Workshop on sustainable transformations through creative thinking

Current societies are facing tremendous sustainability challenges (e.g., climate change, biodiversity loss, environmental destruction). To deal with these challenges and enable a sustainable future, we require systemic societal transformations of our current unsustainable structures. Achieving these transformations is not simple and straightforward. We need to come up with innovative ways to move towards sustainability, to stop with business as usual, to find new ways to collaborate and join forces. In short, we need creative thinking. Creative thinking is essential for transformation.

Creativity is not an inherent talent that some people possess, and others lack. Creativity can be actively trained by using specific techniques. This is precisely the focus of this workshop: training creative thinking skills. These techniques can be used by individuals, but they can also be applied in group settings, such as workshops, focus groups, etc. In the morning, we will learn about the underlying processes and mechanisms of creativity, the conditions facilitating creative thinking, and different techniques to improve creativity. In the afternoon, we will practise these techniques in groups by solving a concrete societal challenge related to sustainable transformations.

This workshop is open to colleagues and PhD candidates from TransAct and Business Administration who would like to improve and train their creative thinking skills.

Organising team:

Dr. Simone Ritter will lead this workshop. She is an Associate Professor of Marketing and Innovation, and an expert in creativity, innovation and behaviour change. The workshop is supported by the TransAct Hotspot, co-coordinated by Dr. Maria Kaufmann and Dr. Juliette Alenda-Demoutiez.

Programme

09:30-09:45 = Welcome

09:45-10:45 = Learning about creative techniques (1) Break

11:00-12:00 = Learning about creative techniques (2) Lunch