02-11-2010

What IF…. there was a festival

Innovation always starts with a simple question: ‘what IF…’. What if cars had brooms on them so that when they drive they clean the street? It is just one example of the many Ifs in the minds of creative spirits behind the Innovation Festivals that happen in Europe. Their wonderings have led to ideas, which led to creative concepts, which led to the projects, exhibitions, performances, and workshops that will be showcased during the several Innovation Festivals happening across 6 European regions. Each region has its own theme, which is relevant for that particular region.

The festival already reached Barcelona (Spain) in 2009, Milano (Italy) and Kortrijk (Belgium). The festival in Milano took place October 6th until October 11th 2010 with the aim to share the idea that innovation is a main driver of progress for society and individuals. Amateur and professional photographers could take part in a photograph contest. The best photos in two categories (views of innovation in Milano and photos that show the effects of innovation on everyday life) were exposed at the open gallery in Via Dante. Also, there were several workshops and performances, such as a comic theatric parody of Romeo and Juliet. What if Romeo and Juliet lived in the beautiful Verona that, going ahead of 400 years, had decided to face the problem of refuse disposing and the urban traffic? In the play, the classic story of the two families was wrapped with lines about environment, eco-sustainability and energetic saving.

From October 8th until October 25th 2010, the festival took place in Kortrijk. In this region, the theme of the festival was ‘Open Design for Sustainable Innovation’. Throughout exhibitions and demonstrations the festival showed how design and production processes change due to the increasing influence of consumers. The consumer is not only consumer, but has become a producer as well. In the exhibition ‘Yes! We’re open’, Thomas Lommée analyzed and demonstrated this new thinking process, in order to introduce this ‘open design thinking’ to a broad public. In an idea competition, residents of the Kortrijk region and Flanders came up with a total of 150 creative ideas. During the festival, students worked in the Fab Lab at the Howest Industrial Design Centre to develop 40 of those ideas to prototypes.

Later this year and in 2011, the Innovation Festivals will be in Lisboa (Portugal), Vilnius (Lithuania), and Talinn (Estonia).