We're all familiar with the power of trust and openness in social networks (online or offline) and how they can mobilize individuals to accomplish things together. We can do the same in the business world and leverage the power of social networks to solve problems and bring new ideas to the market. Companies must learn to work together in a collaborative spirit, as though they were people with a deep motivation to create innovative services together, rather than relating exclusively through buying and selling. Online platforms designed to create this atmosphere of openenss, such as Starmind, Atizo and Innocentive, are valuable contributors to collaborative innovation, but there is also a growing need for people to work together face-to-face across company boundaries.

In this workshop, I will share experiences from Swisscom's Collaborative Enterprise Innovation (CEI) program. CEI generates COINs (Collaborative Innovation Networks) across companies to bring innovations to market. Essentially, a COIN is a group of self-motivated people who have a shared vision. They collaborate to achieve a common goal by sharing information, ideas and work. The key is to create an atmosphere of purposeful sharing and imaginative development. And in this spirit, we invite you to share your own adventures in breaking down the barriers within and between companies in the pursuit of innovation.

Together we will find ways to meet the following challenges:
- Motivate companies to move from "I sell, you buy" to "Let's build something together."
- Bring competitors together to build a new market.
- Move from talking about innovation to creating it.
- Create trust without signing non-disclosure agreements (No Trust Agreements)
- Bring the best and brightest together without paying them to be involved.
- Realize when you can't innovative alone and collaborate to move ahead.

frog design, inc. is a global innovation firm.

We work with the world’s leading companies, helping them create and bring to market meaningful products, services, and experiences.

Our multidisciplinary process reveals valuable consumer and market insights and inspires lasting, humanizing solutions. With a team of more than 400 designers, technologists, strategists, and analysts, we deliver fully convergent experiences that span multiple technologies, platforms, and media.

We work across a broad spectrum of industries, including consumer electronics, telecommunications, healthcare, media, education, finance, retail, and fashion. Our clients include Disney, GE, HP, Logitech, Microsoft, MTV, Seagate, Siemens, Yahoo! and others.

Founded in 1969, frog is headquartered in San Francisco, with studios in Austin, New York, Seattle, Milan, Amsterdam, Stuttgart, and Shanghai.

frog design is an independent division of Aricent, a global innovation, technology, and outsourcing company, focused exclusively on communications. Aricent is owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Sequoia Capital, The Family Office, and CPP Investment Board.

Today we have opened the lines for this year’s Open Stage!

The Lift 10 Open Stage will feature seven of you who will take us on a short tour d'horizon of what their days look and feel like. You might walk us through your typical work week, bring your favourite tool and showcase your craftsmanship or tell us about that one secret ingredient in your life. All this can be work-related, but does not have to be: We are interested in what you are genuinely passionate about.

Please have a look at the full brief and send us your proposal using the Open Stage forms. Everyone who attends Lift 10 can hand in a proposal for a chance to hit the big stage in May and we are looking forward to receiving your ideas.

Submission deadline is April 5th – but the earlier we hear from you, the better your chances!

If you have got any questions or comments, please talk to us at openstage@liftconference.com.
Thanks for reading!

Important reminder: workshop submissions close on April 1st. That's in 15 days time, so make your proposition soon!

We already have some really nice workshops scheduled for Lift10. See the current propositions:)

Open Stage Submissions now open: submit a proposal and you may hit the stage this May!

The open stage is made up of presentations that are proposed and delivered by the Lift community. This year we want to change the direction of these presentations slightly by focusing on the passionate lives you guys lead. The proposals won't be up for vote online, but will be selected by the Lift Team (we are developing a new system to create more coherence and relevance within the sessions).

A Day in the Life of...
The "A Day in the Life of..." series is based on the paradox that although the Lift community consists of hundreds of people who have fascinating skills, job descriptions or hobbies, hardly anyone of us knows what everyone is actually DOING all day long.

Lift 10 Open Stage will feature seven attendants who will take us on a short tour d'horizon of what their days look and feel like. You might walk us through your typical work week, bring with you & explain your favourite tool or showcase your craftsmanship. All this can be work-related, but does not have to be (just in case you want to talk about fly-fishing!).

As an example we might...

• see what a Manchester-based urban planner actually does when creating a new "master plan"
• realise what it means to be an ethnographer for a telecoms company in Poland
• get a glimpse of the duties a press officer of the World Economic Forum has to perform
• finally understand how to prepare the best ever cup of coffee

This is your chance to talk about what you know and love best - give us an idea of what the Lift community is made of!

The rules
We provide a framework for the open stage because we believe that focus breeds creativity. Here we go:

• Everyone who attends Lift 10 can hand in a proposal
• There are 8 slots available spread across the 3 conference days
• Speakers may use keynote/powerpoint or video (or just themselves)
• If a keynote/powerpoint deck is used it should have 10 slides, 30 sec each. no clicker
• The duration of the talks is strictly 5 minutes
• Your proposal (which you can enter below) does not need to be the final presentation but should contain enough copy and visuals to transport your idea
• We encourage you to bring in your own personality and make the proposal as documentary, observational and authentic as possible
• You may include real objects to bring your day, profession or passion to life
• The deadline for proposals is April 5th
• The Lift team will select the 8 speakers and announce them around April 12th
• All finalists will meet during a short workshop on Wednesday morning (May 5th) to get to know each other and to do a quick rehearsal of the presentations


Submit Open Stage proposal

If you have any questions or comments about this year's open stage, please e-mail us at openstage@liftconference.com

Good luck and see you soon in Geneva!

The Lift open stage team

Lift10 is in less than 2 months time, and we are posting profiles of the confirmed speakers. Don't forget to have a look at the program!

Stephen Graham will be speaking at Lift10 in our opening session on the redefinition of privacy. We invited him to speak because of his investigations into how networked technologies redefine the notion of surveillance. His perspective as a geographer adds an important dimension to the discussion around the evolution of privacy.

Following a period at Durham Geography Department, Stephen is now Professor at the Global Urban Research Unit at Newcastle University's School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. He has a background in urbanism, planning and the sociology of technology. His research addresses intersections between urban places, mobilities, technology, war, militarization, surveillance and geopolitics. He writes and lectures in many countries and across a variety of disciplines.

Since 2006 Web 2.0 has celebrated the so-called "amateur revolution". What did we learn in the past 5 years? Are we reaching the limits of Web 2.0?

How to go beyond the usual clichés on generations? The first part of this session will deal with the ever-increasing importance of seniors and the way they deal with technologies.

Beyond the much talked-about political campaigns on Facebook, how to turn users into citizens engaged in public action?

Newspapers are struggling, TV is not sure of what the future holds. What is at stake nowadays when informing, reaching and involving people?