The Nature of Creativity, The Creativity of Nature

If you innovated for 3.8 billion years, how creative would you be? Very! So it is with nature.

Innovation is just what it has been doing since the beginning of time: designing processes and systems and figuring out other ways to survive. From the beginning, humans have looked to nature for new ideas. Leonardo da Vinci of the Renaissance, for example, watched flying birds for hours. From them, he learned and replicated aerodynamic principles and built gliders, a helicopter and other flying machines.

da Vinci’s technique is still useful as people solve complex problems. Today, it is called “biomimcry” - a creative practice of observing and copying nature. The tool is used by innovators in businesses, medicine, organizations, transportation, technology and more.

The Center for Creative Solutions, Inc., a local non-profit organization, sponsors two annual events, northwest Indiana’s celebration of World Creativity and Innovation Week in April and the Innovation Forum in the fall. In addition, it offers other programming throughout the year. To learn more call 219-326-7259, email creativity52@comcast.net, or visit CenterforCreativeSolutions.com.

• Cynthia Hedge, co-founder and CEO of the Center. An attorney, she is also a trainer, facilitator and consultant to non-profit organizations, businesses, government agencies, schools, professionals and individuals.

• Keri Marrs Barrón, a creativity consultant, trainer, facilitator and works with the Center for Creative Solutions on special projects and serves on its Board. Like Hedge, she has a masters degree from the International Center for Studies in Creativity and Change Leadership in New York (SUNY). Her other Purdue University degrees are in biology.