LAB REPORT With youth unemployment at an all time high, we arranged for a group of young people to work in teams to find ground breaking solutions to increasing work opportunities...
A Report by
INCUBE8 let’s keep innovation moving
December 2011
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So... what happens when young people collaborate to innovate and find solutions to increasing work opportunities?
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Contents Overview
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INCUBE8: Backdrop
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INCUBE8 your future
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INCUBE8 Lab – Bright ideas, bright sparks.
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– The shape of the day
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– Invited speakers
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– Outcomes
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– Feedback from participants
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INCUBE8 Team
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INCUBE8 moving forward
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Overview As the UK continues to struggle with generating a stable economy, many young people are finding themselves lost. Educational institutions cannot grasp how to develop young people for a different job market and a fastchanging workplace. At INCUBE8 we felt a responsibility to provide a platform to motivate young people. After all, we cannot build an economic future without them. This report outlines what happened during INCUBE8 Lab, an intensive day of workshops and implementation to develop innovative solutions to the question “What solutions can be created to increase work opportunities for young people?”. We wanted young people to walk away with a new perspective, knowledge in how to be better problem solvers, innovative professional development skills and experience of effective collaborative working - all skills that are relevant for generating opportunities in this climate. We are moving away from ‘jobs for life’ to a workforce of individuals. We are moving from a 2D economy (flat modes of communication) to a more 5D (multi-dimensional) world that needs to learn how to collaborate in order to generate a better economy. Our participants at INCUBE8 Lab produced three great solutions which provide a unique perspective on educational initiatives at three different levels. In addition, we wanted our participants to walk away with other tangible outcomes such as a outcome such as a network of future collaborators and hope... Hope that it is possible to create a great future.
“We are moving from a 2D economy to a more multi-dimensional world...” www.incube8.org.uk
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INCUBE8: The backdrop Youth unemployment in the UK is at an all-time high and the economic climate has led to a hostile jobs market. This year, the number of unemployed young people between 16 and 25 hit the 1 million mark, the highest level since records began in 19921. Figures also reveal nine per cent of graduates overall – over 19,000 – were assumed to be unemployed six months after finishing courses last summer, compared with 10 per cent a year earlier2. This makes it even more vital to ensure that young people are equipped not only with technical skills to fulfil roles, but the interpersonal skills required to operate effectively within today’s workplace. Young people and graduates also now need to look at avenues that can improve their prospects in business and enterprise. Organisations such as New Deal of the Mind have recognized that there is a shift in young people looking to generate their own economies and have written a number of publications to support young entrepreneurs including “Make a Job, Don’t take a job”, and “Do it yourself; Cultural and Creative Self-Employment in hard times”3.
INCUBE8 your future INCUBE8 is a unique incubation and professional development programme which brings together young people from multi-disciplinary backgrounds to work intensively on a creative problem. The programme is designed as a pre-employment primer to promote and support development in collaboration, networking, entrepreneurialism, career progression and industry connections, whilst at the same time demonstrating the creative potential of the UK's young people. 1. Source: Guardian Online. 16 November 2011. Katie Allen. “Youth Unemployment hits 1 million” http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/nov/16/youth-unemployment-hits-1m-uk 2. Source: Telegraph Online. 30 June 2011. Graeme Paton. “ 20,000 students without a job after leaving University”. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/8608275/20000-students-without-a-job-after-leaving-university.html 3. These reports can be downloaded from: http://www.thecreativesociety.co.uk/research/publications/
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INCUBE8 Lab provided a space in which young people were exposed to a unique combination of priming tools through workshop sessions.
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A day of bright ideas, bright sparks INCUBE8 Lab was a one day programme that was held on 22 October 2011. It set out to explore answers to the question:
“What solutions can be created to increase work opportunities for young people?”
INCUBE8 Lab had two main aims: 1.
To give young people a platform to collaborate and be creative
INCUBE8 Lab provided a space in which young people were exposed to a unique combination of priming tools through workshops to open them up to new ways of tackling problems and address the issue of youth unemployment. 2.
To develop tangible solutions to work opportunities
Once participants were equipped with new knowledge, the focus was not on how to get jobs – but more on how to create effective links, alliances and associations with businesses. They were encouraged to apply the methodologies they had experienced during the workshop and re-apply them to develop tangible answers to the main question.
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The shape of the day Before the teams started to work together, the INCUBE8 team provided participants with the essential tools for them to find their solutions.
1. Collaboration & Enterprise: Alison Coward Alison explained the importance of collaboration and the key elements needed for it to work effectively. Using management tools like PESTEL and SWOT she encouraged the group to be more entrepreneurial during brainstorms.
2. Innovation & Problems Solving: Araceli Camargo Araceli delivered a workshop based on neurology and six sigma - teaching participants how the brain functions when presented with a challenge. She also presented ‘y=Fx’, a tool used in industrial engineering for problem solving.
3. Professional development: 2D to 5D: Richie Manu Richie’s methodology is born from the notion that we need to move away from flat modes of communication to a more multi-dimensional approach that creates a more competitive and dynamic way of increasing opportunities. The five D’s are: Differentiate, Depart, Devil’s advocate, Deliver and Dazzle..
Collaboration
Neurobics
Professional Development
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Invited speakers Adele Barlow: The Lean Graduate Adele gave an inspiring talk on the subject of her forthcoming book, The Lean Graduate. She explained how much opportunity there actually is for young people, if they learn to change their perspective from being a consumer in the workplace to being a supplier. www.adelebarlow.com
Almaz Zainal: Live UnLtd Almaz explained the funding opportunities available to young people at Live UnLtd and how to apply, as well as some of the inspiring projects that have already been supported. www.liveunltd.com
Bruno Taylor: FLiP Bruno presented his innovative job portal FLiP, highlighting the importance of networking and the use of online resources to build up an interesting profile. www.flipyourself.co.uk
Rory Oliver: Digital - web and mobile Rory, a digital specialist, explained how mobile technology is the future of economy and the growing job market in this sector.
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Outcomes... Solution 1: Learn and Display Team: Angelina, Cyril, Shaira A collaborative venture between children, young people, parents, cultural leaders, and museums in Tower Hamlets. Participants develop a cultural storybook outside of school, in order to increase literacy rates, community engagement and parental involvement in children’s reading development. Learn and Display is a collaborative venture addressing literacy rates within Tower Hamlets for children and young people aged between 3-8 years, 9-16 years, and 17-25 years. It takes story telling outside of the classroom, encouraging parents to take an active involvement in their child’s reading development. The project addresses the literacy rate in the culturally diverse borough of Tower Hamlets, acknowledging that young people excel by participating in extracurricular activities, and when parents are involved at an early stage. Learn and Display helps children to improve their literacy through engaging them in the development of a cultural story book together with local leaders and museums, who will lead workshops and seminars ranging from 1 day to 6 weeks. User and community engagement is key, and there is potential to develop the content into apps and e-books, as well as replicating the programme in other boroughs. As a child’s literacy development starts early at home, parents get involved from pre-school age, through bedtime stories and general encouragement. By creating a unity within the home as the child grows, they develop a sense of confidence and drive, passion and aspirations, helping them to form better ideas about their future.
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Solution 2: Just Life! Team: Tayo, Lizzie, Alisa, Edward A virtual space providing 18-25 year olds with a range of ‘life experiences’ to engage in, provided by professionals. The project helps young people to increase their work opportunities by developing flexible skills and building up a unique portfolio. Just Life is based on the idea that in order to increase work opportunities, young people need a flexible array of skills which come from a range of life experiences. It also focuses on the need to be unique and create a diversely skilled workforce. Just Life acknowledges that in the long-term everybody wants self-identity, selffulfilment (not necessarily money), and to belong to a community and have a place within society. Passion and ambition comes from having exposure to different life experiences. Being exposed to different cultures enables individuals to stretch their knowledge and ability to understand other things. Just Life is a virtual and physical space, for 18-25 year olds, based on an exchange of skills and knowledge between ‘sponges’ (those soaking up knowledge) and ‘water’ (those providing knowledge). The virtual space has a selection of experiences and opportunities for young people to easily find and engage in, enabling them to create their own portfolio and individual diversity in skills development. Professionals, and indeed anyone with a skill, can provide their knowledge and experience in return for fresh ideas. Companies provide their time voluntarily to contribute to solving youth unemployment.
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“Just Life is based on the idea that in order to increase ‘work opportunities’, young people need a flexible array of skills which come from a range of life experiences” www.incube8.org.uk
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Solution 3: Why wait? Team: Ruzina, Ines, Ronan Why wait until you have finished education, to start becoming a contributing member of society? This project integrates work opportunities into learning from an early age, to give education a context within industry, and enable young people to develop a portfolio that can be presented to employers on leaving school, college or University. Why wait? is a solution where education has the world of work at its very heart. It argues that all learning across Maths, Science and English should be integrated with work that contributes to the community, to give it meaning and expose children to work from an early age. It looks to provide a robust solution for creating economic self-reliance, equipping young people with skills for a changing job industry. Examples: A 7 year old girl, for her English homework, interviews someone which goes into a newsletter circulated to parents. She develops and implements her writing skills, as well as learning valuable communication and social skills. A 13 year old boy studying French is approached by the local council to translate a document, supervised by his teacher. This is real work which encourages young people to engage in their subjects more. A 17 year old on a media course wants to set up her own radio station. She collaborates with a business student, and they work together to submit a funding application to get the station up and running. Why wait? challenges the notion that young people are consumers until the age of 21. It encourages them to see the value of work, consider industry and entrepreneurship. Rather than only judging an individual on grades and assessment, they are judged on their portfolio of work, and they become more employable on leaving education. Engaging in work opportunities throughout their education also helps them to make better decisions on their future career. www.incube8.org.uk
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Impact = Results
10 participants 90% turnout rate from applicants 100% participant retention 3 innovative solutions Feedback from participants... They noted the friendly atmosphere and the value of the talks The most tangible outcomes were: collaboration, contacts, confidence and new tools for ideas and self-development All participants stated they would do something differently as a result of attending INCUBE8 Lab. This includes: incorporating the tools into their work, thinking differently when approaching new situations, increased confidence, taking more innovative steps, progressing their ideas and turning their idea into a business. Words they used to describe INCUBE8 Lab: inspiring, entrepreneurial, creative, brilliant resource, networking opportunities, amazing, modern environment
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What they also said... “Thank you so much for a great Saturday! It was fantastic to have met such
bright and engaging people that participated in INCUBE8. I also think that you [are] three truly inspiring individuals. I was smiling the rest of the weekend having participated in this fantastic opportunity. Additionally, it feels like I have a new 'me' when approaching jobs and beyond, from all the insightful talks you gave about how to present oneself successfully to see results in these hard times. Alisa
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“I just wanted to say thank you for Saturday I had a really great time listening and
meeting and being around inspiring people. I think projects like these give you
invaluable experience for young people/ creatives starting out. I can’t wait for more events similar to Saturdays and will keep checking. Shaira
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It was wonderful interacting with the young people at such an exciting stage! “I really do think you guys have something very special with INCUBE8 ” Almaz Zainal, Live UnLtd
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The INCUBE8 team Alison Coward: Alison is an experienced creative business advisor, workshop leader and project manager. She has hands-on experience of developing programmes and initiatives which effectively promote development of business/enterprise skills in creative practitioners, including at her previous role managing the enterprise centre at University of the Arts London (ECCA). Alison now runs Bracket, a company which helps creative businesses and freelancers to collaborate effectively on projects. www.bracketprojects.co.uk
Araceli Camargo: Araceli is a social entrepreneur, who is interested in creating a better economy through innovation. She is the founder and owner of THECUBE in London and WECREATENYC in New York. The two spaces are supported by an innovation agency called Idea Engineering, which is a hybrid knowledge bank of neurology, psychology, and industrial engineering. www.thecubelondon.com
Richie Manu: Richie is a creative mentor, university lecturer and social entrepreneur. He has a background in Graphic Design and Brand Development. He currently teaches MA Applied Imagination (Design Studies) at Central St Martins and is also Course Unit Leader for Creative Fashion Management, part of the Graduate Fashion Diploma at the London College of Fashion. He is also the founder of Consurgo – an organisation providing pioneering schemes and initiatives for creative graduates. www.consurgo.org.uk
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INCUBE8 moving forward Some of the participants of INCUBE8 Lab have expressed an interest in taking their proposals forward. We will be supporting this, and are exploring partnerships with organisations who can provide tangible opportunities and resources to help the teams develop their ideas. After the success of the Lab and our other events throughout the year, we will expand INCUBE8 by delivering independent programmes throughout London and the UK. We are looking to form partnerships with like-minded organisations, to provide support and enhance their existing activities. We also see INCUBE8 as a vital tool for businesses who recognise the importance of innovation and creative thinking as a way to remain competitive, at the same time as providing tangible work opportunities for young people.
Thanks to those who supported INCUBE8 Lab: Innocent Jelly Belly LEON Pret A Manger
and for the generous prizes provided by: CIDA D&AD School for Creative Startups
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INCUBE8 let’s keep innovation moving
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