This study examines the professionality of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) teachers in childcare, where new practices continue to emerge, by analyzing specific childcare situations based on the framework of "Natural Born Intelligence" (Gunji, 2019). Thus far, the professionality of ECEC teachers has been seen as something that is developed through acquiring theoretical knowledge, refining personal qualities and sensibilities, and engaging in reflection and practice, with all being attributed to individual ability. This study attempts a novel approach by considering the "inspiration" of ECEC teachers as a component of their professionality. The results revealed that in the context of childcare practices co-created by teachers and children, the demonstrating of the "Natural Born Intelligence" style of professionality by teachers summons something from outside their cognitive world to the gap between the teachers' intentions and the teachers' subjective reality, leading to the emergence of inspiration among childcare professionals. The continuous movement of this intention-reality gap, opening and closing, is thought to contribute to the ongoing generation of new practices in childcare.

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In corporate innovation activities, stakeholders with diverse perspectives and positions co-create in pursuing new value discovery. Such scenarios often bring about conflicts and disagreements stemming from diversity, necessitating effective diversity management. This research investigates the effects of media in facilitating co-creation during the early stages of innovation activities. We implemented idea creation workshops targeting nine individuals with experience in innovation activities. As a result, we observed that introducing two types of “boundary media” in innovation activities has a dual effect: it facilitates knowledge sharing and stimulates inspiration and creativity, especially in tangible product idea creation. These confirm that boundary media effectively facilitate co-creation.

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