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The ability to see new possibilities is fundamental to creating innovative designs – but what do we know about state-of-the-art possibility thinking? The purpose of this paper is to look at this topic, which the strategy field has largely ignored in favor of analytics, by examining a selection of breakthrough engineering projects. Out of these, the paper aims to draw eight different ways of illuminating new possibilities – challenging, connecting, visualizing, collaborating, harmonizing, improvising, re-orienting, and playing – and discuss what each of these might look like if applied to business strategy.

The paper explores eight different engineering projects that are regarded as especially innovative. It then explores the lessons of these for business strategists.

The paper finds that innovative business strategy development has many parallels with engineering approaches.

Some of the advice resulting from this perspective includes: take an absolute industry “truth” and turn it on its head; look outside the boundaries of your usual world; put the numbers aside and get some images down on paper; find a partner and work together; push yourself beyond the “workable” and try to get to “intriguing;” act as if necessity truly was the mother of invention; formulate a different definition of the problem; and go out and conduct some low cost experiments instead of forming a committee.

The creative front-end of the process of innovation is revealed to be more than a mysterious “black box.” Instead, eight systematic ways to generate possibilities, using concrete examples from both the world of engineering and business, are described to help managers begin to see new possibilities for themselves.

The paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

The paper reveals that it is about time that engineers received a better press. Their numbers are dwindling because their profession is deemed to be un‐cool. Teenagers are heading off for careers in media, IT or politics or in all sorts of post‐industrial directions. Engineering is seen as difficult, as unattractive, and yet the growth of the global economy, supported by a construction boom and rapid advances in technology will fail through lack of skills to support it – to build and create and develop.

The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to‐digest format.

This chapter outlines innovation as a diverse phenomenon. This diversity is considered according to the two general forms of innovation: product and process. Product innovations are tangible objects that take physical form, while process innovations consist of intangible stages that together enhance the human capacities to achieve certain tasks. A variety of examples drawn from a number of fields and settings are provided.

A descriptive model for assessing the impact of specific innovations on the human condition is outlined. This framework provides an alternative to conventional approaches for demonstrating the value of innovation according to monetary figures that are often subjective and arbitrary.

We live in the Age of Knowledge, which is impelling us towards the Age of Imagination. The technological wave rises and with it rises a wave of change that will affect both the economy and society. When these two waves will reach the coast where knowledge meets ignorance, and how to ride them, are questions that require us to imagine the future. We must, therefore, embark on the vessel of imagination, leaving behind us the baggage of what we know and understand. Imagination is not just the springboard for ideas; it also acts to connect ideas in different ways that may blossom in the garden of an entrepreneurial renaissance. Symbols, metaphors and concepts that belong to our tacit knowledge come to light in our memory. It is from here that the imagination draws its lifeblood, broadening our horizons, inducing us to interact with others who may be the bearers of other cultures. Are we ready to engage in an imaginative learning process to join business with innovation and art? Are we prepared to design a wide-open white space where the actors of entrepreneurship, innovation and art can generate a constructive tension that will sweep away what appears to be mutual antagonism or incompatibility?