Between the 15 and the 21 April 2016, The Edward de Bono Institute hosted and/or participated in the following of activities to celebrate World Creativity and Innovation Week (WCIW):
15 April 2016: Launch of Edward de Bono’s Book ‘Bonting: Thinking to Create Value’ - The launch of Edward de Bono’s latest book Bonting: Thinking to Create Value was held as part of WCIW at Auberge de Castille on Friday 15 April 2016. The event was attended by the Prime Minister Dr Joseph Muscat, several Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries, and other distinguished guests including Institute Board Member Professor Saviour Zammit and Institute academics Dr Leonie Baldacchino, Professor Sandra Dingli, Dr Margaret Mangion, Ms Shirley Pulis Xerxen and Ms Natalie Swaine Nwoko. Dr Leonie Baldacchino delivered the opening address, which was an opportunity to inform the audience about the Institute’s current and upcoming courses and initiatives. This was followed by Professor Edward de Bono’s address where he outlined the main ideas in his book, and by a closing address delivered by the Prime Minister Dr Joseph Muscat. Light refreshments were served after the speeches while Professor de Bono autographed several copies of his book for the guests. Bonting is Edward de Bono’s first locally published book, and the publisher – Mr Gordon Pisani of Kite Group – is one of the Institute’s Master in Creativity and Innovation students.
20 April 2016: Launch of ‘The Social Innovation Challenge: Enable and Engage’ - On the 20 April 2016, the Institute launched a new competition called The Social Innovation Challenge: Enable and Engage, in collaboration with the Parliamentary Secretariat for Rights of Persons with Disability and Active Ageing, with the support of MAPFRE Middlesea and MSV Life. It was aimed at individuals or teams who would like to make a contribution in the field of active ageing and disability. Participants were required to identify a problem that affects ageing individuals or individuals with disabilities, come up with an innovative solution to this problem, carry out a feasibility study for this solution, and submit a proposal by the 14 October 2016. A prize of €2,000 shall be awarded to the winning entry while €500 shall be awarded to the runner up. This competition is coordinated by Institute academic Dr Margaret Mangion.
21 April 2016: ‘The Creative Competence’ Panel Discussion - A panel discussion entitled The Creative Competence was organised by the Edward de Bono Institute on the 21 April 2016 to celebrate WCIW at the University of Malta. The panel was moderated by Dr Margaret Mangion from The Edward de Bono Institute and composed of employers Josef Said from Konnekt Search and Selection and Benjamin Borg from Anchovy, Master in Creativity and Innovation alumni Lara Gail Dougall from Junior Achievement Young Enterprise and Danica Falzon from Shaker Ltd., together with current Master student and AIESEC representative Elizabeth Pulo. The panellists discussed the importance of soft skills in the workplace, including creativity, flexibility and motivation.
15 – 21 April 2016: KidzThink! Exhibition - Kidz Think! was a project held by The Edward de Bono Institute in collaboration with Birzebbuga Primary School. The aim behind the project was to entice parents to work on creative projects with their children. During the course of four sessions, which were conducted by Dr Margaret Mangion, the pupils and their parents explored areas of ideation, creative story writing using randomly picked words, and elements of creative problem solving. The eight year old pupils thoroughly enjoyed the sessions and performed confidently at the creative tasks. An exhibition of the creative outputs produced during this project was held from the 15 to the 21 April at Birzebbuga Primary School as part of WCIW.