21 April: Celebrating World Creativity and Innovation Day

Source © World Creativity Day World Creativity Day Today is the UN's World Creativity and Innovation Day (WCID)

WCID is a United Nations Day of Observance in its 23rd year and has since grown into a full week-long celebration called World Creativity & Innovation Week (WCIW), beginning on April 15, Leonardo da Vinci’s birthday.

Both the day and week promote and encourage the use of creativity in problem-solving, imagining new futures and actively creating opportunities to innovate the world we live in.

The Innotivity Institute kicked off its commemorations on the first day of WCIW with a thought leadership piece written by Michael Lee, the director of the Innotivity Institute and one of three African Advisory Board members of WCID, for the weekly newspaper
Mail and Guardian in which he lends his voice to the current discourse around Artificial Intelligence and its impact on human creativity.

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“The theme this year is inspire - and our goal has been to inspire unusual action around this day continent-wide. We’re asking all Africans, what can you do to celebrate creativity and innovation in your own life?" says Lee.

The Advisory Board is composed of 18 members from all corners of the world. The other two African members besides Lee are Prof Ziska Fields of the University of Johannesburg, and Nigeria’s Muyiwa Fakasin.

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“With celebrations in over 150 countries this year, we are unbelievably proud that Africa has three such powerful experts working with us as advisors as well as a growing number of ambassadors under their guidance literally from Cape to Cairo,” says Jim Friedman, chief steward of WCIW/D and professor of creativity and entrepreneurship at Miami University.

In recognition of the inspire theme, Lee will be sharing his talk The source of creative inspiration. the first was a Masterclass on Creative Enterprise in the entertainment and tech industries in Nigeria, and the second, to be held today) is hosted by the Krok Business School in Kiev, Ukraine.

Watch a recorded version here.

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The connection between creativity and environmental regeneration

Innotivity Institute’s celebrations will culminate with Lee’s co-presenting of the panel How might creativity inspire a flourishing future at the week-long Perma-Leadership Summit running from the US.

Lee will be moderating the session featuring international environmental thought leaders alongside Mark Dodsworth, his colleague in the Creativity Community of Practice supported by the BIC Foundation.

Join the event for free here.

This culminating event underscores the relevance of the connection between creativity and environmental regeneration highlighted by the fact that WCID was launched on the day before World Earth Day, another UN holiday, intended to recognise the importance of using creativity to create real-world impact.