Small Space - Low Budget. Designing an Innovation Lab for Lecturers in Higher Education

Driven by the rapid pace of social and technological changes, innovation plays an increasing role in the higher education system. This requires an ongoing and permanent commitment and engagement of the academic community. Against this backdrop, bringing communities together and providing space that fosters creativity and collaboration in universities can play a key role in promoting innovation in higher education. A Centre for Teaching and Learning at a German university has set up an innovation lab for the innovation of courses, study programmes, and exams. It is designed for collaboration, presentation, visualising ideas, and producing media content. Issues of restricted space and budget were solved by a creative use of resources. This case-study describes the theoretical considerations, as well as the initial phase of planning from strategic intention to physical embodiment. The experiences in implementing an innovation lab are reflected. In addition, first user impressions and lessons learnt are reported.