I am thrilled to announce that we will have Fox DESIGNWeek 2011 from March 11 – 18. The event has two components: North Broadband Challenge and incitexchange.
North Broadband Challenge
+ How can we use increasingly pervasive digital technology to re-imagine the future of the city?
+ Can we use digital technologies to inspire, mobilize, and create social, economic, cultural, political, and intellectual connections to solve the complex challenges that cities face today?
+ Can we build a sustainable open platform that encourages and supports a vibrant ecosystem of neighbors, entrepreneurs and communities?
Modern American cities that were built on physical infrastructure almost a century ago now face historic challenges of embracing digital infrastructure to re-invent the meaning of “urban life”. The city of Philadelphia represents post-industrial American cities facing this challenge. The Nutter Administration is particularly interested in how the City can work together with local institutions like Temple University to instigate sustainable economic and community development to transform neighborhoods.
Temple University has three campuses – Center City, Main Campus and Health Sciences – on Broad Street, Philadelphia’s main North-South artery. Each individual campus offers substantial physical, technological and intellectual resources that can be used to enrich neighboring areas.
The design challenge is to leverage Temple’s campuses and other existing technology assets along North Broad Street and the surrounding area to prototype a digital ecosystem. We envision North Broadband as a vibrant, generative, and entrepreneurial ecosystem where citizens, business and government can develop new products and services to meet various needs in our city by inspiring and mobilizing our collective efforts through the use of digital technology. The design should be environmentally responsible, economically sustainable, and humanly satisfying. The solution must be replicable and scalable, as it serves as a prototype for larger initiatives.
incitexchange
We will conclude the DESIGNWeek 2011 with incitexchange – an annual conference organized by the Center for Design+Innovation at the Fox School of Business, Temple University. Each year, a roster of international leaders in the fields of design, innovation, management and technology gather in Philadelphia to exchange ideas about their work, their thoughts and observations. A series of rapid-fire short individual presentations, coordinated dialogues and moderated panel discussions combine to encourage participants to talk, share and spontaneously collaborate. Hosted in the state-of-the-art facilities of the Fox School of Business’ Alter Hall, incitexchange builds upon the Fox School’s groundbreaking initiatives to integrate a design perspective into the culture of management education. As the first major business school to integrate design into its required all MBA programs, this conference reflects the goals to break down barriers and cross boundaries to generate innovative ideas.
The theme of incitexchange 2011 is “Boundaries: Re-imagined, Re-shaped, and Re-defined”. Our world is divided by boundaries between disciplines, entities and ideologies. Boundaries between Art and Science, Government and its Citizens, and Business and Consumers. Breaching these boundaries is where real change occurs. This year, we will explore a range of ideas from the emerging possibilities for technology to redefine urban experiences to the way a design perspective is reshaping management education. Join us to share ideas with industry leaders, web renegade activists, designer advocates, political leaders, foodies, and discipline-crossing academics and researchers.
Come and join us!
