TEACHING INNOVATION IN CONSTRUCTION

Abstract

Construction industry is a major contributor to many economies. Hong Kong is no exception. The culture of the industry is geared to accept the inevitability of competition and to develop a keen competitive spirit. Construction projects are typically secured through competitive bidding; survival of construction organizations is very much hinged on their ability to sustain competitive advantage that can be achieved through innovation and knowledge. Innovation is manifested as the successful implementation of creative ideas. Thus, creativity lies in the heart of innovation and means the production of novel and useful ideas in any domain. Built facilities are often non-repeating products and require careful considerations of numerous on-site and off-site factors. These characteristics are conducive to innovations. It is believed that feedback from the industry into the education system can enhance creativity of the construction profession. As such, universities can act as innovation brokers by consolidating experience and knowledge from innovation champions, then sharing with those future industry players. Ability to innovate is an effective, if not the most, means to meet the upcoming world challenges. Innovative products and services make an organization stands out from the competitors. Exposing students to innovations shall be the first step in fostering an innovative attitude. Further development in innovation can be optimistically projected. This study presents a pragmatic approach to showcase recent innovations in construction to students through the development of a construction innovations catalogue. Construction students are accorded the opportunity to gain insightful and novel ideas. These ideas may venture into their own spheres of innovation. Features of the innovation catalogue are reported in this paper.