USER & SOCIAL INNOVATION

We have officially started university as our first ever lecture at Politecnico happened to be User and Social Innovation, a module that focuses on how user activity shapes innovation for the benefit of the society. The first part of the lesson was an introduction to the course, defining what social innovation is and how we will be graded on the subject - group practical project worth 30% of the final grade and a final exam worth 70%. We discussed the nature of creativity, defined the creative process and blocks or barriers to creativity and how to overcome them. Having previously studied Sociology as part of my A levels I thought this would be an interesting module for me to choose, in order to find out more about customer behaviours.

What does social innovation mean?

Social innovation is not an easy concept but has been widely encouraged as a means to improve, expand and diversify innovation for the benefit of society. It is not an easy concept to define, but is broadly understood to mean new ideas meeting social needs and creating new relationships or collaboration.

Creativity

The ability to produce work that is novel (original) and adaptive with respect to task or situational constraints - Sternberg & Lubart, 1995

Blocks / Barriers to Creativity

Elements that inhibit creativity include:

- Rational level - dificulty to isolate a problem, to link it to other elements, to identify causes from effects.

- Emotional level - fear to make mistakes, fear of judgement, low motivation

Discussing the nature of creativity

Codice Fiscale

After the lecture I had to venture out to collect my Codice Fiscale number - which took several failed attempts due to the inconvenient opening hours and the hard-to-find location - an Italian equivalent to the English National Insurance Number. Apparently it’s really crucial for opening a bank account, getting an Italian phone number, going to the hospital etc so it’s best that you sort it out as soon as possible - some of the other girls got theirs in London before they left for Milan however I didn’t even know that was possible. I had to fill out a form, which was in Italian, but there is always someone likely to help if needed, and make a copy of my passport using the copy machine in the waiting room. The process probably only took 15 minutes and apparently the fiscal number is valid for life so probably best if you don't lose it.

Surprising art pieces in the Codice Fiscale office

#PolitectinodiMilano #CodiceFiscale