About us

At Idea Mechanics, we’re here to change the way teams meet, think, and solve problems. We design and run creative, purposeful workshops, wargames, crisis simulations that help organisations break out of stale thinking, build shared understanding, and make smarter, more efficient decisions.

Idea Mechanics was born from a simple frustration: too many boring, unproductive, and poorly run meetings and workshops – wasting time and energy. We knew things could be better — more focused, more creative, more human — and we set out to prove it.

Our core team

Owen Cooper – Director

Owen is an experienced facilitator specialising in futures analysis and strategy. He has designed and delivered workshops, simulations, wargames and training programs across Australia, as well as in Asia, the Pacific, and the United States.

Since 2020, Owen has served as a Senior Advisor with the Futures Hub at the Australian National University, where he co-authored Policy Fit for the Future: The Australian Government
Futures Primer. Prior to this, he spent 14 years in the Department of Defence in intelligence and tradecraft roles, including an operational deployment to Timor-Leste. He is a graduate of the Oxford Scenarios Program at the University of Oxford, UK.