April 1, 2020, by aczjb1

Ingenuity Online – Professor Simon Mosey

We define Ingenuity as ‘solving problems by thinking differently’ and we have never seen so much Ingenuity unleashed across the world.

In a matter of weeks, and in some cases hours, decisions have been made and actions put in place that would previously have been considered impossible.

At our University, we have closed virtually all our campuses, ensured that the majority of staff can work from home and transitioned our teaching and support for students from face to face to online in a matter of days.

Without diminishing the disruption, stress and anxiety this has caused, I am inspired by stories of how some of these experiences have been much better than anticipated. For instance, one of our student ventures, Avocafe has closed their restaurant, created an online delivery service and been overwhelmed by the demand for home delivery of healthy, nutritious meals.

I am reminded of our research into innovation in the NHS. Working with a mental health trust we helped them to offer therapy sessions online for the first time. Therapists were surprised by how easy this was and reported an unexpected benefit. Now they were receiving requests for therapy from individuals, such as teenagers and war veterans, that would not have done so had it been face to face.

I would like to thank the whole HGI team for responding to these unprecedented challenges with such positivity and a special thanks goes out to our Entrepreneurs in Residence who have transitioned seamlessly to providing online support to our student entrepreneurs. Their online surgeries on managing cashflow and coping with change are proving invaluable and we plan to livestream their experiences to the wider business community to encourage even more Ingenuity to be unleashed.

On World Creativity and Innovation Day on 21 April we will be holding an online event for Ingenuity Lab members, HGI students and Witty Scholars – Creativity in Crisis – exploring how entrepreneurs can respond to the Covid-19 crisis in a positive way. If you are interested in joining, fill out this Form and you’ll be added to the Virtual Lab Teams page.

Please join the conversation on our social channels and let us know how you’re dealing with the crisis!

This blog is written by Professor Simon Mosey, Director of the Haydn Green Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

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