Innovation is a fundamental driver of progress in science, acting as a catalyst for discovery, problem-solving, and advancing the DOE and Berkeley Lab’s vision and mission. As one of the core values of Berkeley Lab’s Accelerator Technology & Applied Physics (ATAP) Division, innovation is actively encouraged and pursued in ATAP, allowing our researchers to think creatively, challenge established paradigms, and explore novel approaches to complex questions.

To highlight the significance of innovation at the Lab, participants in our past two All-to-All meetings have listened to presentations on innovation. For instance, during our recent All-to-All meeting on May 28, 2025, BELLA Center Research Scientist Alex Picksley presented a thought-provoking talk on innovation, its application to our daily work and activities, and how it fosters interdisciplinary collaboration.

Picksely referenced Scott Berkun’s The Myths of Innovation (O’Reilly Media, 2010), which describes innovation as: “Transforming the unexplored into the understood and advancing new approaches and applications.” He then proceeded to define what is and isn’t considered innovation.

What isn’t considered innovation?

  • Innovation is not an epiphany:
    • Feels like an epiphany when we see the last piece of the puzzle
  • Legends of innovation contain bias:
    • Iconic stories are simplified—they obscure the years of work, collaboration, and context
    • Failures and stepping stones

What is considered innovation?

  • Innovations can be big or small:
    • Accelerators are huge innovations in themselves, but are made up of hundreds of other innovations
  • Innovations can benefit different stakeholders:
    • E.g., a method to improve your efficiency. Think about your work desk
  • Pieces of the puzzle can be put together from many different places and even disciplines

According to Picksley, innovation is also interconnected with other ATAP stewardship and core values.

  • Find creative solutions that benefit all stakeholders, which include:
    • Yourself
    • Others in your team
    • LBNL and funding agencies
    • Wider society
  • Interconnected with other stewardship values (service, appreciation, safety)
  • Challenges and opportunities of managing innovation:
    • Create a psychological safety environment that fosters diverse ideas and perspectives. (respect, trust, integrity).
    • Protection for taking risks and stepping outside of one’s comfort zone, e.g., early-career researchers
    • Support to execute novel ideas – interconnected with other stewardship values (team science, aka collaboration)

In our April All-to-All meeting, held on April 28, 2025, Marika D’Addazio, an affiliate student in ATAP’s Superconducting Magnet Program, delivered a talk on “ideas as a fuel for innovation.” D’Addazio started the presentation by listing various sources of effective innovation:

  • Exploring the relationship between the quality of innovative ideas and the network connectivity of idea providers.
  • There is a need for a certain number of relationships to increase the proportion of high-quality innovative ideas generated → more connections within the network result in a higher proportion of high-quality ideas.
  • To increase the number of high-quality ideas, the possibility of interacting with other people should be supported and facilitated, such as through meeting points where the exchange of information creates new technical knowledge and thereby enhances the possibility of generating innovative ideas.
  • Individuals create ideas, but their knowledge is a result of their participation in a social context.
  • The more sources an individual has to acquire knowledge and information, the higher the proportion of high-quality ideas generated.
  • Intergroup dynamic process → to evaluate and filter ideas before an idea can be presented for evaluation.
  • More connected categories performed better than the least connected category.

To round off the presentation, D’Addazio provided some suggestions for how to innovate and develop great ideas:

  • Curiosity
    • To facilitate creative thinking, gather information from multiple sources. Being curious is also a way of trying to find out for yourself, rather than always unquestioningly accepting what others tell you.
    • To develop curiosity, ask more questions!
  • Listen for ideas
    • Having an open mind to be genuinely in the marketplace for new ideas (of course, it does not guarantee that you will buy it!).
    • The ability to talk well and the ability to listen are related: “The only listening that counts is that of the talker who alternately absorbs and expresses ideas.”
  • Keep a notebook
    • The practice of keeping a commonplace notebook as a tool for creative thinking provides an opportunity to reflect deeply on the content.

 

 

For more information on ATAP News articles, contact caw@lbl.gov.
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