RAPID Innovation: A Blueprint for Fast Collaboration

Some problems can’t wait for five-year funding cycles or lengthy academic reviews. They need solutions tested now.

That’s why FASTlab developed RAPID — Research and Project Innovation and Development — a framework for fast, collaborative prototyping featured in The Elephant’s Leg II: Creativity in Action.

What is RAPID?

RAPID is a transdisciplinary research initiative designed to create value and impact by collapsing the gap between research and applicationE_LEG_II_CREATVITY IN ACTION.

It works by:

• Bringing industry, community, and researchers together in the same room.

• Using intensive workshops (“sandpits”) to frame challenges and generate ideas.

• Prototyping quickly — often in weeks, not years.

• Testing, refining, and learning in real-world contexts.

The result: tangible outcomes that both partners and communities can see, touch, and use.

Case studies in speed

• Youth wellbeing programs built inside galleries.

• Urban prototypes trialled in Newcastle and Singleton.

• Collaborations with industry partners that turned sketches into working systems.

Each project was a reminder that speed doesn’t mean sloppiness. It means urgency, iteration, and collaboration.

Why it matters

• For industry: it provides a low-cost, low-risk way to test ideas with academic partners.

• For researchers: it shows that knowledge creation can be fast and applied without losing rigour.

• For communities: it delivers visible impact, not just abstract papers.

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Why FASTlab cares

RAPID embodies our philosophy: learning by doing. By cutting across silos, embracing fast prototyping, and embedding creativity as the driver, we proved that universities (and their partners) can act like innovation engines.

The lesson? Slow research won’t solve fast problems. RAPID gives us a way to meet real-world challenges on their own terms.

📖 Explore RAPID in The Elephant’s Leg II: Creativity in Action: Open Access Link