verrocchio: Collecting, enriching and disseminating innovation knowledge

Innovation is not only becoming more and more important, it has become an essential part of our entire world. Innovation is already unavoidable today if you want to stay one step ahead of the competition.

But innovation and perpetual transformation can only succeed if the people in a company continuously increase their ability to innovate. People and organizations can learn that.

The verrocchio Institute for Innovation Competence is dedicated to research and teaching in the field of renewal, transformation and innovation.

History

In Italian, the name verrocchio stands for “vero occhio” – the “true eye“. This true eye shows the Institute’s mission: to increase people’s capacity for innovation through the harmony of clarity and structure with creativity, inspiration and artistically innovative freedom.

The Institute is named after Andrea del Verrocchio (*1435 – † 1488), one of the most influential artists in the transition period from early to high Renaissance. More than just an artist, he was one of the greatest and most inspiring teachers of the Renaissance.

For over two decades Andrea del Verrocchio ran what was probably the best art school and workshop of all time, producing talents such as Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Lorenzo di Credi and Perugino.

At first glance, it is surprising that an artist who has achieved his greatest achievements as a sculptor has trained some of the greatest artists of the Renaissance. But one must remember that the greatest artists are rarely the best teachers. The passing on of knowledge and the creation of a creative atmosphere is a completely different talent from the artistic one.

Renaissance Florence was therefore a better model for educating innovators than Silicon Valley. The principles of the verrocchio Institute reflect the principles of that time and use the combination of the latest innovation methods for a radically different understanding of innovation.

In the style of Verrocchio, the Institute wants to find, train and produce the Leonardos, Botticellis and de Credis of our time that are so necessary today.

The Florence Innovation Project – FLIP for short – of the verrocchio Institute is an instrument for this. FLIP currently offers 619 methods and tools for more innovation. Through the FLIP community, the collection continues to grow and is constantly supplemented by new methods.

With FLIP you can quickly find the right methods for the next workshop, work more purposefully, finally give innovation a firm place in everyday business life, inspire customers and colleagues again and again.

Principles

The verrocchio Institute operates far away from classical one-dimensional teaching approaches: Here not only theory-based training is provided, but also based on the experience of innovation practice (20 years of innovation experience in 25 countries in 2,000 workshops). The two founders live their tools of “storytelling” from experience. At the verrocchio Institute, topics are presented, developed and worked on with visual power. Here new knowledge and experiences are collected with the help of a large network from international customers, partners and organizations. And anyone who wants to increase their innovative ability can do so.

In addition

  • verrocchio offers open and closed workshops and innovation labs
  • licensed verrocchio innovation coaches and innovation consultants
  • verrocchio cooperates with many experts and universities
  • verrocchio publishes specialist books and specialist literature
  • verrocchio develops its own methods and tools in the field of innovation consulting.

The verrocchio Institute wants to produce people who become the innovators of our time! All employees and partners have committed themselves to the following principles:

  1. to be truthful – to be scientific
    In the spirit of Verrocchio, truthfulness is always an important goal in the work of the Institute. No new knowledge, no method and no trend should be overlooked or dogmatically exaggerated over others. Truthfulness also includes the permanent willingness to question what has been held true.

  2. iving clarity – striving for simplicity
    We believe that a great clarity about things can only come about if people are able to make individual connections. Therefore we always want to keep an eye on the factual problem and not get lost in language problems – avoid ambiguous words and meaningless statements – strive for brevity and simplicity – always find concrete examples – always strive for comprehensibility towards the other.

  3. be open – be tolerant
    It goes without saying that maximum openness and tolerance towards new ideas are principles of our work.

  4. to be curious – to observe in detail – to perceive sensitively
    Curiosity is the desire that arises as a stimulus to experience something new and, in particular, to get to know something hidden. We want to live this curiosity and encourage and develop it in other people.

  5. to be inspiring – to be full of ideas
    We are convinced that we can only develop imaginative people if we provide inspiration and actively exemplify it.

  6. share knowledge – act in a network – contribute actively
    Sharing our collective knowledge (20 years of innovation experience in 25 countries in 2,000 workshops), networking us and always making an active contribution is a maxim for us and all those who work with us.

  7. questioning – being reflective
    In order to gain maximum knowledge, we always want to be aware of our filters of perception and always ask ourselves why things are, how they are and whether they cannot be completely different.

  8. striving for excellence
    Only if we strive for excellence in what we do can we also help other people to become imaginatively excellent.

  9. having fun
    For us, the simultaneity of maximum performance and maximum fun is not a contradiction, but a necessity that ultimately arises from passion.