CriaLab makes use of creativity to enhance products and services
Por: PUCRS Magazine
Laboratory team headed by Luis Villwock. Photo: Bruno Todeschini – Ascom/PUCRS
Creative thinking is one of the trends of problem-solving. Upon celebrating its fifth anniversary, Tecnopuc’s Creativity Laboratory (CriaLab), through a partnership with HP and Hewlett Packaging Enterprise, takes on a new role in a bustling scenario of innovation. Its coordinator and Business School professor, Luis Villwock, asserts that the laboratory’s philosophy is still the same, but takes on a structure and personnel to broaden its scope of operation. “A larger environment and permanent team will enable the development of more projects.”
The area located at Global Tecnopuc enables everyone to explore their creativity extensively. ”However, CriaLab’s main mission is not related to technology, nor the environment, but the people trained under the methodologies we work on”. CriaLab is intended to encourage, stimulate, organize and provide support to teams for them to be disruptive.
Multidisciplinary work
The laboratory addresses four distinct themes. The first one is education and deals with capacity-building, training sessions and workshops for the use of new tools and methodologies. The target audience consists of employees from Tecnopuc companies, but some of the activities are offered to the university community and also to the public in general. The second one focuses on projects in partnership with companies. “We make use of more practical design, on the lookout for trends, as we do market, field and empathy research, among other things”. Staff training is also delivered outside of CriaLab’s doors. “We can go to companies and work with people at their very workplace”, explains he. Demands are submitted to Villwock, who will assess each one of them with the assistance of his team. The laboratory is open to any companies in the market. We have been currently working on projects with HP, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and DBServer.
Research brings together the group of CriaLab researchers and addresses the fundamentals that facilitate the triggering of creativity. The group comprises psychologists, anthropologists, linguists, philosophers and engineers. “We are focused on the phenomenon of creativity: how it happens in people and how we can strengthen it in order to bring new insights into our methodologies”. The last one is the hub, the idea of having a group of people working on a joint project. “When we talk about creativity, it is important to share information within a multidisciplinary group. It may include students, professors, consultants, companies, even High School students depending on the activity”, says Villwock. The laboratory is responsible for conducting a creativity network management from social networks calling on people to pay their contributions to a certain study. These collaborators, upon having contact with the methodologies, are accredited and will be renamed CriaLabers.
Study of the environment
CriaLab is specialized in the construction and development of environments to trigger innovation and creativity. The new area consists of an environment that resembles a CriaLab 2.0 in which each area has its own purpose. Literature research, internet research and searches conducted in similar places in Europe, Asia and the USA were the sources of inspiration for the current environment. The team is headed by Luis Villwock and seven other professionals.
CriaLab for students
Villwock will go on to say that CriaLab is not only a cool place for people to study and find inspiration. “It is a laboratory”, as he defines it. The Open CriaLab will be available, on a pre-established schedule, for students to work together with the CriaLab team. Visits as well as introductory sessions on the environment and its methodologies will be conducted. CriaLab Cultural is being designed and will consist of open lectures and fun activities.
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