Introduction

What does it take to change? This question will occupy the focal point at the Future Innovators Summit staged jointly by Hakuhodo, ITU and Ars Electronica. This conclave is the result of a radical makeover of the Festival’s traditional theme symposium, and thus clearly a case of intentionally induced change!

Who’s found the way to a better future?

In this spirit of change, attention at the 2014 Festival won’t be on a question that’s been discussed so often over the years: What will the future be like? Instead, speakers, panelists and festivalgoers will be concentrating on how humankind can arrive at an eminently livable future, and, above all, which pioneers are already blazing trails in that direction and can make it accessible to all. The pathfinders—innovators active in a broad spectrum of fields and disciplines—are the catalysts of change.

Outstanding Individuals

Such future innovators will be convening for four days to form a task force for change. Their numbers include seasoned experts and young entrepreneurs, activists, engineers, scientists and—obviously, since it’s at Ars Electronica—artists and designers.

Personal Encounters

In addition to speeches and presentations, this summit meeting also offers festivalgoers the opportunity to meet the invited participants and chat with them in person. They’ll be sharing—with one another and with members of the public—their visions, ideas and projects, leading and attending workshops, and giving feedback to one another. After all, the Future Innovators Summit isn’t conceived only as a setting for presentations, but also to foster the joint development of ideas fit for the future.

Weaving Ideas

To do so, the innovators will be working in small groups, each one in a Future Innovators Class as its work & exhibition space. Their activities will be facilitated by Hakuhodo.
Read more about the group members

What are future innovators doing

Each individual group will take part in a two-day program consisting of:
Future Innovators Breakfast
Future Innovators Classes and Exhibitions
Future Innovators Tea Party / Rendezvous Party
Mentors/Facilitators Meetings

From Breakfast to Tea Time

The working day begins with a Future Innovators Breakfast that segues into Future Innovators Kick Off and Working Sessions in the Future Innovators classrooms. In the late afternoon each day, the innovators and festivalgoers have an opportunity to meet & greet at the Future Innovators Tea Time, where the Innovators present their final result. A Rendezvous Party rounds out each evening.

The Concept

“Creativity is the art of finding the right questions, Innovation is the ability to respond to them”

This year, the AE Festival’s mission is to confront the question of “what it takes to change” and to call for answers from all directions from different disciplines as well as different places all over the world. But it’s not the usual question about what the future will look like but rather how we get there and, most important, who are the people who can scout these new ways. For this reason, Ars Electronica has teamed up with Hakuhodo and ITU (International Telecommunication Union) to organize the Future Innovators Summit.

At this summit, experienced professionals as well as young entrepreneurs and social activists, technicians and scientists and, of course, artists and designers will meet each other at the Ars Electronica Festival for mutual inspiration and for the exchange of ideas and know-how. The lineup will also include opportunities for participants to engage in dialog among each other and with the public audience. Besides a broad range of lectures, presentations and exhibitions, we want to build a “special taskforce”—24 catalysts of change, innovators and creators of tomorrow from places all over the world who will present their ideas and projects and spend four days together to come up with answers to the question of what it takes to change.

Why is this a unique opportunity? At the moment, one can find a growing lineup of events and gatherings for young entrepreneurs and start-ups, as well as a lot of hackathons, game jams etc. where the young community of programmers and developers can interact. The same goes for festivals of young artists and conferences of young social activists. What they all have in common is an exciting and virulently inspiring atmosphere, but they often also share a certain flavor of elitist exclusivity, and it’s usually pretty difficult to access them as an outsider. Even more surprising is that you can hardly find anevent at which these inspiring talents, creators and innovators can convene, and do so across the borders of their communities and disciplines. But this crossover is exactly what we’re looking for!

Read more about the “Future Innovators Summit” in an interview with Hideaki Ogawa, member of the Ars Electronica Futurelab, on the Ars Electronica Blog.

About Hakuhodo

Founded in 1895, Hakuhodo Inc. is an integrated advertising and communication agency headquartered in Japan. It is the core agency of Hakuhodo DY Group, the world’s seventh largest agency company according to Advertising Age’s “Agency Report 2014.” Hakuhodo has offices in 17 countries and regions, and over 3,000 employees working in Japan and over 2,500 overseas. Hakuhodo is strengthening its structure in emerging countries, particularly those in Asia, as it prepares to further expand its business across the region. Sei-katsu-sha insight is the foundation for Hakuhodo’s thinking, planning, and brand building. It reminds us that consumers are more than shoppers performing an economic function. They have heartbeats. They are individuals with distinct lifestyles. Hakuhodo introduced this term in the 1980s to emphasize its commitment to a comprehensive, 360-degree perspective on consumers’ lives. Renowned for its creativity, Hakuhodo is the only agency headquartered in Asia to have twice won the Grand Prix at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
www.hakuhodo.jp

About ITU Telecom

ITU Telecom is part of the International Telecommunication Union, the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs). ITU is committed to connecting all the world’s people – wherever they live and whatever their means. Through our work, we protect and support everyone’s fundamental right to communicate and to benefit from modern communication technologies. ITU Telecom organizes ITU Telecom World, the leading platform for high-level debate, knowledge-sharing and networking for the governments, industry leaders and regulators that form part of the global ICT community. ITU Telecom World 2014 will take place in Doha, Qatar, from 7 – 10 December 2014.
www.telecomworld.itu.int
www.itu.int

About DOM Research Lab

The Design-Organization-Media (DOM) Research Lab at the University of Art and Design Linz is an internationally recognized research and consulting center for sensing, creating, and launching desired futures in organizations. DOM Research Lab help students, researchers and decision makers in business and society to define the framework for innovation and change, to design and communicate conveying visions, and to build the innovation capabilities, systems, and structures that are right for organizations.
dom.ufg.ac.at