Innovitation

Innovitation- 2% for 100% is an official international Special Interest Group (SIG) of American Mensa. This SIG coined the word "innovitation" by blending "innovation", "vita" ("life" in Latin) and "invitation". "2% for 100%" couples SIG’s origins in Mensa - Mensa members must score at the 98th percentile or higher of a standardized, supervised intelligence test - with their sense of global interconnectedness.

"Innovitation- 2% for 100%" is thus an invitation to explore together innovative ideas for improving personal life and lives of others. This newly minted word also encompasses the liveliness of the group and its focus on positivity, exuberance, intrigue, entertainment and fun.

Mission

In today's day and age, there is an overload of news and information about things that are wrong in the world- political system that doesn't work, leaders who are ineffective, issues that are not resolved, efforts that have failed, changes that are difficult or impossible etc. While some of this is important to spur us to greater heights, much of it is dispiriting and mind-numbing. Innovitation intends to address this without adopting escapism. Their basic mission is two-fold:

1. Focus on the Positive - Highlight what's right in the world: innovation, invention, research, discovery, community support and inspirational people.

2. Adopt and Encourage Can-Do Attitude - Have the mindset that there exists a solution for every problem. The key ingredients to finding solutions are a combination of: belief in working for the greater good, knowledge, collaboration, creative thinking, willingness to step outside the boundaries, informed risk-taking and perseverance.

Innovitation's mission, therefore, is to harness the independent, kaleidoscopic and creative thinking to effect positive difference in the world. They believe in giving back more than they receive and to become the change they wish to see in the world. Their spectrum of thought-provoking discussions range from those that directly pertain to an individual to those that impact the communities and the world. They aspire to create or adopt innovative solutions to improve living and lives by open interchange of ideas, sharing life experiences and harnessing collective creative thinking.

Innovitation provides a convivial forum where all topics, ideas and discussion styles are welcomed and diversity of opinion is encouraged. Members choose their extent of involvement in this SIG. While it is hoped that all members will be active participants and infuse this group with their unique "brand", there is no prejudice against those who choose to just sit back and relax.

Some broad examples of the mission include-

• Innovative methods or approaches for improving the communities and/or the world.
• Activist agenda to resolve issues impacting the communities and/or the world.
• Share inspirational and/or out-of-box thinking to become better individuals.
• Solutions that can morph into full-fledged enterprise(s). The primary consideration is not to make profit (though it could be a byproduct) but to make positive impact to the world.
• Innovative new tools or methods to simplify or improve personal lives of members.
• Share and gain new skills.
• Provide support to those in need.
• Promote Mensa and its ideals.

While it's not feasible to list all real life examples posted on Innovitation discussion forum, an abridged version of an illustrative subset is available on Innovitation website.

Innovitation intends to eventually become more inclusive and open its membership, on case-by-case basis, to those non-Mensans who identify with the stated mission and are committed to contributing to the society.

External links

• Innovitation- 2% for 100%
• American Mensa
• List of all American Mensa National Special Interest Groups
• The Wall Street Journal: Mainstream Science on Intelligence
• Scientific American: Intelligence Considered