Examining the neural basis of applied creativity in entrepreneurs

Saggar M, Sonalkar N, Jahanikia S, Geniesse C, Xie O, Auernhammer J, Monlux K, Booras A .

Aims

Update : Due to COVID-19 pandemic, unfortunately, we couldn’t collect any in-person data. However, we pivoted to online-only data collection and will soon report results from that study.

Creativity and innovation lie at the heart of design thinking. Understanding how creativity is manifested in the brain is perhaps one of greatest challenges of the 21st century. However, most of the previous research in understanding the neural basis of creativity has been limited to examining the neural basis of creative potential or ability and little is known about applied creativity in business (i.e., entrepreneurial creativity). At its core, entrepreneurship requires harnessing the power of a creative idea through discovery, evaluation, organization and management to a final product/business. Design thinking mindset has been considered as an important component of successful entrepreneurship. In this work, we aim to fill this gap in knowledge by studying the neural basis of applied creativity in business by examining differences in brain structure and function of entrepreneurs as compared to that of matched (on age, gender, and socio-economic status) administrators/managers. Our work would have a broad impact on fields of academia and industry. The knowledge generated from this project could provide a cornerstone in how we train (or design) the next generation of entrepreneurs and mangers.

Highlights

  • Using a wide range of survey instruments, we examined an exploratory data-driven approach to reveal the unique cognitive capacities developed by people when engaging in business venturing activities.
  • Exploratory factor analysis was used to reveal latent factors driving variance in our data.
  • Examining whether entrepreneurship can be nurtured through optimal environments and experiences and the development of specific cognitive capacities.

Presentations/Papers

  1. Auernhammer, J., Sonalkar, N., Saggar, M. (2020). NeuroDesign: From Neuroscience Research to Design Thinking Practice. Design Thinking Research Understanding Innovation. Springer Verlag Publishers.
  2. Booras, A.,Auernhammer, J., Monlux, K., Bruno, J., Jahanikia, S., Xie, H., Sonalkar, N., Saggar, M. (under review). A data-driven approach to reveal entrepreneurial cognition.

Funding

This work was supported by a research grant from the Hasso Plattner Design Thinking Research Program from Stanford University.