Inspiration

Imagine if creativity is really about taking things apart. Imagine sitting in a meeting where someone says, “We need to get more creative.” Everyone nods a bit seriously. Someone suggests a workshop. Someone else is talking about innovation. It will be big, almost festive. Then someone raises their hand and […]

Imagine that you are standing on a beach and picking up plastic. You fill a bag, then another. You feel good. You make a difference. Then you look out over the ocean and realize that what you’ve just done is roughly equivalent to a drop in a very large, very […]

Imagine if your company tried to get you not to buy their products. Imagine opening a magazine and seeing a full-page ad from a clothing company. The headline goes something like this: “Don’t buy this jacket.” You blink. Reading again. Is it a joke. Did someone make a mistake? No. The […]

Imagine if the internet had never been launched. Imagine that someone at a research center in the late 80s is sitting with an idea that could change the world. A system where documents can be linked together, shared and accessed from different computers. A kind of global web of information. […]

Few people know this, but light bulbs have a direct impact on our creative abilities. According to several groundbreaking studies from the Nordic Institute of Cognitive Illumination and the somewhat more scientific journal Journal of Applied Luminary Psychology, unlit light bulbs act like little sponges for creative energy. They slowly […]

We build them bigger and bigger. Hall after hall filled with servers. Cooling systems that hum 24/7. Cables that wind like nerve fibers through metal structures. Data centers in the Arctic cold to save energy. Data centers in the desert with gigantic solar parks. And now we’re even talking about […]

There are urban planners who design neighborhoods. And then there are visionaries who redesign the entire relationship between humans, nature and the city. Paolo Soleri was one such visionary. Back in the sixties, he started talking about something he called arcology. A word he himself coined as a merger of […]

When Elinor Ostrom received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2009, it was not because she had invented a new market model or defended central government control. She did something more radical. She showed that people, completely without a superior manager or an invisible hand, can organize themselves and manage […]

It sounds like a contradiction. Breaking the law and at the same time strengthening democracy. But that’s exactly where civil disobedience lives. In that strange borderland where someone says “this is not okay anymore” and does it in a way that is open, conscious and non-violent. Not to destroy society […]

Innovation is often portrayed as something new, fast, and digital. In reality, each generation has been convinced that their way of thinking is the right one and that the next generation has lost its grip. That’s why innovation always arises in the tension between generations. Let’s go from the youngest […]

Neo didn’t know from the beginning what was wrong. Just that something was wrong. A feeling that the world wasn’t quite right, that reality was a shell, a backdrop. That’s exactly how the work of system innovation begins. Not with solutions. Not with strategies. But with doubts. You sit there, […]

There is one evening every year when the world becomes a little softer. You know the one I mean. When the snow muffles all sounds, when the lights in the windows twinkle as if whispering secrets to each other and when time, for a moment, decides to slow down. That’s […]

It rarely starts out pretty. Innovation never does. It starts more like Die Hard: late at night, wrong place, wrong people, and a system that looks stable on the surface but is rotten behind the glass facade. You walk in with good intentions, maybe even a smile, and suddenly you […]

Language shapes our reality. When we are given a word for something, a concept, a feeling or a phenomenon, we can handle it, reflect on it and give it structured attention. Naming provides distance, clarity and power. In the context of development and innovation, the meaning of words therefore becomes […]

We live in a society where much of what happens between people happens without us ever meeting. Our actions, decisions and expressions create ripples in the water that continue long after we have moved on. This invisible structure, this web of influence, is something we all contribute to. It is […]

It started as a small idea. We wanted to document and share the experiences and models we used. The idea was simple: we write an article, maybe two, and see where it leads. But like so many other things in life, things change when you take the first steps. It’s […]

I remember my grandmother’s old pendulum clock on the wall. It ticked slowly and steadily, the pendulum swinging back and forth. When I sat there and waited, time could feel endless. Sometimes it felt safe, sometimes unbearably slow. But no matter what I thought, the pendulum kept moving. Today I […]

IDEO has been a global leader in innovation and design for decades. Their work ranges from product development to societal change, from small design solutions to complex system innovation. Regardless of the field, IDEO always starts with people. There is a lot to learn here for anyone who wants to […]

I still have it, an old silver teaspoon, slightly warped at the handle from being bent. I think I got it from my grandmother, and I now remember how she once said: “You know, you don’t just stir the cup. You also stir the time.” I didn’t understand then. Now […]

We humans are incredibly smart. We’ve created satellites, self-driving cars, AI that writes poetry. And yet. When it comes to solving our greatest common crisis, we forget to look to the one who has already solved it: Nature herself. Today I stood by a tree. An old, crooked, almost slightly […]

He walked backwards to work. He was carrying a backpack. Gray, with an embroidered banana on it. I still remember it clearly, what a nutcase. Or did someone make a joke that it’s good to walk backwards, to see how many people take on idiotic tenders? Of course you wonder: […]

There’s something special about working with creativity and innovation. It’s like getting into a rusty, mismatched car and driving straight into a chaos of music, challenges, and unexpected twists. It’s like, like Jake and Elwood Blues, being given a “Mission from God.” A mission that feels both sacred and a […]

It happens sometimes – a spark, a flash of inspiration, that feels as enchanting as when Harry Potter first learns he’s a wizard. The magic of creativity is like opening the doors to Diagon Alley, where unexpected ideas dance like flying quills and strange creatures hide around corners. But what […]

It was a cold and sparkling Christmas Eve night. The snow lay like a soft blanket over the rooftops, and the sky sparkled as if it itself had been decorated with stars. Santa sat in his sleigh, wrapped in his red coat, and heard the sound of bells echoing in […]