Idea Generation Techniques

Start with ways to generate ideas

Begin with the flashcards on generating ideas. They introduce approaches including environment scanning, brainstorming, focus groups and market research. They also mention screening, giving you a way to consider what happens after ideas have been generated.

As you study, group the terms by approach. You could then explain each one in your own words before returning to the cards to check the terms.

Explore the mind maps

The mind map Scamper Method sets out ways to generate or improve products and services, including substituting, combining, adapting and modifying. Use its branches as prompts to think through how an existing idea might change.

Brain Storm brings together ideas across areas such as technology, food and daily life. Concept Metaphors and Analogies presents another approach: framing concepts in terms of familiar metaphors or analogies, then discussing and refining them. Compare how each map organizes ideas.

Use questions alongside maps

This page lists no quizzes. To practice with questions, turn a map branch into a question, answer it without looking, and then check the map. For example, you could ask yourself which actions appear in Scamper Method or how the ideas in Brain Storm are grouped.

You can also move between the flashcards and maps. Start with a term on a card, find a related approach in a map, and explain the connection in your own words.

Connect ideas to the wider unit

This topic sits within a wider unit in Entrepreneurship. The listed resources connect generating ideas with developing and protecting business ideas. Flashcards cover sources of ideas, franchising, patents, copyright and trademarks, while a mind map also explores protection. After studying a generation method, look at these resources to follow those connections.

Pick a map and use one of its branches as a starting point for your own questions.