The United States is increasingly challenged by globalized markets in every enterprise from education, finance, manufacturing, and service. Massive shifts in these markets together with the global financial realignments of the last several years are sending waves of uncertainty about the nation’s premier status in many of these markets. These complex challenges force us to recognize that business-as-usual must be replaced by a new generation of ideas.

The recently published book The Engines of innovation by Holden Thorpe and Buck Goldstein forcefully lays out the reasons the university is the crucible of innovation and creativity for this nation in the 21st century. Thorpe and Goldstein propose an agenda for building on the intellectual capital in the academy to blaze new entrepreneurial opportunities for economic growth. “Universities … are the keepers of an enduring culture of innovation that is unique among the world’s great institutions.”

Steven Johnson in his recent book Where Good Ideas Come From describes the essential ingredients for solving our complex problems or for encouraging novel ideas, whether these are in science, economics, or education. Ideas flourish where there is openness and connectivity. He writes that innovative systems gravitate to the boundary between complete order and absolute randomness, where noise and error, success and failure converge making it more likely good ideas will emerge - the edge of chaos.

Creating a space where new ideas can flourish, where noise and error are celebrated, and where time is available for people to connect is essential to the prospect of addressing head-on the most complex and thorny problems of the 21st century. In that spirit the UAB School of Public Health is embarking on a unique venture called The Edge of Chaos, a space where innovation can thrive in a collaborative and interdisciplinary setting.

The Edge of Chaos will also give home to what Johnson calls “the adjacent possible”, the notion of how new ideas often open additional paths to explore; it is like building something new from spare parts. The story of infant incubators in rural India is an example of “the adjacent possible”. A state-of-the-art incubator works well in this setting until it needs repair. In rural India spare parts and the technical expertise are not available; the need for a reliable, repairable infant incubator remains, however.

Here is where Johnson’s “adjacent possible” comes into play. People in rural India are very adept at fixing our used and worn out cars, giving them thousands of more miles of life. Linking the need for infant incubators with the highly honed technical skills of auto repair and salvage resulted in a fully functional model incubator built from spare car parts. Headlight bulbs serve as the warming source and the various knobs and levers serve as the operating panel. Problem solved!

The Edge of Chaos is envisioned as the space where faculty, students, and community thought-leaders will come together from a variety of venues to explore edgy ideas, novel thoughts, an odd hunch, or the “ah-ha” moment. Here the boundless joys of inquiry are celebrated with their successes and failures, knowing that the risks are worth the rewards of pushing the boundaries of knowledge.

The Edge of Chaos (TEOC) is a project of The Broad Street Committee, the advisory board for the School of Public Health. The Broad Street Committee established the subcommittee-of-the-whole called The Naked Catfish (named for the species of catfish that does not have scales and has the intriguing habit of swimming upside down) to nurture the genesis and development of The Edge of Chaos. The Naked Catfish will collaborate on identifying a director and develop the various venues for bringing scholars, students, and thought-leaders together.

Potential collaborative venues include TEOC Groups comprised of 6-8 people who explore an idea or theme they have identified, perhaps John Kao calls “wicked problems” – challenges that have a global impact like childhood obesity, environmental degradation, potable water, or violence. Other participants can be The Back of the Envelope® award recipients whose individual ideas can lead to the next generation of intellectual excellence and productivity. Ways to engage students and other faculty on a periodic, shorter term basis will also be developed.

The Edge of Chaos is scheduled to open in the spring of 2012. Faculty, student, and thought-leader applications will be available by the first of the year. If you are interested in learning more about The Edge of Chaos call Max Michael at (205)975-7742.