It’s shaping up to be a busy November. I am currently in Orlando, Florida, as keynote visualizer at the Collaborative Innovation Forum, and in a week and a half I will be in Philly doing the same thing at TEDxPhilly. Immediately following TEDxPhilly, I will be teaching a two day workshop for the MID (masters of industrial design) program at University of the Arts on graphic facilitation.
These events actually have quite a bit in common. They are all geared toward inspiring innovation, be it in business, social, or artistic fields.
1.
The Collaborative Innovation Forum looks at how our hyper social environment impacts collaboration and innovation. The event is being catalyzed by Enovia, a collaborative product lifecycle management company, and brings together many of its partners —spanning a power generation company to a recreational equipment retailer to an electric car company and many more, to talk about our socially networked present and its implications for the future of product lifecycle management.
Product lifecycle management (PLM) is (from Wikipedia):
The process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its conception, through design and manufacture, to service and disposal. PLM integrates people, data, processes and business systems and provides a product information backbone for companies and their extended enterprise.
OK, does that sound cool or what? People, data, processes, business systems to create the information backbone to design and make and recycle/reuse/dispose of STUFF! The STUFF that makes civilization possible. The kind of stuff you are using to read this blog post.
2. TEDxPhilly is about what’s happening in our nation’s 5th biggest megalopolis, Philly. You know how I love Philly, so I’m so excited to be part of this. My dear friend Roz Duffy is applying her curatorial touch to make this the event of the year in Philly. From the site:
Our goal is to showcase practitioners, makers, dreamers and thinkers who are contemporary and thought provoking; who are pushing the boundaries of their own disciplines; and who are working towards a more purposeful, socially responsible future. The event is multi-disciplinary by nature and the speakers echo the diverse perspectives present in our city.
TEDxPhilly happens November 18. If you want to tap into the intellectual, creative, social, can-do soul of Philly, be there. It’s going to be Philly’s event of the year.
3. MID. The MID program at University of the Arts prepares masters degree candidates to use design approaches to help improve social enterprises as well as industrial ones:
Because today, industrial design is no longer just about new products. It’s about a new way of thinking. One that allows us to step back and question everything, including what a “product†is. By expanding our definition beyond the traditional – to encompass policies, social initiatives and entire systems – we’re setting the stage for design to play a crucial role in society. It’s already become an integral part of the business world’s approach to innovation. At UArts, we help prepare students for this dynamic, demanding new landscape.
I will be teaching MID students to use hands on visual thinking to help their clients in government, nonprofit, and business organizations innovate better ways to serve their stakeholders.
Whew! I need to take a breath. I will need plenty of oxygen and caffeine to embrace the possibilities in front of me this month. Happy November!