It’s hard to predict where the interesting concepts and ideas are going to come from and serendipity always plays an important part. As the bedrock of Open Innovation (OI), it was nice that this happened at the recent ENGAGE conference on OI. Clinton Bantock was giving a passionate case for complexity theory and post-structuralist thinking in business engagement and its relationship to the university. This was great stuff coming from a business development officer.

During his presentation he misspoke and used the term ‘bottom down’. I was intrigued by this idea and the possibility of ‘top up’, so I’m going to run with this allusion. To me it represents the expansion of possibilities. You have set parameters (top and bottom), and this takes you beyond these.

A response to my tweet during the conference suggested bottom down would be used for a project doomed from the start, but the sun is shining and I’m looking for more positive interpretations.