Gamification is the use of game mechanisms in non-playful contexts. We all know situation or tasks that we feel are too complex, too boring or too easy for us. And we don’t want to take any time or energy to do them. Gamification is using emotional mechanisms such as curiosity, competition, personal challenge and role-play to involved people in these types of tasks. In the innovation process, we clearly need new points of view if we want to disrupt our classical models and imagine tomorrow’s ways of life, services or products. To do this many organizations launch open ideation platforms or events such as hackathons to collect ideas from non-experts. However, if nothing is done to make this accessible and engaging, there are few chances to have results. Gamification is therefore very useful to make people start, continue and finish a task, and then encourage others doing the same.
Gamification in innovation called Cubification
The key idea is to make your innovation challenge tangible in order to manipulate it. So a Cubification session is run face to face, with 10 to 20 participants with one facilitator, during 1 intense day. We start “from scratch” and we finish the day with a roadmap of products and services that the company can launch in the future. To do this we use a specific cube (Let’s say one cube per team of 6 people). The first step is to customize your cube by identifying potential features related to your business model and intended market. This represents your model using 6 different dimensions. This cube represents your initial situation. Then you play: you mix your customized cube to generate combinations that will be the basis for your new offers. Finally, you ideate: you use the combinations presented on the cube faces to imagine different kinds of products, services, or concepts. The Cubification method empowers people to generate feasible, original and disruptive ideas for their business.
Innovation is a journey. To get all your organization involved, Opopoï has developed a 9 months Innovation Journey. The programme is structured in 5 gamified steps, starting with the top managers during the Cubification session till an Entrepreneurship programme for potential innovators detected amongst the employees.