Innovation often emerges from the "combination" of elements from different "fields." However, existing idea generation methods lack mechanisms that actively promote such "combinations" with different fields. The idea generation model developed by the authors applies analogical thinking to facilitate the "combination" of different fields, enabling the creation of new ideas. This study verifies the effectiveness in practice of the model through subjective evaluation, comparing it with brainstorming, the structural shift ideation using a two-1xis diagram, and the value graph method.

This study develops a culturally adaptive creativity scale specifically designed for Japanese university students. Standardised international creativity assessments often yield relatively low scores for Japanese learners, highlighting the need to account for culturally distinct conceptions of creativity. To address this, a mixed-methods pilot study was conducted with 30 students from diverse academic disciplines enrolled in English communication courses. The study comprised two phases: (1) a free-description task to elicit culturally relevant creativity-related keywords, and (2) a self-assessment questionnaire adapted to the Japanese cultural context, followed by exploratory factor analysis. Five key factors emerged—inquisitiveness, flexibility, positivity/confidence, emotional regulation, and problem-solving orientation—each demonstrating strong internal consistency. Notably, flexibility and leadership surfaced as distinct dimensions, underscoring the significance of both individual and collective aspects in Japanese learners' creative attitudes. These findings contribute to the development of a culturally grounded framework for assessing and fostering creativity within Japanese higher education.

Leveraging digital fabrication, this study documents the co-development of a medical assistive device with non-designers, disseminates the resulting insights, and qualitatively analyzes creative interactions to draw theoretical implications. Interviews with four stakeholders (patient-developer, designer, physician, and manager) were conducted, focusing on five creative activities: problem identification, proposal of solutions, decision-making, value creation, and empathy. Results showed that the patient-developer played a key role in problem identification and solution proposals, while decision-making involved both the manager and the patient. All stakeholders contributed to value creation, with the physician emphasizing user perspectives. The designer demonstrated the highest level of empathy, incorporating stakeholders' opinions into the design. This study contributes to visualizing and structuring co-creative design processes, highlighting the importance of creativity interaction in developing medical assistive devices that enhance quality of life (QOL).

Schön analyzed fifteen major inventions and found that there are individuals who actively promote innovation even in the face of organizational backlash and named them "champions" (those who defend ideas). Based on the perspective that not only champions but also those around them who co-create innovation are essential for corporate new business development, an exploratory case study analyzed the qualities, desires, and flow states of those individuals. Theoretical contributions include two: the finding of three essential requirements, such as "creative desires", "qualities of creativity", and "resonance between the idea and personal desires" for people who actively co-create with champions, and the existence of two types, "champion-oriented followers" and "specialists." By identifying these requirements in advance, organizations can predict and intentionally select and organize co-creative personnel, thereby increasing the likelihood of innovation success. These findings offer a foundation for further research on co-creating dynamics in innovative processes.

This study proposes and evaluates a prototyping method to boost co-creation willingness by activating evaluators' memories and experiences. A think-aloud experiment confirms that evaluators' imagination—grounded in their knowledge and experiences—plays a key role in engagement. Building on this, we design an image-based priming method to prompt recall before presenting a prototype. We test its effectiveness through workshops and a survey of over 1,600 participants. Results show significant gains in co-creation willingness, especially among those with strong intrinsic motivation for self-expression and new experiences. This research highlights a novel prototyping approach that deepens engagement by drawing on personal interpretations.

As suggested by the growing interest in neuromarketing, neuroscientific evidence (i.e., evidence based on neuroscientific methods) is often evaluated as more authoritative than social-scientific evidence (i.e., evidence based on social-scientific methods). However, the impact of referencing evidence on problem solving in the workplace has not been sufficiently examined. Therefore, this study conducted a questionnaire-based experiment to examine the effect of referencing neuroscientific evidence on flexible idea generation. Statistical testing (N = 43) revealed that, contrary to our hypothesis, referencing neuroscientific evidence enhanced flexible idea generation. However, the results also suggested that this effect was not attributable to the authority of the evidence. Future research should consider factors such as originality and familiarity of the evidence, the generalizability of the findings, alternative measures of authority of evidence and flexibility, and validity of the experimental task.