Are all innovators the same kind of innovator? It seems unlikely that in a field like innovation that the recipe for success is always the same. It's also pretty unhelpful and unhealthy to imagine all innovators are the same kinds of people. That would rather reinforce the idea that some people are 'innovators' and others are not. … Continue reading What’s your Innovation ‘style’?

This whole #sideproject thing of mine was originally kick-started in part by a Do Lectures event and blog on the same subject. So it's great to see this new Do Lectures Report on Side Projects. You can buy your own copy here and I thoroughly recommend you do so. It's full of some great insights, … Continue reading The Side Project Report

As part of my ongoing exploration of ‘Side Projects’ I’ve decided to start interviewing some individuals whose extra-curricular activities might help investigate and explore both the nature of side projects and the strategies for success. For my third interview in the series I caught up with another friend who not only has his own side … Continue reading Side Project Stories #3: The Next Challenge

I teach entrepreneurship so naturally I talk about Minimum Viable Products, Prototyping, and even Pretotyping (the pre-prototype). All these things essentially point to creating tangible early mock-ups and versions of your idea to test; sometimes just the simple act of embodying it, drawing it, writing it, saying it out loud provides immediate insights that were … Continue reading Side Projects: A Minimum Viable Theory

As part of my ongoing exploration of 'Side Projects' I've decided to start interviewing some individuals whose extra-curricular activities might help investigate and explore both the nature of side projects and the strategies for success. Holly Davies For my second interview I rang up my good friend and fellow mountain-enthusiast Holly Davies who started Holly Cooks in … Continue reading Side Project Stories #2: Holly Cooks

This week I was an invited keynote speaker for a 'Creating Positive Change' event which aimed to inspire and support university research students to pursue socially enterprising research applications and careers in social entrepreneurship. It was organised by Bath Spa University, the University of Bristol, the University of Exeter, and UWE Bristol. For many years … Continue reading From Research to Social Entrepreneurship

As part of my ongoing exploration of 'Side Projects' I've decided to start interviewing some individuals whose extra-curricular activities might help investigate and explore both the nature of side projects and the strategies for success. Alex Thomas For my first interview I caught up with my good friend Alex Thomas - whose side project is … Continue reading Side Project Stories #1: The Pipe Dream

What happens when a company supports Side Projects? Last week I got to visit 3M's UK HQ in Bracknell, meeting up with one of their Innovation leads, to talk about creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurial thinking. 3M's positioning innovation at the core of their business is probably the reason they are so successful. However, because I've … Continue reading The Corporate Side Project

So as I mentioned in my last blog, the notion of the 'side project' really appealed to me as I always seem to have several simmering away at different stages of development. But what separates a 'side project' from a hobby? Is there a useful distinction? Side Projects vs Hobbies I think side projects and hobbies overlap … Continue reading Side Projects vs Hobbies

I teach a tech start-up module for Masters students here at the University of Bristol. For most of the ~150 finalist engineers who take the module its their first taste of start-up and we shamelessly focus on the 'business' aspect rather than the 'tech' as the rest of their degree handles that. Most of our … Continue reading Entrepreneurship equals Employability