Title: The innovation pump: supporting creative processes in collaborative engineering

Authors: Xavier Llora, David E. Goldberg

Addresses: Data-Intensive Technologies and Applications, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1205 W. Clark Street, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. ' Illinois Genetic Algorithms Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 104 S. Mathews Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801, USA

Abstract: The pervasive expansion of computers and internet has change the way people collaborate. Cybercollaboratories for collaborative engineering in form of web boards, blogs, e-mails, and instant messaging have become de facto mainstream communication channels. This paper reviews the new framework set after these technologies and presents how collaborative creativity and innovation can be modelled and supported using computational models. The paper continues presenting an innovation-support model based on the usage of genetic algorithms as computational metaphors of human innovation. The paper also discuses the results achieved using the proposed technologies in real-world collaborative creative processes.

Keywords: creativity; innovation modelling; computer-supported innovation; collaborative creative processes; interactive GAs; genetic algorithms; collaborative engineering; web boards; blogs; emails; instant messaging; collaboration.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCE.2009.027440

International Journal of Collaborative Engineering, 2009 Vol.1 No.1/2, pp.75 - 97

Published online: 24 Jul 2009 *