Rajiv Vaid Basaiawmoit, Head of Sci-tech Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Dean's Office, Natural Sciences Secretariat

ABSTRACT: 

Have you ever tried a negotiations game? Have you ever tried negotiations? You might have a yes or a no for the first question. But you will probably have a firm yes for the second one. If you have a no or maybe for the second – you probably don’t realise it but we all negotiate all the time with everyone around us. Now add to the mix, people from different backgrounds, different disciplines, and different perspectives and we have a beautiful tension of what makes the world around us frustratingly enjoyable. We have tried to recreate the messy world of multi-party, multi-sector negotiations in the fabled land of Pactopolis – Grow. Negotiate. Sustain. This serious board game tests the ability of 4 industrial sectors to negotiate over development of a geographical area whilst also having to take care of the environment. This talk will focus less on the game (you will be shown what the game is and how it works) – but rather dive into the back story of the game development process – a tough 5y development between 3 different (primary authors) coming from different disciplines and having different perspectives on what the game should do. 

The creative tension that followed is a beautiful story of how frustrations, persistence, flexibility and adaptability can help shape a product that you cannot imagine where it will end up. How interdisciplinary collaborations emerge and what is the learning point from negotiations. We have negotiations in the game and around the game as well as before the game. Lastly, I hope to leave you with a thought on how you can achieve success in your interdisciplinary collaboration approaches and maybe invite you to also collaborate with us in broadening the scope of our current vision – should you see an interesting opportunity based on what you learn and see.