lift-asia-10

We decided to postpone this year's Lift Asia for several reasons explained below. We are committed Korea, and will continue exchanging ideas with the world's most dynamic continent. We just need a bit of time to take a break after the marathon we just finished (both Lift10 and Lift France 10 happened in the past 9 weeks) and refine the nature of our presence in Asia.

Why we postpone

Several reasons have come into play, among them:

^{Dan Dubno on the Lift Asia stage in 2008. Photo by echo4ngel.}

• Calendar
Because the CICG was already booked in February, we had to move Lift10 to May, which meant we ran two conferences (Geneva, Marseille) in a short period of time. Korea is the most demanding event of all as it requires long trips. We push the date to give ourselves a breather, and take time to deliver a high quality event to our community.

• Reformat
We have a feeling that what we can bring is a spotlight on great ideas and people, but also more bridges between Asia and the rest of the world. Several directions are being thought of right now: making smaller events based on organized trips (we would take 50 people to visit Korea's coolest startups, buildings, etc), a livecast between our different locations where each continent shows off it's cool ideas. Something will emerge, and you will be the first to know.

• Involve our Global community
We need to find a better way to involve our global community. Traveling to Korea takes a while, and not everybody can afford the ride. A few courageous Lifters have made the trips (kudos to guys like Jan Ondrus, Xavier Bertschy or Grégoire Furrer), but we have to develop more ways to keep those who can not travel involved.

What is next?

We are committed to Asia and Korea, and will continue developing our presence on that continent. Until we schedule a major event again (very likely in the Autumn of 2011), you will see our Asian connections materialize in talks (latest: Mr. Oh at Lift10), our support to local Lift@homes, and a continuous monitoring of the trends and innovation of Korea.

Our next major event will therefore be Lift11 in Geneva.

For ticket holders

We will refund all tickets. Sorry about the inconvenience this might cause you, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us for questions and support.

Lift10 took place in Geneva from May 5-7. The group of students that won free passes offered by the City of Geneva to participate in Lift are blogging their notes and insights from Lift10...

That is what we have been thinking since Lift Asia 07, and it is good to see the New York Times is now saying it too: Korea rocks :) and Seoul is one of the place to be in 2010!

Forget Tokyo. Design aficionados are now heading to Seoul.

They have been drawn by the Korean capital’s glammed-up cafes and restaurants, immaculate art galleries and monumental fashion palaces like the sprawling outpost of Milan’s 10 Corso Como and the widely noted Ann Demeulemeester store — an avant-garde Chia Pet covered in vegetation.

And now Seoul, under its design-obsessed mayor, Oh Se-hoon, is the 2010 World Design Capital. The title, bestowed by a prominent council of industrial designers, means a year’s worth of design parties, exhibitions, conferences and other revelries. Most are still being planned (go to wdc2010.seoul.go.kr for updates). A highlight will no doubt be the third annual Seoul Design Fair (Sept. 17 to Oct. 7), the city’s answer to the design weeks in Milan and New York, which last year drew 2.5 million people and featured a cavalcade of events under two enormous inflatable structures set up at the city’s Olympic stadium.

Link

A look at the Lift and partner events planned so far. A busy year awaits :)

Beta testing Lift10
19 Jan 2010, Geneva, Free event
Following the earlier workshop on Lift10, we would like to announce the format of the conference in details to gather feedback from the community. We will also test the (quite innovative and unique) system we want to use to create interaction between the audience and the speakers.

Conférence TechnoArk 2010
29 Jan 2010, Sierre, 150chf (Partner event)
A full day of discussion around the new digital spaces with Adam Greenfield (Nokia), Bruno Marzloff (Groupe Chronos), Fabien Girardin (Lift lab) and Ulrich Fischer (Walking the edit).

Lift @ Austria | Enable!
18-20 Mar 2010, Vienna, 150€
LIFT@austria | Enable! will be held in Vienna on March 18-20, 2010. The three day convention seeks to bring together people, organizations, and networks to elaborate and work on the question what does the concept of Enabling mean in various contexts and domains of (game-changing) innovation.

Lift10 | Connected people
5-7 May 2010, Geneva, 650chf until Dec. 26
Lift10 will welcome 1000 participants from 40 countries to explore the most overlooked aspect of innovation: people. A decade after the rebirth of user-centered design and innovation, it's time to explore the myths and uncover the reality behind the "connected people".

Lift France 10
5-7 Jul 2010, Marseille, 100/350/950€ until Mar. 25
We will announce the theme of this year's Lift France towards the end of January.

Lift Asia 10
16-17 Sept. 2010, Jeju, 150k/300k/500'000KRW
Our fourth Asian conference, the third under the Jeju sun! More information coming in June!

We will soon announce another "large" conference (November 2010 somewhere in Europe), and 5 lift@home are brewing in India, US, Switzerland, and elsewhere. Get some rest during the Christmas break, 2010 promises to be intense, challenging, interesting, full of new ideas and contacts :)

We are currently sending the third installment (in 18 months...) of our newsletter, with a recap of the most important news of the moment condensed in one convenient email. Here is the email we sent.

Hello :)
howdy from the Lift team! This email contains some REALLY important information. We have launched several initiatives we want you to be aware of, and a LOT happened since our last email six months ago. So bear with us for two minutes, check the headlines below and find out what has kept us busy. Thank you for reading this message, and see you soon!

IN THIS EDITION:

- Lift10 at 550chf until Oct 6!
- NEW: Our iPhone app
- NEW: Lift @ home, community organized workshops and gatherings
- NEW: Check the improved videos
- The (growing) calendar of events

Read more

To register for our newsletter click here.

Important: we decided to postpone this year's Lift Asia. We are committed Korea, and will continue exchanging ideas with the world's most dynamic continent. We just need a bit of time to take a break after the marathon we just finished (both Lift10 and Lift France 10 happened in the past 9 weeks) and refine the nature of our presence in Asia. Read more

Lift Asia 2010 dates and location will be announced in July. Thanks for your patience!

Program

Day one

Morning (10:00): Sessions
Afternoon (14:00): Sessions, expo and brainstorms
Evening (19:00): Opening cocktail

Day two

Morning (9:00): Sessions
Afternoon (14:00): Sessions, expo and brainstorms