Introducing Mi:Lab.

We created the Maynooth Innovation Lab, or Mi:Lab — an experimental space for Maynooth University students and staff to share insight, experiment with education and co-create ideas. The Higher Education system provides near perfect conditions in which a design approach can succeed and have great impact.

Firstly, there are an abundance of challenges and most are human challenges. Design and innovation thrive when you bring together stakeholders from across disciplines and there is no greater gathering of disciplines under one roof than in a university. Secondly, in order to design better outcomes, you need a study group to understand; the University is a petri dish of society, willing to participate and help in their thousands. Finally, when ideas emerge, they need to be tested and validated, iterated and refined. This can be done faster and more rigorously in a University than anywhere else. A University is a place where understanding, learning and experimenting are in its DNA.

Mi:Lab is a tiny speck in the system and while we acknowledge our limited ability to transform the system, we trust our human oriented approach to deliver genuine human-centred innovation as a catalyst for positive change. Physicist Ilya Prigogine described it best — “When a system is far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence have the capacity to shift the entire system”.

Introducing Mi:Lab’s 8 Principles:

1/ Centre on people’s needs and goals

Let empathy and genuine human understanding guide better decision making and create meaning.

2/ Intellectual humility is the force for change

Change only happens when we challenge our biases, question norms and are open to new ideas.

3/ Be curious and open to find the patterns

Insight comes from finding, collecting & connecting the clues that are hidden in plain sight.

4/ Co-create for greater impact

The challenges we face today require diverse mindsets. Work closely with service users to build meaningful solutions.

5/ Innovation happens at the boundary of disciplines

Collaboration and exploration across silos can take us to uncharted territory full of opportunity.

6/ Build to think & learn by doing

Powerful thinking, learning and alignment happens when we make abstract ideas tangible, experiment and iterate.

7/ It’s okay not to know. Get comfortable with the ambiguity

Jumping to solutions too quickly means we miss out on more informed understanding, points-of-view and ideas.

8/Communicate creatively to inspire action

Build a shared vision and inspire action by communicating simply, creatively and with empathy.