Liftfr09

Are we constantly reinventing the wheel, or rather the discussion around it: Who owns the wheel, why it exists, what its consequences are, how (and by whom) its uses should or shouldn't be regulated, and whether it should be considered a positive or a negative breakthrough?

Historian of science Dominique Pestre thinks this is partly the case. For at least 2 centuries, for better or worse, technologies have found their way into production and society before becoming a public issue. For the same amount of time, they have raised the same kind of discussions: Should we assess the impacts of a technology before its market deployment - and is that even possible? Should regulation arise from personal choices and actual uses of technologies, or from collective decisions? How should we deal with "technological divides"?...

During his initial keynote address to Lift, Dominique Pestre will challenge all speakers - as well as the audience - to raise their level of thinking, to become more humble in the face of history and to embrace dissensus and complexity: How can we welcome techno-skeptics in order to invent better paths for how technology interacts with society? Can we really believe that green techs will allow us to avoid more drastic (and collective) choices on how we live, consume, move? How can the interaction between markets, democracy, usage, science, code, and other influences, become more productive?

We, in turn, will challenge the historian: Is there anything really new in the XXIst century? Can networks, or user-generated innovation, or access to knowledge, radically change the role of technology and its interaction with society?

Be part of this discussion!

The last session of Lift France's 1st day (June 19), right before minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet's conclusion, is entitled "Changing Innovation - Innovating With the Non-Innovators". We wanted to invite speakers who believe innovation could be a day-to-day activity, and that anyone, in the right context, can be a part of reinventing her organization, her neighborhood, the services that she uses (or would like to use if she could).

How does one create such a context?

Within the Demos think tank, Catherine Fieschi has been doing just that for Britain's public services and local authorities: looking at how citizens, institutions and organizations create new forms of social and political resilience in the face of change. Now head of Counterpoint, the British Council's think tank, she will reflect on how institutions can transform their role in society; And what kinds of skills its members should learn - or unlearn - in order to collaborate with civil society rather than direct it.

Invented by Madrid's MediaLab Prado, Interactivos? is a 2-weeks workshop+seminar+showcase, a research and production platform for the creative and educational uses of technology, where anyone can participate. Its main goal is to expand on the use of electronic and software tools for artists, designers and educators, thus contributing to the development of local communities of cultural producers. Marcos Garcia will introduce this methodology and its amazing results.

Climate change is a real, yet abstract phenomenon. It is so complex, and so much larger than each of us! So we might tend to let the specialists worry about it.

Could that change? Could we actually feel our carbon footprint, and whatever we may do to reduce it? Could we all coproduce environmental data and knowledge and what would it change in our own behavior? Can sustainable actions become simple, or even fun? Could environmental consciousness become a pleasant, unobtrusive, sociable part of our daily life? And how does this scale into global consciousness, knowledge, and change?

At Lift in Marseilles, 3 speakers will address these issues during the second "Changing the Planet" session (Saturday, June 20), "Co-producing and sharing environmental consciousness". For the WWF, Dennis Pamlin has been working with IT and other companies on some of these very challenges: putting sustainability at the center of their business models, rather than assigning it to "corporate responsibility". Frank Kresin will describe the "SensorNet" initiatives that the Waag Society (Amsterdam) is launching in order to distribute environmental measurement. And François Jegou will tell us how designers can assist us in inventing a Sustainable Everyday.

Lift is all about creativity and innovation. This has not escaped the European Commission's Directorate-General for Education and Culture, which has labeled Lift France one of the European Year of Creativity and Innovation's official events.

The European Year of Creativity and Innovation aims to raise awareness of the importance of creativity and innovation for personal, social and economic development; to disseminate good practices; to stimulate education and research, and to promote policy debate on related issues.

We are happy to be part of this initiative!

When we asked Edith Ackermann whether she would like to comment on what she heard at Lift, rather than give a prepared speech, she immediately agreed - And we suspect she was even grateful. Not that she's unable to prepare a speech: She's been a professor, a researcher and a consultant for decades. No, it's just that she enjoys learning, being confronted to new people and ideas, and building knowledge on the go.

In fact, that's what she's been doing all her life with the likes of Jean Piaget and Seymour Papert, before she herself became one of the great figures of research and innovation in education and psychology.

Listen to what Edith has to say: "In my work, I team up with partners from varying backgrounds to help shape the future of play and learning in a digital world. I study how people use place, relate to others, and treat things to find their ways – and voices – in an ever changing world. Two lessons I have learned: When it comes to learning and creative uses of technologies, children have more to teach adults than adults to children! When it comes to innovating for others, don’t guess what they want or do what they say: co-create what they—and you—will love once it is there!"

Could today's information systems be in part responsible for the current crisis? Could they have led the world's largest organizations to think of the world in terms of processes and figures, and loose touch with human reality, with change?

Could "IT" now stand for "innovation systems"? Could they make organizations more open to foreign ideas, friendlier to change and experimentation, nimbler and faster? Could they embrace the networking cultures of today's young generations? Could they be built on trust and collaboration, rather than control?

On Friday June 19, at Lift, you will meet Marc Giget, the core of one of Europe's most important nexus of experience on innovation. With Martin Duval, you will discover how some of the world's largest corporations are becoming serious with open innovation. And with Euan Semple, you will visit organizations that believe that large-scale conversations and connections are what determines their ability to innovate.

Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, France's minister in charge of Forward Planning and Development of the Digital Economy, will attend Lift's talks on Friday, June 19, and offer her thoughts during the day's closing speech.

At 35, "NKM" is one of France's most promising "next-gen" politicians, with a long-held commitment to sustainable development, and a personal practice of technology. The francophones among you can get a glimpse of her views on technology, innovation and society (Lift's "raison d'etre") on her Facebook blog.