Last week Mark Davies and Tina Catling, the founders of outside the box, gave a talk in Bilbao, Spain, on creativity and innovation at the Creative Meeting Point – the third International Forum of Creative Industries.
Speaking to professionals in both product innovation and related services, including finance and IT, Mark and Tina gave a talk to 250 specialists from around the world.
The emphasis of the conference was gaming and there were many attendees who specialised in the industry. Many of the experts brought demos of the games they had developed, ranging from entertainment to crash test simulations for cars.
An interesting and new system which caught the eyes of the attendees and speakers was a development for psychologists who deal with trauma cases, in particular, individuals who suffer from ordeals in war zones. New technology has been created to replicate the situation where the trauma occurred, so the patient can regain some stability by re-experiencing the events which traumatised them.
An exemplary case study that was described at the conference was that of a soldier that had driven a vehicle under a bridge in Afghanistan when a grenade was dropped into his vehicle; fortunately he survived but was left traumatised from the event. The IT company were able to replicate the situation that the soldier witnessed, and, with the help of a psychologist, his confidence was restored – an incredible story that demonstrates the positive contribution gaming technology can make.
As well as the demonstrations of new games, part of the focus of the forum was Mark and Tina's talk, aimed at embedding new thinking tools into the audience.
"Most people have been to a brainstorm meeting...brainstorming doesn’t work very well, and yet it's probably the only method people use to generate new ideas. We have created lots of new thinking tools and we enjoy teaching them to people."
“We’d love to hear from anyone who attended the conference or if anyone has any new ideas on how to generate new ideas – we’re constantly looking to offer advice to those who want to develop their creative and innovative business skills.”
If you’d like to get in contact about the forum or discuss working with Mark and Tina, please call 0113 216 2820 or email mark.davies@outsidethebox.co.uk
