Applying DATEMATS Methods and Tools to Nanomaterials: A Design Challenge by the Company Antolin

Abstract

A current area of R&D focuses on developing optimal workshop methodologies which are based on didact-creative programmes specifically tailored to stimulate creative insight within participants, through the delivery of perfected techniques in both knowledge transfer and creative development sessions. The overarching goal of these methods is to develop and deliver new and useful projected applications of material properties and technologies which, when combined, can progress into new and previously unforeseen advancements in innovation across diverse fields of applicability. Here, contending technologies, whichever they may be, are presented to a select public of participants, followed by various collaborative creativity techniques whereby the assimilated information is collected, categorized and then reassimilated into new forms of innovative ordering, structuring and integrated storytelling. Although a number of creativity and technology building workshops exist, this particular study relates to the methods for developing new art applications from distinct physio-chemical traits found among a diverse collection of nanotech materials, including and in particular, carbon-based ones. An object of this paper is to disclose the specific didactic and creativity techniques used in a workshop setting which was performed in collaboration with the Antolin group who is a manufacturer and provider of helical carbon nanofibers. A further objective of this paper is to derive conclusive evaluations and insights regarding the successes and failures encountered during the knowledge transfer phases and their conversion into creative insights and market potential. Various creativity fostering strategies are presented as they were adopted through third-party mediated practices in similarity-finding, inductive and deductive reasoning, exercises in free-association/abstraction and visual Imagineering of scientifically supported product outcomes.

1 Introduction: A Look into the Binary Relationship Between Problems and Solutions

There is great interest among universities and businesses alike to perfect didact-creative techniques which promote productive applications of neo intellectual property from diverse research fields, into viable innovation practices. Of particular interest today is finding ideal uses for emergent materials and related technologies (EMTs) stemming from R&D advancements in the areas of materials science and engineering.

Functionalizing knowledge into creativity is a specialized objective of actual collaborative research, shared between both academia and industry, which aims to foment increasingly efficient and rapid applications for new materials technologies into products, systems and their related services. Efforts in this regard can be grossly subdivided into two main tasks, namely a primary educational component, whereby knowledge regarding new materials and their properties is disclosed in some optimally didactic fashion, and another where the information is functionalized into actionable ideas, suitable for specific types of application. While the former task focuses on disclosing factual data, concerning quantitative aspects of scientific nature, the latter step is a more qualitative and intuitively inspired medium which serves to translate discrete concepts into less defined metaphorical abstractions of broader applicability.

Both tasks are dominantly expressed in a medium of specialized language use (terminology) and diverse forms of divulgative visual communication means (imagery, motion and diagrams). In fact, storytelling is a relatable didactic technique which is often used to convey and process information into new forms. Storytelling is a common communication tool since it aligns itself with the ways in which we experience phenomena of the real world, including how we come to grasp concepts underpinning highly complex processes of scientific observation, or more subtle emoto-artistic expressions in art. Story is the method by which we feel and recreate memory and creativity through pantomime, impersonation and metaphor. Both the processes of indoctrination and emancipation of ideas undermine notable non trivial challenges in their numerous methods of execution. Many factors, including but not limited to, set and setting, group dynamics, clarity in communications and generating a creative mood, can greatly affect the perceived outcome of didacto-creative workshops and the results they produce.

Academia has been refining its didactic techniques across diverse information delivery styles and conducting ongoing live experimentations in several domains of learning. For instance, a primary area of academia focuses on developing knowledge transfer protocols via competing delivery modes (lectures) and pathways (digital platforms). Among these there are other contending learning and inspirational tools (materials toolkits) which provide peripheral didactic support and means to reinforce learnt matter into relatable structured diagrams, especially during the transition from understanding to applying phases, providing intuitive, easy-to-understand visuals and comparative performance diagrams. These further serve as inspirational beacons for the latter creative phases as they provide explicit examples of potential materials applications and cues set in place by example of third-party sources (didactic + inspirational materials toolkits).

As distinct areas of academic focus grow and subdivide into various specialized in-depth fields of study of isolated narrowing advancement, other contending efforts are promoted, in parallel, to instigate interdepartmental involvement and cross-pollination between competing areas of study. The aim of expanding knowledge across boundaries through horizontal transmission is to lessen the knowledge band gap across neighbouring areas of study with the goal of bridging the sciences with humanities forms of language, both mathematical and verbal.

Furthermore, transversal knowledge sharing has often demonstrated a tendency to catalyse information across a gradient of ramified potential driving discovery and inspiring disruptive ideas into spin-off technologies, which emerge by the effects of distinct intellectual domains into mixed synergies of opportunity.

Finding and perfecting ideal didactic methodologies of exchange constitutes a dominant key factor of how well and quickly newly learnt information is processed into new ideas. Indeed, for this to occur, several components must overlap and synchronize so that new information can be first assimilated then functionalized into something new or selectively different. In detail, information must first be transferred adequately through semantic comprehension (through effective linguistic communication), then it must be assimilated into cognition through comparative associations with known analogy (i.e. pre-existing known ontological frameworks and principles). Lastly, the information must be recalled into memory with acceptable accuracy whereas the memory can reconstruct a learnt concept into its original ontological precepts and outcomes with adequate detail, sequence and patterns of agency. This last component, recollection, is a highly variable factor over time and thus must be aided, in part, by mnemonic tools (memory enhancement and reinforcement methods). If the acquisition of information is the process of depositing conceptual phenomena into cognition through story, then knowledge is the corresponding act of recollecting and/or recreating that story in terms of meaning. The process of understanding, which is a step further than knowledge, is achieving mastery over the logic and causal sequence driving phenomenological events and the specific principles underpinning their nature. As understanding deepens, concepts can be simplified into larger clusters of relative influence and similarity but also mixed into each other with some degree of predictability over new outcomes. In other words, understanding not only coagulates known information into a collection of principles, but can further serve as a platform from which new principles can be extrapolated by analogy, projected forwards and integrated, through imagination, into new areas of directed focus. Imagination is the bedrock upon which creativity emerges by confluence of disparate types of understanding into new patterns of association. Imagination is also the narrative of thought, visual and/or verbal, which, through language, is called into being. In this sense, understanding is a fundamental and necessary precursor to the act of creative outcome and problem solving.

Effective pathways of data exchange are considered to be those in which information is conserved and accumulated into larger pools of shared knowledge from source to destination. Commonly known as “knowledge building” activities, simple concepts are accrued, within the psyche, into a constructed body of knowledge whose structure can self-reinforce by the interlinking of new information with the old. As knowledge builds and integrates into experience through repetitive use and memory, it can then be reconfigured and coaxed into new data set patterns via experimental rearrangements and/or reinterpretations of its contents. At the very basis of creativity in fact lies this primordial tactic of manipulating assimilated information into new functionally and collaboratively structured directives. Of course limitations depend heavily on the quantity and quality of data available as much as the individual-to-group ability to process and communicate it accordingly. Creativity is triggered within the groups by setting up a problem void (mission statement) which challenges the status quo through confrontational conditions such as a paradox or a latent technological problem for which a solution must be found. The premise states that, while there are clear gradients of capacities among people, in terms of their inherent capacities, creativity is a rather ubiquitous feature of the mind and thus it can be inspired within anyone, given the right informational, emotional conditions and techniques. The second premise is that creativity is a systematic process which can be coaxed into diverse expressions through manipulations, elaborations and recombinations of its constituting foundational variables. The broader the bedrock of knowledge variables, the greater exponential outcomes of potential combinations can arise. This idea is, of course, antithetic to the more traditional idea of creativity as a random act of divine insight available to a few lucky individuals. Although creativity can happen in the natural world without agency, the type we cover is one founded upon directed applications of known data into directed goals.

The quasi-algorithmic approach developed in this workshop seeks to solve problems through clever assemblies of known artefacts and jettison them into orderly patterns of newly synergistic collaborations, whereas to create a thought-out concatenation of sequential material functions and properties into products. This requires insight as much as it does logical thinking, ability to extrapolate concepts out of their natural domains and transpose them in mapping terms over existing problems searching for fitted accommodations.

Diverse teaching methods demonstrate a spectrum of efficiency and avail over long-term understanding recollection of new information and its use potential across different innate intellectual dispositions of people (Ferrara and Lucibello 2012; Tamez and Vega Cantú 2019). Thus, one single method of information delivery is not recommended, but rather a diverse and rich platform of information delivery and processing is most probable to achieve assimilation in critical mass. Combinatory methods of information delivery such as those which enable both linguistic and visual disclosures into imagery and sensorial inputs also prove to ameliorate the rate and quality of information recall as the involvement of a multisensorial spectrum tends to encapsulate data into packets of higher definition information bits.

Using memory building techniques, such as repetition, emphasis and anchoring, which catalyse processed information into clustered subroutines are effective ways to boost memory recollection through the shorter pathways of associations which are inherent between related information characteristics. Memory is essential to knowledge since you cannot know that which is not available to memory, thus mnemonic strategies are ligands which through recollection are able to cross link information into novelty.

A dominant objective of this workshop in general is to serve as an intellectual tool for understanding and applying solutions to everyday real-world difficulties (Sebastian and Jimenez 2016; Lisotti et al. 2014; De la Rosa 2007). While knowledge grants us some insight into a more accurate phenomenological explanation of real-world patterns, it is also the basis from which we may predict and explain future related outcomes through an extrapolative intent into newly imaginative potentials. Thus, because of information processing of a specific kind, new areas of actionable development can arise when knowledge is transmuted into creativity as it is mapped onto other unknown and speculative domains.

2 Language and Communication

An imaginative mind can be potentiated and directed in terms of meaningful objectives and planned execution when triggered by one stimulus or another and brought into an intellectual and emotional state whereby it begins to generate compositional stories of newly formed patterns from previously known patterns (Karana et al. 2013; Piselli et al. 2018a). Complexity can be built up from simple intertwining of stories, through language. These stories, which can be intellectually visualized and reinforced by the descriptive qualities of language, become the primary method of both didactic delivery and the mechanisms through which innovation is described, shared and finally realized into products. Language is an essential technology explored in this workshop, used both as a communications tool for technology transfer as well as a vehicle for the elaboration of inbound and outbound information flow. In this workshop, we are also testing how ideas can influence other ideas into existence by encapsulating them, in meme form, into resulting physical and ideological embodiments of design and the decisions which express the functional goals desired, the aesthetic choices through an approach invested in materials and their properties.

Indeed, our understanding, identification and recollection of reality is intrinsically and steeped in a linguistic medium. Furthermore, the depth and level of our understanding is described by our proficiencies in clarity and terminology use of the variables used to process inbound and outbound information. We cannot know what we cannot describe to ourselves nor others (Veelaert et al. 2016; Piselli et al. 2018b). Since language is itself, a structured algorithm embedded in cultural context, distinct languages and their use are noted to have differential impacts upon the subtleties of interpretational angles which individuals express.

Direct applications of technology into production through design and engineering is not a new phenomenon, however, efforts in making this transition more fruitful via the involvement of larger, multidisciplinary, multinational groups across a common linguistic medium and within limited time constraints, is.

Industrial advancements have always been brought forward by the catalytic effect of scientific discovery and our methods for understanding it and explaining it. Since innovation emerges from the presentation ex novo of new data, ideas become tendentially disruptive by virtue of the novel principles underpinning it as much as our ability to put into words the descriptive aspects of its novelty and differentiations (Bianchi and Lucibello 2018).

Indirect methods of innovation, on the other hand, which rely on and emerge as a concrescence of describing the overlapping phenomena between multiple technology mixtures are more complicated to describe as data variables are broader but, if it can be woven into a larger collective story, can reach higher applicable potential due to the multifaceted nature of exploitable combinations. This workshop explores a series of concerted collaborations between creative and scientific groups, both using distinct terminologies and composed of a variety of people with radically diverse educational backgrounds and interests (Ramalhete et al. 2010; Asbjørn et al. 2016). This segmentation was found to offer a more contrasting, creative and self-critical attitude of departure, which as a whole tended to accelerate the stages of idea development over less time. Among the variables which influenced group effort outcomes, though, were the strategic compositions of the groups, the linguistic methods used to impart information across them, as well as the idea fostering techniques which enabled a variety of fundamentally distinct directions of applicability across many sectors. This latter aspect was explored by allowing a multitude of approaches to flourish towards problem solving using a shared linguistic medium through which creativity could explore radically new imagination types and logical reasoning processes.

3 Educational Process

A full disclosure of the various nanomaterials and their properties was among the first steps in the workshop process. Information was delivered through spoken word with a comprehensive supporting glossary regarding the specific terminologies used to describe phenomena which can be expected to occur in the sector of nanomaterials and the processes of fabrication. Given that most of the activity of nanomaterials are, by virtue of scale and speed of action, not perceptually self-evident but in fact unperceivable by the senses, didactic contents covered by lectures were delivered in a specialized manner which would allow its contents to be comprehended via explanatory theoretical models supported by various forms of infographic support, delivered in parallel (see Fig. 1).

Fig. 1

Various forms of students’ engagement

These included a variety of communication peripherals ranging from representational images of nano structures and elements, pictorial diagrams of illustrative nature and numerical tables disclosing quantitative performance qualities (see Fig. 2).

Fig. 2

A mind map

In addition to the explanatory videos describing methods of production and application of nano structures were disclosed so that one could understand behaviours of their influential properties. Time-lapsed diagrams were also used as valuable didactic tools to unpack complex pathways of material-based interactivity into understandable and memorable forms of sequentially ordered steps. These were crucial to enable a clearer transmission and translation of verbal content onto the audience, especially in the attempt to ease comprehension barriers concerning otherwise difficult to follow phenomena resulting from various complex endogenous pathways of chemical and physical interactions (Schulz et al. 2013; Olteanu et al. 2017; Haug 2019).

In general, binding storytelling with supportive imagery is useful, as it allows to assimilate and aggregate new knowledge into novel patterns of association through the structured nature of language. Information can build upon previously learnt axioms and can be restructured to accommodate and integrate new data within related pre-existing concepts, through a categorical rating of their comparative similitudes and relativities. As new information is acquired, a clearer picture of general understanding concerning phenomenology emerges by effect of the interweaving effects of variables and their ability to fill-in ontological gaps underpinning causal interactions of interstitial nature, into a broader picture of overall clarity. The broader the scope and scale of available knowledge within a system, the more likely a concerted effort of creative development is likely to manifest with innovative success and differentiation.

In the case of nanomaterials specifically, special attempts to convey adequate storytelling is necessary as most nano scalar behaviours are completely non intuitive by virtue of their quantum confined emergent states. Initial lectures were given by a nanomaterial’s specialist covering in detail the nature and behaviours of nanomaterials provided in toolkits covering the four main nanomaterials in their diverse qualities and properties. A particular emphasis was dedicated to exploring in-depth topics surrounding GANF carbon-based nanofibers which were provided by Antolin, the producer and leading corporate partner of interest who was given the task of launching the initial design challenge.

In conjunction to the materials expert disclosure, an inhouse GANF specialist from the Antolin group disclosed the more intimate and specific manufacturing and applications processes as well as the scope of their materials application trajectories of interest. Upon a full disclosure Antolin proceeded to launch their challenge to the parties involved in the workshop. While a main objective of the project was to focus on innovative applications of carbon-based nanofibers within vehicle interiors (Antolins’ main area of industrial specialty), other non-directed innovations were solicited for finding alternative applications within completely unrelated sectors (i.e. packaging, agriculture).

As the workshop progressed, participants were invited to examine other related principles surrounding nanomaterials, in general, through exposure to didactic pills which were provided by other third-party corporate participants also involved in the field, concerning different aspects of nanotech materials and classes along with a wide variety of potential applications. The pills were selected strategically to deliver a well-rounded exposure to various aspects surrounding nanomaterials in general, with the goal of expanding their usability potential while concomitantly granting cautionary insights into the necessary limitations and safety requirements when working with submicron particles. The pill sessions also covered different aspects and domains of nanomaterials application and research across distinct affiliated sectors which use nano technologies, from medical to energy production, nutrition and nanoelectronics.

4 Toolkits

Didactic content disclosed in the lectures was further corroborated by a series of individual materials toolkits, produced for public use in the form of a box folder containing materials samples and a collective set of quick reference info-guides. Each box was conceived to represent a single material and a number of corresponding leaflets containing literature which displayed the pertaining material properties as well as methods of production, use, properties, safety hazards and related technology readiness levels. Toolkits are a crucial component and object of evaluation in this workshop methodology as they represent the solution to a didact-creative gap which currently exists in the field of design. As most innovation is burdened with voids in knowledge and access to reliable sources of consolidated information necessary for advancements, especially in the precise area of materials science, the toolkits represent an attempt to devise an easy to use go-to source which bridges this gap and enable a more confident application of materials with greater degree of inspirational intent. In the attempt to achieve this content wise, the toolkits are conceived to provide both a combination of sensorial and intellectual inputs which stemming from the access to a physical material sample and collection of explanatory literature, respectively. Within the literature, there was a series of materials properties ratings visually quantifying all the salient materials’ unique properties and characteristics. This was communicated via a series of individual property performance rating charts (for instance, electrical conductivity can be given a rating of 1 to 5, if applicable). For ease of use, ratings were provided only for relevant properties, thus each toolkit, in accordance with the materials being featured, was unique in terms of its peculiar profile but equal to all others in terms of its didactic formatting, thus comparative analysis between two or more materials could be done rapidly and reliably (see Fig. 3).

Fig. 3

Exploring the toolkit

A material sample of small dimensions was included within a central void of the box structure and left open and accessible to users so they could touch the material and evaluate its sensorial qualities live. Surrounding the sample are various logistic and identification information blocks containing the trade name, class and a manufacturers contact information. Among the disclosing information topics, materials are also noted for their available formats, colours, finishes and physical/chemical profiles. The main point of the property rating charts was to convey to the user a rapid qualitative visualization of relative and comparative material qualities in each and every distinct property ultimately enabling the user to extrapolate one or more intuitive applications of the material with a basis of confidence.

Physical samples provided sensorial and somatic appreciation regarding visual, haptic, aromatic and physical expressions, while the literature provided qualitative and quantitative technical disclosures pertaining to related measurable phenomena (i.e. flexibility, abrasions resistance, electrical conductivity). Both the combination of a sample and detailed literature content together was conceived to foster a concise yet comprehensive overview and understanding of materials and thus ideally become the trigger point and origin for stimulating insight into inspirational dispositions towards a gainful potential towards their application in new ways. In a nutshell, toolkits aimed to provide the minimum amount of relevant technical knowledge necessary to foment a maximum creative application potential through the extrapolation of principles into actionable qualities. Lectures were also didactically engineered to deliver information in a constructive easy to grasp way. In part this was done through setting many examples while reducing the data packets to their minimum common information denominators. Learning curves were also compounded by several repetitious affirmations of underlying scientific principles whereby the knowledge building and memory recollection processes were aligned into efficient blocks. Individual materials were described in terms of their specific structures and compositional natures, and the general contributions of each onto each other. Lectures further covered other logistical aspects of the materials such as the spectrum of available formats and expectational predictions of synergistic effects potentially manifest from their integrability within other material classes and families.

5 Nanomaterial Disclosure

Among the four nanomaterials presented to the student body, a first one was GANF carbon-based graphene oxide nanofibers, which are submicron, vapour grown structures having an elongated aspect ratio and overall length less than 100 manometers. GANF nanofibers possess several advantages as they possess and impart high toughness and tensile strength to material substrates and, depending on where they are positioned at concentrations within a material, can provide various distinct functions such as filtering and/or elevated surface hardness in conjunction with anticorrosive protection to a substrate. In addition to these qualities, these carbon-based fibres can conduct heat or become a substrate itself upon which other metals can be deposited to enhance electronic conduction or optoelectronic capacitance.

A second nanomaterial presented was Bionox produced by Apta Colour. Bionox pigments are nanometric TiO₂ particles sized between 10 and 100 nm which, when included within a substrate, grant photocatalytic properties to the host materials. Photocatalysis is an optochemical phenomenon wherein, upon absorption of sunlight and in the presence of surrounding oxygen (air), TiO₂ pigments acquire catalytic abilities and thus are able to accelerate mineralization of certain pollutants into oxidized states. Additionally, TiO₂ particles possess tensioactive properties which as a secondary effect proport antifouling surface properties by virtue of their high affinity to water film forming over surfaces, rendering them less tacky to paints and dirt particles. TiO₂ particles also possess oxidative properties which have a bactericidal effect in most cases. Relatively non toxic, these particles can also provide rheological modifications to viscous liquids for industrial applications.

A third nanomaterial presented was Grafylon produced by Direct Plus. Grafylon is a PLA polymer-based filament composite having a low volume fraction of graphene nanostructure within its matrix. Graphene, which typically embodies a nanoplatelet configuration, is known to possess and impart onto materials, when embedded as a reinforcement, high mechanical strength and electrical/thermal conduction. Even at low volume fractions, polymer substrates can acquire numerous advantages such as good thermal dispersion and dissipation, excellent mould reproduction and integrability into electrical structures. Furthermore, graphene within polymers grants several improvements such as surface hardness and resistance to impact and crack propagation, even at lower temperatures.

A fourth nanomaterial presented was Nanotex by Crypton. Nanotex is a SiO₂ nanoparticle additive which can be embedded into and throughout textile fibre matrices whereas to cover their surfaces with a water repelling and highly resistant coating, thus preventing the fibres from absorbing water within and throughout. SiO₂ particles can be applied onto textiles via various methods of application some of which more permanent than others but, all in all, they drastically improve the lifespan of textiles by acquiring antifouling properties and self-cleaning abilities, warranted by the superhydrophobic nature of SiO₂ nanoparticles. Given the high priority of GANF over the other nanomaterials it was emphatic to explore the majority of its potential applications across diverse sectors of need and innovative impact, thus the various groups were given specific inputs towards fomenting ideas in five different areas, namely energy, food, biology and pollution control.

6 Team Forming

The student body comprised a blend of diverse people having distinct multidisciplinary backgrounds. Teams were formed by designers and engineers to include the broadest possible profiles between participants and thus grant maximum variability in creative and analytical abilities. Groups of 5–6 people were formed and given the task of selecting a group name.

The groups comprised a generally regular distribution of males to females with diverse backgrounds. Roughly half of the students were designers (grafic, product and interior) and the other half were engineers (chemical and mechanical).

7 From Knowledge into Creativity Through Language

The main objective of the workshop was to identify areas of opportunity and methods which would inspire the transition of knowledge regarding nanomaterials into creative yet scientifically backed applications in business. For this to occur it was found that gross challenges resided in both the knowledge transfer process, from lecturers towards the audience (input phase), and the following creative transformation process (output phase) of ideas (see Fig. 4).

Fig. 4

Students generating ideas

In order to achieve a certain level of efficiency and validity in this process, the workshop was to be structured so as to optimize both the quality and delivery of communication while stimulating creativity through techniques suitable for a multidisciplinary audience. A great deal of emphasis was placed on the proper use of language and terminology to bring clarity and understanding of the scientific data disclosed to ensure minimal gaps of misinterpretation, while concurrently allowing examples of how assimilated information could be granted new meaning through use of analogies and comparative abstractions. This method intended to constantly stimulate a relatedness between newly acquired information and its direct application into potential advantages towards creative outcomes.

The tested hypothesis aimed at evaluating whether the process of functionalizing knowledge into creativity could be stimulated within multidisciplinary groups by setting up a structured didact-creative dynamic which promoted constant alternation between distinct mental faculties, analytical and intuitive, which are typically divided in the brain. Language use, as a medium for information transfer and transformation, was considered a key medium for the intermingling of both mental abilities. Through the constructive nature of language and narration, symbolic forms of knowledge (data clusters) can be brought into the visual mind and then mixed into newly functionalized assemblies of associated hierarchical order. By analysing data and abstracting it into more generalized meaning and action pattern, information is thought to be reducible into minimum common denominator terms sufficiently general whereby its reduced nature can be altered in focus, meaning or intent to assume a malleable character which can finally be reattributed towards other indirectly unrelated, even radically different areas of use. In this way we tested whether information, regardless of its complexity or nature, could systematically coax creativity into being through transmutation of one type of information into another.

A creative state of mind is one where a confluence of knowledge of diverse kinds is brought into an abstracted state through a creative use of language. Creative processes thus often play with words and their meaning in order to stimulate a visual imagery alternative kind through reinterpretations and configurational relationships of data. As a result, known variables may be manipulated into a number of distinct alternative outcomes, through reinterpretation and recombination, into novel opportunities arising from interactive potentials of these and their directed intent. Furthermore, upon skilful gain of such practices, what is known, in terms of raw data, can be recalled into memory and subsequently projected forwards into new configurations with some degree of predictable outcome. This process however is mentally constructed using the narrative logic and structure of language which serves as a semiotic medium and compiler.

Knowledge is a necessary precursor to the creative process as the latter can be seen as a process of recombination in various forms of the former. Language is also a vehicle which, by elaborations of its contents, enables the known to be shared and propelled forwards into different shades of attributed value and emotional overtone. For instance, the use of humour or dramatization in the process of communication can redirect, respectively, the underpinning intent of ideas whereas to trigger emotional cues which divert the outcome and focus of the innovation process. Language connects phenomena of the real or imaginary world with human experiences through the unfolding of story. Yet, while descriptive, language also possesses sufficient interpretability across communication channels to warrant significant variability of interpretation, which overall affects the evolution of existing ideas into new ones by propagation of error. Specifically, language is the main communications technology and pathway by which knowledge is structured then promoted into understanding by erecting an intuitive assessment of how observed causal patterns fall in line or into conflict with the way we relate to other known real-world patterns.

How clearly, we can explain something in simple terms and weave it into meaning through story and imagery using language as a medium, not only is it an indication of how intimately we understand it, but also how effectively we may apply it in a creative process. They started to envision the idea by putting the knowledge they acquire into real ideas whose function would apply the principles regarding physic and chemical behaviours of the various nanometric materials.

8 Results

The students who participated in the workshop worked with the company GRUPO ANTOLIN. This company is a multinational company that manufactures the automotive interior market internationally and is a global supplier of roofing substrates. The challenge proposed by Antolín to the students was to find new applications for carbon nanofibers (GANF). These new applications can be applied to a wide variety of sectors such as the automotive industry, electronics, textiles or energy.

The briefing proposed by the Antolin group required additional information to help understand the scope of the material with which the students were working. To do this, they were given this information: regulations, technical data, associated patents, etc. Likewise, the first version of the Material Integration Files tools was delivered.

In addition to this company, TECNUN had the collaboration of four different companies that participated through pills. They were the following:

GRAPHENEA. High quality graphene producer. They design, manufacture and supply graphene-based chips and materials for your research and industrial needs.

IKERLAT. It is a specialist in the development and manufacture of personalized polymeric particles. Today, with fifteen years of history, the company has established itself as a reference in the market for polymer dispersions.

CEIT BRTA. It is a non-profit research centre whose main activity is to carry out research projects in collaboration with organizations. Among other fields, they investigate bioapplications of nanomaterials.

BURDINOLA. It is a safe one-stop supplier for working with nanomaterials. They run the safest and most efficient laboratory projects in the world, laboratories where researchers enjoy working to make the world a better place.

At the beginning of the workshop, the students were informed about the expected results of the work they would have to do. The work teams would be made up of students from each of the participating universities. The final works as a result of the process were collected in; a final oral presentation, a physical prototype of the solution (if possible) and a poster. These results were very useful for carrying out dissemination activities that showed the new methods applied.

Regarding the presentation, each team prepared a short presentation of 10 to 15 min that took place on the last day of the workshop. In this way the students were able to explain the ideas generated throughout that week. This brief presentation was addressed to the company that proposed the challenge, who will be able to understand and provide feedback to the team.

As for the prototype, students were asked to create a physical prototype of the solution to support the oral presentation. Depending on the solution and the EM&T, some prototypes were easier to create.

Regarding the poster, each team produced a poster following a template provided by the researchers of each HEI. The template has included sections in which each team described the project, the number of EM&T involved and the level of preparation of the related proposal with the market.

Some of the works presented by the students are listed below: (for a deeper understanding see appendix with all the projects).

• 1. Nanohouse (see Fig. 5)

  Fig. 5

  

  The nano house project

A temperature-controlled and water-collecting system that increases crop quality and opens up new possibilities for plants in new places.

The greenhouse is a system that changed the way plants grow and that radically changed the field of agriculture. Proper of this system are the light, an essential element for photosynthesis, the heat, which empowers the growth of the plants and the water, the other unmissable protagonist. Thanks to the properties of nanomaterial, and specifically of carbon nanofibers, we saw in this system a huge potential that can be enriched by these materials.

Adding doped aluminium rods to the greenhouse we are able to transfer the constant temperature from the deep soil to the environment of the greenhouse. Moreover, due to the hygroscopic qualities of the CNF, we can collect and recover part of the water contained in the air. That allows us to expand the places of use of greenhouses, controlling the heat inside them and optimizing the use of water, thanks to the many properties of nanomaterials.

Nanomaterials permit introducing smart and sustainable features into the components of this greenhouse. Optimum harvesting conditions could be achieved using the minimum amount of resources, in any outside environment. Superior thermal conductivity and peculiar surface treatments given by the carbon nanofibers allow for a temperature-controlled and water-collecting closed system. Taking advantage of geothermal energy, a renewable and relentless source of energy, superconductive CNF rods efficiently transmit constant deep ground temperature (around 15 °C) up to root level. Further temperature regulation (up to 22 °C) is achieved thanks to a light-polarizing CNF mechanism actuated by shape memory alloys, that accumulates heat inside the greenhouse. Special surface coating in the aluminum tubes enables water condensation that is redirected towards the plant roots, reducing water consumption.

• 2. Pollution Vacuum (see Fig. 6)

  Fig. 6

  

  Pollution vacuum project

The product is a combination of an automatic system combined with filters infused with carbon nanofibers that captures CO₂ and creates H₂O to feed plants in greenhouses.

This product has a double value that helps to reduce the contamination of CO₂ while assisting the growth of the plants optimizing the air cleaning further. It would function in the industrial factory chimneys in collaboration with the agricultural industry. It would be a service provided by the factory to generate more profit by selling their pollution. The principle of the concept is based on the following chemical reaction: LiOH + CO₂ → H₂O + Li₂CO₃.

The main idea is to use the carbon nanofibers as filters and sensors in the solution proposed. It would help to capture the CO₂ produced and measure the moisture level in the filtration panels. Nanoparticles are playing a crucial role in enhancing the chemical process of capturing CO₂ and producing water. Furthermore in the chemical process, the filters have to be dried, thus the thermal conduction of the nanomaterial plays an important role to fulfil this condition. The solution would allow companies to make profit from their own pollution while selling the captured elements to agricultural industries. The product still needs to be tested and detailed to develop a fully functional solution.

• 3. Windflower (see Fig. 7):

  Fig. 7

  

  Windflower

Nanostracture tecXtile to catch pollen and re-spread it WindFlower is a simple system adopted to collect pollen, store it and re-spread it, thanks to the material’s properties (carbon nanofibers).

Wind Flower is a “home” product designed for an individual use for families but with a social and collective output. The product has to be put in open spaces, such as gardens, terraces, fields, balconies and daily it collects flying pollen from air. Collected pollen can be spread right after or stored in the fridge and re-spread. The product also embeds a playful identity because of the sail’s origami structure that when folded creates a kite that spreads pollen from above.

This is possible thanks to the skeleton which is 3D overprinted with a PA filament also implemented with nanocarbons. The object tries to maximize the complexity of the structure and the joint. There has been minimized the number of different materials, creating reversible connections and avoiding complex joints, replaced by the specific properties of nanomaterials. The panel has a velcro to attach it to the structure and to close it.

9 Conclusions

We conclude that the techniques applied in the materially driven creativity workshops were successful in providing adequate technical delivery of information via the supporting literature of the materials toolkits. We further conclude that the various methods for stimulating creative applications of the delivered information through in-detail explanatory storytelling, in conjunction with exercises focused upon the extrapolation, decontextualization and abstraction of the underlying scientific principles, were effective in stimulating a transversal mixture of influential insights across the multidisciplinary teams. Our conclusions support the idea that to truly innovate from a fresh perspective is to innovate without the boundaries of prejudice or excessive focus on limiting knowledge-based factors. We find that to create from new points of reflection requires totally new forms of knowledge as a precursor. Further, our findings appear to confirm that knowledge regarding materials and their usable properties are confined to the understanding abilities of the individual and their ability to translate its contents effectively. However, to offset individual limitations, a multidisciplinary group of strategically selected individuals having complementary abilities determined to be the best fit for dissipating uncertainty as well as stimulating a self-critical approach to problem solving.

Other conclusions reflect upon a proper use of language as being a key contributor and necessary baseline, to limit misinterpretation, and enable a focused team directive towards creative goals. The use of associated diagrams and video support, in concomitance with verbal explanations, were found to be very successful methods for building a story which can be assimilated into experience and memory.

Another finding revealed that even in the best of explanatory situations, knowledge regarding new content is always pseudo-interpreted by the observations and intellectual biases and tendencies of the observers. However, it was found that even misinterpretations can still contribute to the creative process in a positive manner by simple chaotic contribution to the group creativity potential, when harnessed accordingly. Thus interpretations of information, providing they are not too skewed from reality, can be normalized within group sharing and even used, in a subsequent moment, as creative fuel for stimulating radical ideas during the creative session.

A last reflection supports the idea that, during the creative phase of the workshop, an unbiased, free-range attitude towards idea sharing is needed, to enable a proper set and setting which accommodates and empowers a friendly and unbiased planar hierarchy of contributions across all team members.