Diversity puts engineers’ creativity to the test

Creativity loves constraints

As a newly graduated MSc in Marketing and Communication Management from Copenhagen Business School Dagny was brought along to DTU by her supervisor to rewrite her thesis into an article in a leading scientific journal. Since then, she has been engaged in researching creativity processes. First in relation to innovation and most recently in connection with inclusion and accessibility.

For Dagny, creativity is essentially about working consciously with the constraints we encounter when performing a task or solving a problem. Because once we know the limitations, we can begin to turn them into something positive.

“Contrary to popular belief, constraints are not the enemy of creativity. On the contrary, a narrow and well-defined framework can help promote innovation. For example, Google operates based on the slogan “Creativity loves constraints”, and history is full of examples of highly creative solutions in situations in which the scope for action has been severely limited. Like in Apollo 13’s difficult—but successful—rescue mission back to Earth or the escape from the notorious high-security prison Alcatraz in 1962. In Denmark, the self-imposed constraints of the Dogma rules have produced some of Danish cinema’s greatest masterpieces.”

It is well known that necessity is the mother of invention. It is a mechanism that Dagny can also recognize from her Icelandic upbringing.

“Iceland is such a small nation and so geographically isolated that it’s virtually encoded in everyone to be creative. In the old days, the Icelandic people had to live with food shortages and harsh weather conditions, so I think it’s simply in our DNA to persevere and try to make the most of what we have,” says Dagny Valgeirsdottir, who has lived in Denmark for the past 12 years.

Not all disabilities are visible

Since January 2020, Dagny Valgeirdottir’s research into creativity has been conducted under the Technology Leaving No One Behind (TLNOB) project, which aims to ensure that everyone—regardless of ability, ethnicity, gender, age, and other identity markers—can succeed in society on an equal footing with others. The project is being implemented in collaboration with Disabled People’s Organisations Denmark and is supported by the Bevica Foundation.

“When people think of a person with a disability, they usually imagine someone in a wheelchair. But you may also have a disability that concerns your ability to invest if, for example, you are living below the poverty level. This is a disability that limits you in achieving the same opportunities as people above the poverty level,” says Dagny and adds:

“The same applies to the ability to focus. If you suffer from ADHD, you have a disability in that you are unable to focus as well as persons who don’t suffer from ADHD. Limitations of functional ability not only include motor difficulties, but also social challenges.”

An inclusive mindset

To train DTU engineers in how to work creatively with constraints—for example in the form of visible or invisible disabilities—Dagny Valgeirsdottir has developed a number of thoroughly tested methods and specific tools and gathered them on the website: Universal Design Guide.

“Universal design challenges our stereotypical notions of other people’s abilities. It reminds us that the target group for our technological solutions has different functional abilities and needs. With the methods and tools we’ve made available on the website, we hope to influence DTU students to incorporate diversity and inclusion in their innovation,” says Dagny Valgeirsdottir.

One of the tools from Universal Design Guide is the Ability Prompt Cards, which represent different disabilities. The movement card symbolizes the inability to move—such as a wheelchair user—although it only represents permanent disability. For example, a pregnant woman is temporarily restricted in her movements, just as truck drivers are restricted in their movements in a work situation.

Reflection and empathy

During DTU’s introductory week for new MSc students, Dagny Valgeirsdottir turned the Ability Prompt Cards into a board game. Here, 450 students were divided into smaller groups and equipped with a map of DTU Lyngby Campus. The teams were tasked with getting from A to B with the disability that the ability prompt card represented and to reflect on potential challenges connected with that disability.

“First and foremost, it was meant to be a fun experience for them. They were given the opportunity to use props—so if they had been given, for example, the ‘See’ card, which corresponds to being unable to see—they could put on a blindfold. In addition to having fun, they also developed greater empathy, as they experienced the same thing as a blind person—although only for an hour,” says the Assistant Professor.

Correspondingly, students taking DTU’s new ‘Innovation in Engineering’ course—which is mandatory for all MSc students—were introduced to the universal design toolbox. This was done at a one-day innovation sprint, where the students tested the methods in practice using a specific case.

“At the end of the day, especially those who hadn’t tried an innovation sprint before said: “Okay, I got through the whole innovation process in just six hours, and I survived.” And that’s a big thing, because there are a lot of students who think they need to invent something new. That’s not always necessary. Greater awareness of incorporating the groups that are most difficult to reach—such as people with disabilities—in already existing solutions also counts as innovation,” says the creativity expert.

Inclusion is good business

Obital is an example of a DTU start-up that has been successful in using universal design to develop an eye tracking technology enabling people with speech and motor disabilities to communicate with their eyes via an app.

Obital began as a bachelor project at DTU, where the founders developed their solution, in collaboration with start-up coaches from the innovation hub DTU Skylab. The start-up received major grants to develop the technology further and ended up being acquired by the established company GN Group.

“Inclusive technologies like the electric toothbrush and the remote control are both examples of solutions originally designed for people with disabilities. Today, they’re used by many different people because they’re convenient,” she says and adds:

“In the same way, Obital made a unique and creative discovery which, in the short term, meets a specific need in a niche market, but which, in the long term, can make itself felt in the global market,” says Dagny Valgeirsdottir. After the interview, she resumes the shooting of new instructional videos for the digital database Universal Design Guide.