Innovation, simply put, is about changing and improving the status quo. And, as such, having good resources to stimulate fresh thinking and alternative insights is always important. Grouped below (in no particular order) are ten of my favourite sources of innovation inspiration. 1. Springwise (www.springwise.com) and Trendwatching (www.trendwatching.com)-innovative business ideas and consumer insights from across the globe-always v. relevant, interesting and entertaining! 2. Many books and blogs-some old favourites such as The Art of Possibility (Ben and Roz Zander) and Stephen Covey's The 7 habits of Highly Effective People (My first management book and first time I came across the idea of choosing your response to a situation and differentiating between urgent and important); Creativity Inc (Jeff Mauzy, Richard Harriman) and more recently Problem Solving 101 (Ken Wantanabe)-v useful! For innovation blogs I rate www.alltopinnovation.com very highly (with Lateral Action and Heart of Innovation probably the two I read most). And the HBR blogs are great too (blogs.harvardbusiness.org) 3. Valerie Pierce, author of bestseller Quick Thinking on your feet and facilitator of critical thinking skills; www.clearcriticalthinking.com 4. Social Networking: I'm very much a student (rather than anything close to expert) of all that's happening in this area; I've found the articles on this site on social networking and using twitter as a learning tool really helpful and insightful; I'm particularly fascinated that how we access and transfer learning and information and how we do business is changing irrevocably and, as a result, the world is becoming much smaller and, in a sense, there's opportunities for more people to have a voice. Google's Project 10^100 exemplifies the trend (150,000 idea submissions in 25 different langauges!) http://lifetravelling.com/2009/10/ideas-that-change-the-world/ 5. Social Entrepreneurship: A v timely idea-social entrepreneurship where success is not necessarily linked to bottom line output but how many people you help! Huge amounts of creativity and innovation are taking place in this area: http://lifetravelling.com/2009/07/ideo-open-source-innovation/ http://lifetravelling.com/2009/06/everyone-can-be-a-change-maker 6. TED talks (www.ted.com): TED, which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design has the tag line Ideas worth spreading. Some great talks listed at: https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/search/apachesolr_search/%22Ted+talk%22 7. Innovation Dublin: Moving our focus from the "current economic crisis" to the wealth of innovation and creativity taking place across the city with 200+ events taking place over a week (14th-20th October) http://lifetravelling.com/2009/10/innovation-dublin-14th-20th-october-2009/ 8. The Science Gallery-where ideas meet and opinions collide (www.sciencegallery.com) the eye-opening, insightful and exciting exhibitions have opened me up to science and new possibilities. Two excellent recent exhibitions were: http://lifetravelling.com/2009/09/bubbledont-burst-it/ and http://lifetravelling.com/2009/05/infectiousstay-away/ 9. Innovative companies: Guinness for its long history and continued ability to delight with innovation and Apple for its iconic design and willingness to adapt and change. 10. Education Innovation- It continues to become increasingly learner-centred, accessible and geared towards real life application; examples include Peter Jones' accredited courses in Enterprise and Entrepreneurship geared at giving students the skills and experience and support to set up and run successful and innovative businesses or grow existing businesses. (https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/topic/soft-skills/hotseat-peter-jones), Academic Earth www.academicearth.org) which offers free access to video courses and lectures from leading lecturers and universities. What about you? What's your favourite source of innovation and creative thinking? What works best for you when you want to generate fresh thinking and new ideas?