Innovators’ Market Game: Communication with and for Innovative Thinking

Abstract

In this chapter, we introduce a board game called the Innovators’ Market Game (IMG). This game provides players with a communication space for thinking up innovative ideas, which they create by combining existing products, services, business ideas, and so on. They not only obtain new ideas but also evaluate the quality of each idea. Three types of players – inventors, investors, and consumers – discuss whether or not the new ideas are of value in the marketplace. This has typically been considered a difficult task, but in the game, the players find they are enjoying themselves as they work through the processes and eventually create feasible ideas. IMG has already been used by business people, students, researchers, and academic faculty members to produce innovative ideas, some of which are currently in the pre-production stage.