutions.

All of this led me to a key question: how can we harness the collective creativity and innovation in HE institutions? This question has driven my desire to create i-lab@HE.

Over time I hope we will co-create a creative community of innovators and leaders of innovation and develop a range of processes and techniques to respond to both internal and external challenges. I hope you will feel able to join in with this new initiative and I look forward to working with you to take this forward.

So why not take the first (small) step on our journey and join us on LinkedIn here: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=4042424.

Dr Tom Kennie, September 2011