Developing Innovation Competencies for Organizations

Author(s):

Joaquin Moreno(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2012

Network:

02. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

02 SES 10 A, Organisations, Labour Market And Vocational School Management

Parallel Paper Session

Time:

2012-09-20

15:30-17:00

Room:

FCT - Aula 21

Chair:

Lorenz Lassnigg

Contribution

The economy and the society in the XXIst are ‘knowledge based’. It means that the value is based on the creation of new knowledge and their applications. Therefore creativity and innovation are key competencies, directly related to social development, competitiveness of organizations and employment. Creativity is concerned with finding new perspectives and being opened and receptive to diversity. Innovation looks for impact in a social level. Innovation process is complex involving different abilities, being creativity at the core of them. Innovation includes perception of opportunities, ideas generation and evaluation, action plans, cooperation, risk…

Concerning the level of innovation and its growth tendency the EIS 2009 Report shows a bad position for Spain and Andalucia compared with EU27mean values. Therefore we need to promote the development of creative environment for innovation.

People are in the core of innovation systems in companies, and training is a very important tool for innovation development. This is a challenge for organization and a need for them. In this framework, a course about creativity and Innovation inside the Vocational Training Program of Cadiz University was organized in 2010 and its venue was Parque Científico Tecnológico Agroindustrial, in Jerez (Spain). The objectives of the course were:

1. To know and to practice principles and methodologies for creativity and innovation.

2. To practice innovation trough the design of innovative projects.

It was organized as a blended learning course modality, with seven presential sessions (15 hours), and a total amount of 30 hours being developed during a period of forty days.

Method

In order to attain the objectives proposed, a methodological framework was designed based on the following approaches: 1.Construction of a creative and collaborative environment. 2.Use of a model of the innovation process, named CREALAB, as a structure for developing contents, methodologies and tools for innovation projects’ design. 3.Use of examples obtained from artistic creation. 4.‘Learning by doing’ applied to the innovation projects’ design. 5.Course conception as a meaningful experience for participants. For objectives and results evaluation different tools were developed: 1.A self evaluation questionnaire for personal competencies in creativity and innovation, filled at the initial and final sessions, with two levels: a global level and at specific level, through the self evaluation of eleven abilities related to innovation. 2. A global course evaluation questionnaire about the objectives, results and methodologies of the overall training action.

Expected Outcomes

Seven persons from four different companies have participated in the course. A total amount of ten projects were conceived, in different levels of development, nine of them related to companies’ problems or needs. The self evaluation difference results obtained between the initial and the final sessions of the course, at a global level, show an increase in creativity and innovation capacities of 16% and 20%. The specific self evaluation of innovation capacities, trough eleven abilities, shows a meaningful increase in eight out of them. Despite these results imply a subjective evaluation, they mean there was more confidence in personal capabilities and this conviction will be converted into a real ability once they are put into the practice. The objectives of the course have been reached in a good level (questionnaire of course evaluation) both in ‘learning methodologies’ (4.8/5 ) and ‘practice innovation’ (4.4/5). Good results are also obtained in the methodological evaluation. Participants think that the course ‘has been a creative environment’ (4.6/5), ‘has been a meaningful experience’ (4.8/5) and ‘a space of collaboration’ (4.8/5).

References

Aprender para la Sociedad de la Innovación. J. Moreno y M. A. Castro (eds). Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Cádiz, 2004. Creative problem solving: An applied university course. R. V. Valqui. Pesquisa Operacional v. 30, n. 2. 2010. European Innovation Scoreboard 2009. http://www.proinno-europe.eu/page/european-innovation-scoreboard-2009. El valor de las ideas. L. Bravandere y A. Mikolajczack. OBERON, 2000. Innovation in the Knowledge Economy, Implication for Education and Learnin. Informe OCDE, 2004. La persona protagonista de la innovación. Informe COTEC, Madrid (2007). Managing Creativity and Innovation. Harvard Business Essentials. Harvard Business School Press, 2003. Recomendación del Parlamento Europeo y del Consejo de 18 de Diciembre de 2006 sobre las competencias clave para el aprendizaje permanente.

Author Information

Joaquin Moreno (presenting / submitting)

Universidad de Cadiz

Puerto Real

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