March 2011 Archives

Mar

23

Event 21/3/2011. Amsterdam x Lisbon. How might we apply cutting edge technologies to empower people to work more effectively together?" 0



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Yesterdays' session between Amsterdam and Lisbon. "How might we apply cutting edge technologies to empower people to work more effectively together?". Jorge Moita commenting prototypes produced during the day at THNK Lab - The Amsterdam School of Creative Leadership.


Mar

07

EVENT 18/3/11: Leading Public Sector Innovation with Christian Bason 0

LEADING PUBLIC SECTOR INNOVATION
Co-creating a better Society with Christian Bason from Mindlab
3 - 4.30pm (CET) 18th March 2011
Dialogue Café Amsterdam

The discussion will be convened by the Social Innovation eXchange (SIX), with Cisco, and will bring together participants from Brussels, London, Paris, Berlin, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, New Delhi, New York, Austin Texas, Washington, Victoria, Ottawa and Toronto.

SIX believes that social innovation is at its best when actors across sectors work together effectively. This SIX TelePresence session, which will be led by Christian Bason, Mindlab, Denmark, will  focus on the role of public sector innovation. In a time of unprecedented turbulence, how can public sector organisations increase their ability to find innovative solutions to society's problems?  

During this TelePresence session, Christian Bason will lead a discussion of his new book "Leading public sector innovation", which shows how government agencies can use co-creation to overcome barriers and deliver more value, at lower cost, to citizens and business.  The discussion will be based on inspiring global case studies, practical examples, and the key triggers of public sector innovation outlined in the book.  SIX will bring together a selection of people for whom Christian's book is essential reading. Public managers and staff, social innovators, business partners, researchers, consultants and others with a stake in the public sector of tomorrow will come together for a truly global discussion.You can find more information about the book in the recent article written by John O'Leary on Innovative Reading.
 
Over the next year, SIX will hosting a series of global TelePresence discussions at Dialogue Cafe which aim to speed up the process of learning and exchange between countries who are experimenting with various new ways to support and sustain social innovation from a variety of different perspectives. For more information contact julie@dialoguecafe.org
 
More on SIX TelePresence
Over the last few years, with the support of Cisco, SIX has been able to run a series of global TelePresence conversations, each with a different social innovation focus. These discussion have been extremely valuable for the SIX community, providing sense of involvement, continuity and knowledge sharing from issues as diverse as microfinance, to innovative cities, to design for social innovation. See SIX website for more information. Over 2011, SIX TelePresence discussions will focus on ways in which social innovation can be supported, looking at the incentives, structures and conditions that could enable social innovation to flourish in the third sector, the public sector and the market economy. This session on Social Impact Bonds - associated advantages and potential barriers is the first of this series, and forms part a programme of a wider programme of events from the Social Innovation eXchange (SIX).

About Social Innovation eXchange (SIX)
Created three years ago by Young Foundation, Cisco and other entities, SIX is a global community of over 1000 individuals and organisations -committed to promoting social innovation and growing the capacity of the field. Our aim is to improve the methods with which our societies find better solutions to challenges such as ageing, climate change, inequality and healthcare.  SIX was designed to fill a gap. There are some existing networks of social innovators - both groups and individuals - in particular sectors (e.g. health, environment, cities), particular fields (e.g. social entrepreneurship, policy, design), and particular countries and regions. SIX does not aim to compete with, or supplant, any of these initiatives, but rather intends to link them together to promote learning and collaboration across sectors, fields and countries.
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Mar

07

Future Smart Cities II - Design for our Future Self 0

Here are some photos of the event we organised last week connecting London, Lisbon, New York and Amsterdam. These were taken from Dialogue Cafe Amsterdam.

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Mar

04

Future Smart Cities II - Design for our Future Self 1

Future Smart Cities II
DESIGN FOR OUR FUTURE SELF
Imagine yourself in 2025 or 2050


We had a great session yesterday connecting designers, architects, social scientists, policy makers and social innovators from Lisbon, Amsterdam, London and New York to discuss the challenges and opportunities of an aging society.

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In Lisbon (left) we were joined by Pedro Veiga (FCCN), Ana Fatia (Action for Age), Susana António (Think Public Portugal), Luis Jeronimo (the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation) and Pedro Rocha Vieira (Experimenta Design). In Amsterdam (centre) we were joined by Peter Roelofsma (HealthLab), Sabine Wildevuur (CareLab, Waag Society), Wytse Miedema (Aging Well, Almere Municipality), Martin Kriens (Amsterdam Smart City)  and Sacha van Tongeren (Waag Society). In New York (right) we were joined by Matthias Hollwich (HOLLWICHKUSHNER). In London we were joined by Annabel Knight (The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation), Kevin Johnson (Aging Well, Cisco IBSG)  and Diogo Vasconcelos (Cisco IBSG).
 
Demographic changes are likely to place huge burdens on pension systems as well as health, housing and care services. There are a raft of new and emerging social needs - such as loneliness, and isolation which will need new and fresh thinking if they are to be addressed. Even though the scale of the challenge is daunting there are a number of new projects and new approaches - around design, ICT and architecture - which could point a way forward.

Each of the projects showcased yesterday have at their core the notion that the elderly are a resource, that all projects should be user driven and user centred -  or put another way, developed by and with, not for, the elderly.

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The discussion started with a presentation of the pioneering and innovative HealthLab project by Peter Roelofsma. The HealthLab project is based on three main strands: ICT to support the elderly to remain active and live independently, for longer in their homes, through for example, virtual coaches; a social or multi-cultural aspect which places importance on social relationships and provides opportunities for developing and cementing social ties; and architecture which provides the setting for independent living but also the spaces for meeting and social interaction. In this way, the project is developing a holistic approach to ageing.

Then we discussed the need to move away from ICT driven innovation and explore other fields, other perspectives and approaches to innovation in the context of ageing. We talked about smart architecture and Matthias Hollwich presented some of his most recent projects, including BOOM.

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Boom is a retirement village like no other - a community oriented development in Palm Springs for LBGT retirees. With projects like these, Hollwich's remark that "there are 17,000 nursing homes in the US and 17,000 reasons why not to go to a nursing home" is definitely true.

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We're hoping to continue this discussion next month. For more information contact julie@dialoguecafe.org



Mar

01

Event 3/3/11 DESIGN OF OUR FUTURE SELF 0

Future Smart Cities II
DESIGN FOR OUR FUTURE SELF
Imagine yourself in 2025 or 2050

Hosted by Waag Society 's Creative Care Lab & Dialogue Café

3-5pm GMT March 3rd 2011

Future Smart Cities is a series of intercultural meetings on the future of cities, in light of technological developments, globalization and new opportunities to solve social, economical and environmental issues. The meetings will take place in Dialogue Cafés and Cisco offices all over the world.

Creative Care Lab hosts the second edition of Future Smart Cities about AGEING; Design for our Future Self. This session takes place in Dialogue Café Amsterdam and Lisbon and the Cisco offices in New York and London.
 
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The world is facing a growing ageing society. By 2020, 25% of the population in Europe will be over 60 and the 80+ populations are estimated to double by 2050. This means a ratio of two working adults for each person in retirement. These demographic changes are placing huge burdens on pension systems as well as health and care services. Issues like isolation, loneliness and wellbeing need full and focused attention in policy. The scale and complexity of the challenge is daunting. Enabling people to work longer and live independent lives will have significant ramifications for the labor market, health and care services, public finance, housing and transportation amongst others.

How can we build urban environments that are safe and healthy for an ageing society? How can we avoid social isolation and loneliness? What are the barriers encountered when building for an ageing community? What are the innovative approaches in the field? What are the most promising new models of care? What new technologies support the elderly to live active and independent lives?

The program Future Smart Cities II: Design for our Future Self is dedicated to these questions and will discuss new ideas and social innovation for our future self. We will discuss smart solutions for the complex issues related to an ageing society with designers, architects, care providers, housing corporations, elderly people and design students. Imagine yourself in 2025 or 2050?

During the session we will highlight one of the current Waag projects: HealthLab, where technology meets users. The project envisions to install a number of user-oriented environments for experiment (Living Labs for Care and ICT), where tangible applications will be developed. In these open experimental environments care and knowledge institutes, the government and small to large companies will be enabled to develop realistic solutions for one of our major social and political problems: how can we guarantee the quality of care and control the cost within an ageing population?

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Participants:

New York
Matthias Hollwich (HOLLWICHKUSHNER)
http://cargocollective.com/hwkn

Amsterdam
Peter Roelofsma (VU, involved in the HealthLab project)

Sabine Wildevuur (Waag CareLab, involved in the HealthLab project),
http://www.waag.org/project/expresstoconnect
http://www.waag.org/program/creativecarelab

Wytse Miedema (involved in the HealthLab project and the Cisco program Ageing well in Almere),
http://www.cisco.com/web/NL/news/berichten2010/news_persberichten_070210.html
http://www.almerekennisstad.nl/verzilvering/

Ger Baron or Martijn Kriens (Amsterdam Smart Cities, involved in the HealthLab project)
http://www.amsterdamsmartcity.com/#/en

London
Annabel Knight
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
IntergenerationALL

Diogo Vasconcelos,
Distinguished Fellow, Internet Business Solutions Group (ISBG), Cisco - Chair of the Business Panel on Future EU Innovation Policy, set up by the European Commission in January 2009, and since May 2010 member of the High Level Group on Innovation Intensity Indicators. Co-author of the Interim Evaluation of the Ambient Assisted Living Joint Programme. The report is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/einclusion/docs/aal/interim_evaluation_report.p

Lisbon
Luis Jeronimo
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Action for Age

Susana António,
Designer and Consultant of Think Public Portugal.
Susana is working on IntergenerationALL and Action for Age.
 
Pedro Rocha Vieira,
Co-ordinator of DesignResponse Unit of Experimenta Design.
DesignResponse is leading the delivery of the Action for Age project in Portugal.
 
Ana Fatia,
Designer, formerly involved as student on the first edition of the Action for Age project. 


Exchanging knowledge
The goal is to exchange knowledge and experience on what is needed for smarter cities to build for an ageing population. We will have a close look at actual projects worldwide, the variety of smart solutions for these issues and the required infrastructure and architecture.

More about Creative Care Lab & Design for our future self
Within the domain of healthcare Waag Society's Creative Care Lab researches and develops creative technology for innovative applications following the principle of  users as designers. Creative Care Lab has a long history in research, conceptualizing innovative ideas and building demonstrators working with (rapid) prototyping.

Design for our future self is the title of Creative Care Lab's public agenda and an open invitation to all in order to help develop a better caring society for our future selves. This program is realized in with support of Amsterdam Smart Cities, Amsterdam Innovation Motor, Waag Society, Dialogue Café, Cisco.

Partners in this project are: AMSTA, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Hogeschool Inholland, Gemeente Amsterdam, Almere Health City, Sigra, Amsterdamse Innovatiemotor, Amsterdam Living Lab
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Mar

01

Cultures in Dialogue 0

Dialogue Cafe featured in UP!

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The main idea of this project was creating a global and independent platform that permits intercultural dialogue. The Dialogue Cafe is already open and working in Lisbon, Rio de Janeiro and Amsterdam and its major objectives are encouraging the exchange of experiences collaboration between organisations and individuals from very different cultures and backgrounds. This is exactly what happened when the Amsterdam café opened recently. Students doing Master's degrees in Lisbon interacted and exchanged experiences with artists and social entrepreneurs who were in the Rio de Janeiro and Amsterdam cafés. Oslo, São Paulo, Warsaw and New York also joined the global get together via link-ups from local Cisco offices. The opening finished with a jam-session with musicians in Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro playing for a virtually connected audience.

The alliance between cutting-edge video-conferencing technology and yet unexplored possibilities of global social networks makes the potential of this project almost limitless, considering that it seeks to establish local partnerships for the development of the places in each city. In Lisbon, for example, this partnership was made with MUDE - Museu do Design e da Moda, a place that is special for both its location and the number of visitors it gets every day, making ideal for sharing experience and knowledge. Guimarães, European Capital of Culture 2012, will be the second Portuguese city to be part of the Dialogue Cafe network.

"Cafés were always places for conversation and the exchange of experiences. And it is precisely that aspect that Dialogue Café aims to tap into, but this time on a global level, using the technology we now have and which allows us to talk almost face-to-face with someone of the other side of the world", explains Sara Piteira.

To read the rest of this article click here.


Bringing people together in conversation

Dialogue Café brings people together from across the globe to learn, share and collaborate on projects which support people and planet, through state of the art technology.

www.dialoguecafe.org

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