Creative Bangkok

In February two members of the school of Property, Construction and Project Management (PCPM) travelled to Bangkok for the Asian Symposium on Creativity and Innovation Management. Also known as Creative Bangkok, the week long symposium is run by Bangkok University and has its roots planted in Knowledge Management, Business Innovation and of course Creativity. The theme of the event was from Imitation to Innovation. Participants were exposed to a wide range of innovation practises from grassroots innovation in the remote villages of Malaysia, where someone has invented a fridge that doesn’t need power to Google’s new Alpha-Go artificial intelligence computer.

Along with keynote speakers from NASA, IKEA, Google and Cirque du Soleil our two PCPM members presented their current and previous research into creative practises. Dr Arthur Shelley challenged participants to engage in meaningful conversation through the use of visualisations. Mark Boyes, PCPM PhD candidate presented his research thus far and facilitated a discussion on how creative thinking can be embedded into project management decision making. Mark also contributed to the conference by sketchnoting each of the speaker’s presentations, some of which will be sent by NASA to a pop-up art gallery on an asteroid.

A very exciting opportunity for Mark’s research also presented itself. The deputy director of NASA’s applied engineering and technology directorate invited Mark to the Goddard Space Flight Center to conduct his PhD research with NASA’s PMO. A once in a lifetime opportunity to see how project teams balance innovation and risk.

The event was very successful with the ever expanding global network of creative thinkers, the relationships forged and diverse conversations held were supported by the energy of the hosts and the creative environment of the W-District in Bangkok. If you are interested in Creativity, Innovation or Thinking out side the triangle, get yourself along to Creative Melbourne February 2017 http://intelligentanswers.com.au/events/creative-melbourne/

Author: Mr Mark Boyes

Images: Mr Mark Boyes