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Latest happenings on Creative Leap project 

• Creativity and Collaboration: Transforming the Impossible seminar was held the 30th September.

• Mark Runco held a keynote on Artificial Creativity at LASER Talks on 3rd October.

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• Diving Into Radical Creativity online course is now open! 

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• Preliminary results of Creative Leap were announced on the 12th November

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• Creative Leap studies individual and organizational creativity in working life for all businesses.
• The project asks how the implementation of creativity is reflected in the organization's business and whether a creative organizational culture correlates with financial success.

• The co-research projects consists of four work packages:

  - WP1 models individual and orginsational creativity through surveys.

  - WP2 looks into how creativity emerges in daily work-life.

  - WP3 measures the financial impact of creativity. 

  - WP4 focuses on project management.

• The research is funded by Business Finland and Next Generation EU.
• Timeline: January 2024 - December 2025

Director of Creativity Research and Programming, Southern Oregon University & Visiting Professor of Radical Creativity, Aalto University 

Mark A. Runco is Editor in Chief of the Journal of Creativity and a recipient of several Lifetime Achievement Awards for his research on creativity. With over 40 years dedicated to studying creativity, Runco’s research draws on cognitive psychology, developmental, clinical, genetic, historical, and economic perspectives. Mark’s journey into the field of creativity began in college when he took a class on creativity igniting a lifelong fascination that has shaped his career. 

For Mark, creativity is fundamental to daily life. It helps us to solve problems, adapt to challenges, and contribute to social, cultural, and personal well-being. As the world has become increasingly complex and fast-paced, he believes that creativity has become more essential than ever: “Creativity does all kinds of things: it supports our health for example, and it adds a great deal to quality of life. It is also related to advancements, evolution and progress. On an individual level, it also plays a strong role in development and the fulfilment of potentials …”.   

In Mark’s view, creativity is more than just a skill; it’s a way of navigating and enhancing life in a world that is continually transforming. 

Co-founder & CSO, Yellow Method 

Susanna Rahkamo is an accomplished leadership consultant, leader, a researcher and a European Champion, World Silver Medalist, and two-time Olympian in ice dancing. She specialises in analysing and enhancing organisations' innovation capacities. During her PhD studies at Aalto University, she developed models that illustrate the critical role of creativity in driving success and fostering exceptional expertise. She’s currently leading the research and analytics at Yellow Method, helping organisations uncover and integrate their creative potential as a core component of their business strategy. 

Through her experience in ice dancing, Susanna has collaborated with a wide range of creative professionals worldwide. While many assume that these individuals hold a special and rare talent and ability to innovate, Susanna has found that their achievements are rooted in pragmatic and persistent work. For her creativity is not a special skill but rather an ability everyone can access and develop. 

Susanna emphasises that everyone’s brains are “wired” in different ways, which allows each person to view the world from different perspectives. This gives everyone the ability to produce unique views, angles, ideas and concepts, which for Susanna lies at the heart of creativity. 

Astrid Huopalainen is an Assistant Professor on a tenure-track position called Leadership for Creativity at Aalto University. She is based in both the School of Business and the School of Arts, Design and Architecture, in a cross-disciplinary position where she’s able to bridge insights from organization studies with artistic research. 

“I would say that creativity is like this, holistic notion, a foundation of what it really means to be human in this world,” Astrid explains. “Processes and practices where novelty emerges are what drives us as humans and as a society.” For her, creativity is not just about individuals, but a situated, collective, and relational process that emerges between people, and between people and non-human agents such as tools, materials, technologies, and spaces. Creativity, as processual, Astrid argues, is rarely a straight path. Rather, these interactions contribute to a collage-like process in which invention happens through the process itself. 

The Creative Leap co-research project combines quantitative and qualitative perspectives, creating a unique opportunity to explore creativity on individual, team, organisational, and societal levels. Astrid and her team research how we can understand everyday creativity within organisations in more nuanced ways by looking into how it emerges in the everyday work practices. Their research highlights how company culture, shaped by power relations, ideologies, and  dominant ways of knowing and doing, can either hinder or support the emergence of creativity. This involves asking questions such as whose ideas are valued and heard, and whether organisations make space for experimentation and “half baked” or even silly ideas that may, in fact, contain the seed for something significant and transformative.

Creativity is an essential process for any organisation, yet its generative potential remains under-researched and under-utilised, Astrid states. It forms the foundation for innovation, enabling new perspectives and fresh ideas to take shape. Without it, organisations risk stagnation but with it, they gain the capacity to generate outcomes that are not only valuable and sustainable, but also meaningful.

Ana Paula Lafaire is a postdoctoral researcher in Organisational and Management Studies with a background in business and industrial design. In her research with Creative Leap, Ana Paula explores creativity as a collective and relational process. She emphasises the importance in looking into the dimensions that hinder and support creativity, such as power dynamics, diversity, technology, discourses, and rules. She is interested in rethinking how creativity is understood, ‘managed’ and legitimized. 

When doing qualitative field work, she explains it is important to notice how casual encounters that spark experimentation unfold in the everyday “which interestingly, often exceeds individual intentionality and are entangled with materiality, rhythms and spaces”. For example, how spontaneous conversations at coffee rooms are key for developing trust among colleagues, or how touching the textures of materials can led to associations of memories and new ideas. 

Ana Paula and her colleagues aim to develop a more nuanced understanding about how creative processes emerge and are valued in organisations. What she likes about this research approach is that it goes beyond the idea that “creativity is a characteristic of certain individuals, a skill or a product”. “I think one of the most interesting aspects of this project is that we get to see how people shape organisations and how organisations shape people back,” a mutual influence that is deeply tied to organisational culture of creativity. Moreover, fostering a critical dialogue between the businesses and the university “helps us to understand better, how creativity is organized and what it does in today’s society,” highlighting “how creativity has been valued and the potential for nurturing different approaches towards creativity for organizing differently.”

In the Creative Leap, Maria Uusitalo has explored everyday creativity in organizations and how organizational culture shapes both the possibilities and hindrances for creativity to emerge. Maria is a doctoral researcher in Organisational Communication at the Department of Management Studies, with a career in communications in and around creativity.

Maria’s interest in creativity comes from a curiosity to explore creativity beyond howit is often portrayed and discussed. Rather than seeing creativity as an outcome or a structured process, Maria approaches it as something that is “constantly unfolding in the most subtle ways and often exceeds the formal organization structures, job titles and responsibilities”. Although these aspects might not be considered as “creative”, "they are important for creativity and creating conditions for it to exist and emerge”, says Maria. For her, researching creativity is also an opportunity to scratch the surface and extend the conversations on creativity by exploring its margins, nuances and even shadows.

Matti Rossi is a professor of information systems at Aalto University School of Business with extensive publications in digital economy, information systems science, and open data. His work was recently recognised at AIS Impact Award 2024 for the research he had done with his team for technological and entrepreneurial impact.

“We need people who create things differently,” Matti states when asked about why creativity matters. While artificial intelligence can produce many routine deliverables, like marketing materials, Matti believes we need ways of doing that is qualitatively different than what machines can do. For him, creativity is about being able to think differently, to find solutions in new and creative ways or even just to use simple tools to do something better.

It's this human ability to think differently that sets us apart from machines, but creativity also gives businesses a competitive edge. The competition globally is tougher than ever, and creativity could one of the key appeals, Matti explains: “To have creative solutions or designs, it can set a business apart from the other offerings in the marketplace”. In Creative Leap, Matti is contributing to these ideas by helping to identify specific measures that can demonstrate how creativity supports and strengthens business outcomes.

Eeva Vilkkumaa is an Associate Professor of Management Science at Aalto University School of Business. In her research, Eeva focuses on developing mathematical models to support decision making and resource allocation in companies and public organisations. She’s particularly interested in modeling uncertainties, multicriteria decision problems, and behavioral decision theory; themes that have brought her to research the role of creativity. “I think if it wasn't for creativity, we would be stuck doing things the same way they’ve always been done,” Eeva explains. 

As a researcher, Eeva views creativity as an ability to find different perspectives and produce original ideas that benefit oneself as well as others, whether through artistic and aesthetic pleasure, societal benefit, or productivity gains. She highlights how diversity and multidisciplinary collaboration, as exemplified by the Creative Leap project, play a key role in enhancing creativity. “Working in transdisciplinary projects is a great way to spark one's own creativity and also to shake up one's mental models, which is a necessary thing if you want to be creative”.

Eeva also hopes to see creativity more widely recognised as a serious asset in business: “I’m hoping that business owners really take creativity seriously, also outside what we usually call the creative industries. Nurturing a culture of creativity within companies is important not only for innovation but also because it contributes to greater profitability.”

Dr Niina Mallat is a Senior Fellow at Aalto University specialising in smart services and information systems. Although creativity is a new topic for her, she is excited to explore the interdisciplinary approach of Creative Leap and the opportunities it offers for cutting-edge research. Niina’s focus during the research in this project is examining the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into creative work, with the aim of explaining the paradoxes and tensions that occur when combining human creativity with AI computational processing.

To Niina, creativity is the spark that turns the mundane into the extraordinary and distinguishes outstanding performance from an ordinary one. She describes it as “a state of excitement and achievement,” and notes that with creativity you can achieve better results.

Maria Semenova is a Doctoral Researcher at Aalto University School of Business. She joined the Creative Leap co-research project out of a fascination with exploring creativity not just as a personal trait, but as something that drives financial success. In Creative Leap, she contributed to the development of a framework that maps the economic impact of creativity.

“Creativity is at the heart of any process,” Maria states. “It would be a mistake to think that creativity is important only in the arts.” In her own research, she adopted a creative approach to connect creative efforts with financial outcomes. Her work shows that “creativity exists across all industries, including research itself”.

Dr. Riikka Mäkikoskela is an expert in creativity and the creative process. Since 2021, she has been working for Aalto University’s Radical Creativity, one of the cross-cutting themes of the university’s strategy. She has managed a diverse project portfolio of research, education and impact, and also acts as the Project Manager of the Creative Leap research project. 

The spark for the Creative Leap project came from a previous project, Creative Working Life 2030, and from Riikka’s belief that “in an unpredictable and turbulent world, we need cross-disciplinary creative collaboration to solve complex problems”.

Before moving into leadership roles, Riikka worked as a researcher and teacher in the arts. “It may seem surprising, but even in the creative fields, creative thinking and skills are often very siloed”, Riikka says. Even though creative skills are essential for renewal and adaptability, “there are fields that don’t recognize or value creative skills, even though they use them daily”.  

For Riikka, creativity opens up a world of possibilities and hope for a better future. “Being creative gives me a strong sense of agency in society: I can make an impact, co-create new things, and get things done”. Looking ahead, she and the Creative Leap team are planning a longitudinal study to follow up Creative Leap and are inviting more companies to join.

Tuomas Auvinen is the Dean of the School of Arts, Design and Architecture at Aalto University, with the unofficial title of “Champion of Radical Creativity”, one of Aalto’s key strategic themes. Creativity has always been a significant part of Tuomas’ life, whether through teaching or researching creativity, or trying to lead a creative life himself. “For me, it has always been fascinating to explore how to lead for creativity,” he says. “For a long time, we've had to say, well, we don't have the numbers at the moment to show the correlation between creativity, creative organisational culture and economic outcome, but we know that it exists”, Tuomas says about the importance of the research.

 As dean, Tuomas regularly meets with business leaders who often view creativity as something “soft and nice, fuzzy and warm”, something that is not for them. One of the outcomes he hopes the research will achieve is that companies will understand that “creativity now is the superpower that we need to have in order to be successful in the future. I hope more and more people realise this and that it will have a real impact, not only on Finnish companies and the competitiveness of Finnish economy, but also on how we address big societal challenges and find solutions to them.”

Ida Muhonen has a background in the music industry, an experience that led her to reflect on her own creativity and ultimately to Creative Leap, in which she works as a coordinator. She once considered herself a creative person, which quickly changed in her early career: “I was working in marketing in a fast-paced environment and was often expected to generate new ideas like an on-off switch, something I wasn’t able to do. It made me question whether I was creative at all.” Over time, she realised that the issue was not her creative ability, but the organisational culture itself.
    
Creativity has been a steady thread in her career, yet she finds that even in creative industries, many organisations cling to the mindset of “that’s how we’ve always done it”, leaving little room for experimentation. "When ideas are not given space and time to develop, nothing new emerges, and the same solutions keep circulating year after year." That’s why Ida values Creative Leap, it shows through scientific research the importance of fostering a creative culture. 

Kemira joined the Creative Leap co-research project to actively invest in developing the skills of their staff while learning how to make better use of creativity in industrial research and product development. 

Veli-Matti Vuorenpalo, Manager, IP & Innovation Solutions, Research & Innovation at Kemira, has been actively involved in Creative Leap and talked about Kemira’s participation and the role of creativity in the company’s future.

Why did you want to be part of Creative Leap co-research project?
"We drive for performance and innovation" is one of Kemira's values and creativity plays an important role in enabling innovation. We believe that the project and Aalto's expertise will provide us with new perspectives and tools to improve our creative thinking and operations. 

Why is the research project important?
Kemira has a great opportunity to work closely with Aalto within the project and to look at creativity both from its own perspective and through Aalto's interdisciplinary eyes.

Why do you think creativity is important?
In a complex and rapidly changing world, creativity is essential for the development, renewal and success of organisations. 

What value/benefit do you think they bring to Kemira? 
Creativity aids problem solving, which is an integral part of Kemira's daily operations, whether it is the global challenge of resource sufficiency or the everyday challenge of chemical laboratory work.

What role do you think they will play in the future of the business?
According to Amabile et.al, "Highly creative companies outperform their competitors in terms of new product development and financial performance". We can well subscribe to this sentence.

The belief in Raisio is that the more the world becomes digitalised, the more essential creativity becomes. Raisio’s Innovation Director Reetta Andolin and Innovation Manager Tuire Wendelin shared their insights on creativity and its role in Raisio.

Why did you want to be part of the Creative Leap research project?
Everyone has creative potential, and we wanted to understand how that potential can be harnessed in the logical structured world of business.  

Why is Creative Leap important?

This project is the first to examine the measurability of abstract creativity and its connection to business performance.

Why do you think creativity / creative thinking / creative practices / a creative organisational culture are important?
Creativity is needed whenever problems are solved, new approaches are explored, or fresh ideas are developed. It is therefore indispensable in any organisation.

What value or benefits do you believe creativity brings to Raisio?

The world is changing rapidly, and the food system is undergoing a transformation. Creativity helps us discover new solutions to these emerging challenges.

What role do you think creativity will have in business in the future?
Creative practices will become an increasingly systematic part of everyday work and leadership, and creativity will grow into an even more important and intentional area of expertise.

Posti believes that a creative culture encourages experimentation, questioning, and thinking differently. Petteri Naulapää, CIO, SVP ICT and Digitalization, answered the Creative Leap Q&A.

Why do you think creativity / creative thinking / creative practices / a creative organisational culture are important?
Creative thinking helps generate new and effective solutions to the challenges faced in the logistics sector. A creative organisational culture supports innovation, adaptability, and employee engagement, all of which strengthen long-term growth.

What value or benefits do you believe creativity brings to Posti?
We need new innovations, creativity, and growth to ensure that Posti becomes a modern delivery and logistics company for the future. This requires open and seamless collaboration across different businesses and units.
A creative culture encourages experimentation, questioning, and thinking differently. This leads to the development of new products, services, and ways of working. Creative practices enable us to respond more effectively to market changes and identify new opportunities ahead of competitors. 
When employees are encouraged to contribute ideas and participate in decision-making, they experience their work as more meaningful. Caring leadership and an inclusive culture create a sense of success and foster creativity. They encourage open dialogue and collaborative problem-solving, while building psychological safety. It is also important to allow mistakes and learn from them, as this strengthens Posti’s learning capacity and resilience.

What role do you think creativity will have in business in the future?
Creative practices can lead to new operational models that improve efficiency, reduce constraints, and increase customer satisfaction. For example, integrating automation and artificial intelligence into logistics processes requires creative thinking to ensure smooth collaboration between technology and people.

Janni Vepsäläinen, Creative Director at Iittala, thinks creativity will play a central role in business:

Why is the Creative Leap project important?
It is important that the significance of creative thinking in the business world is examined and studied as objectively as possible. Creativity is a resource that, when harnessed properly, enhances Finland’s competitiveness and business vitality. It is essential that creative thinking has a place in management-level decision-making and that its positive impact on business performance is recognised. At best, creativity is forward-looking and always attentive to consumer needs.

Why do you think creativity / creative thinking / creative practices / a creative organisational culture are important?
Creativity keeps companies relevant, connected to the times, and agile in their operations. Creativity generates new innovations through consumer-driven products and marketing. The world around us is constantly changing, and through creative thinking companies have the chance to stay one step ahead of those changes and to interpret prevailing megatrends and subtle signals. Creative thinking is built on intuition and emotion, which strengthens a company’s ability to remain meaningful to its consumers.

What value or benefits do you believe creativity brings to Fiskars Group?
We are better able to respond to a changing world and to evolving consumer needs, while at the same time creating opportunities for business growth. A strategy based solely on past data does not produce breakthrough products or new innovations.

What role do you think creativity will have in business in the future?
A central one. Consumers seek increasingly meaningful products and ideas that have a story behind them. At Fiskars, we invest in consumer-driven, sustainable design that stands out and evokes emotion.