Directed creativity - an invitation

The aim of this proposal is to encourage people to consider looking outside their own field for solutions to problems faced. The idea is that there is no need to ‘re-invent the wheel’ when it is already in use elsewhere. This transdisciplinary approach is not new of course. The ability to find and apply analogies from other domains and to recombine elements has been fundamental to human achievement across numerous domains, including architecture, design, technology, life sciences and art [1 - 3]. Despite its importance, finding and translating relevant principles from one area to another remains challenging because real-world problems are often complex. On the other hand creativity - the ability to create something new from seemingly unrelated things - is innate to humans. Communication is at the centre of a transdisciplinary approach. The ‘bridge’ (linker) must have the ability to translate the principle/ the ‘essence’ from one context to the other. This requires both a ‘language’ that can be understood in both worlds and the right mind-set of the sender and the recipient. The principle must be extracted