Intelligent Ideation: Exploring the market potential of data-driven card-based tools

This project pursues the commercialisation of a data-driven card-based ideation system, the Cardographer Platform

Idea and creativity support tools are a fast growing aspect of current methodologies in business and industry. Consultancies focusing on supporting such activities are a growing sector utilising several techniques, with card-based methods being a state of the art approach.

The use of physical cards as ideation, reflection and engagement tools has been explored across a number of research projects within the University, including such examples as the Mixed Reality Game card deck, the Moral-IT deck developed through Horizon Digital Economy EPSRC funding, VisitorBox deck funded by the AHRC and others in development.

However, Once a session of card use is concluded the creativity, ideation and reflection facilitated by the cards is all too easily lost once they are gathered up to be used again. There is therefore an untapped opportunity to capture and analyse card use during and across sessions to preserve this valuable knowledge for future insight for individuals and organisations.

We aim to explore the commercialisation of this approach, including how our techniques can support the design, use and analysis of ideation cards.

Early showcases of the approach to other card users and designers within the university, as well as to industry partners such as Unilever, Infosys and the BBC have generated considerable interest in their adoption and specific use cases and requirements

This project will scope the market by eliciting potential client responses and requirements, securing key partnerships and seeking advice on how to shape, adapt and develop the existing work into a achievable business plan and produce a high fidelity demonstrator of the Cardographer technology which will demonstrate the system’s potential to prospective internal and external clients.

This project ran between 1 Mar 2019 – 29 Feb 2020