Lift10 will welcome 1000 participants from 40 countries to explore the most overlooked aspect of innovation: people. Known in the techno-parlance as users, consumers, clients, participants, prosumers, citizens or activists, people ultimately define the success of all technological and entrepreneurial projects. They adopt or refute, promote or demote; embrace, reject, or re-purpose. Their approaches are unique, influenced by cultural and generational diversity. 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".

The conference will host sessions on:

Generations and technologies
How to go beyond the usual clichés on generations, with Seniors unable to use technology and Millenials ruining their future careers on Social Network? How to take a generation’s specific needs into account? Who are really the "digital natives", and the "grey generation"?

The redefinition of Privacy
What is privacy in the 21st Century? Is personal security threatened by the massive collection of personal data by CCTV, GPS, mobile phones and web browsers? What is the situation in 2010? What are the implications?

Communities
Since 2006 Web 2.0 has celebrated the so-called "amateur revolution". Did this revolution really happen? What did we learn in the past 5 years? Are we reaching the limits of web 2.0? How to create value for all parties involved?

Politics
Beyond the much talked-about political campaigns on Facebook, how to turn users into engaged citizens in public action? What are the opportunities and challenges of this evolution of politics?

The old new media
Newspapers are struggling, TV is not sure of what the future holds. What is at stake nowadays when informing, reaching and involving people? Did the so-called "old media" evolve? What will the media landscape look like in ten years?

Stories
Lift traditionally closes on a session dedicated to inspiring projects and perspectives. The speakers provide a unique point of view sure to make participants react and come up with new ideas of their own.

This year, the format will also evolve a lot, with the most notable changes being a totally new way for the audience and speakers to interact (more on this soon), and a new agenda based on the previous years feedback. Workshops will be spread more wisely, sessions will be more interactive, you will be able to travel on Wednesday morning and leave on Friday early afternoon, and much more. Check the full program here, and the first ten speakers!

We look forward to welcome you in Geneva :) Do not forget to register early, it helps us and you pay the cheaper early bird price!

Design hero Laurent Bolli just put the finishing touch to the Lift Asia 09 program, available in both Korean and English. Paper version will be provided to attendees but you can also download the file and print it to read it on your way to the conference!

Available in English and Korean.

We have a last minute addition to the Lift Asia 09 program, a panel with three of the pioneers who helped create the internet industry in Korea!

20 years of Korean internet
The pioneers who built the Korean internet will share their story, reflecting on a soon-to-be 20 years old industry, offering insights on the future of a media that went from being an early adopter tool to become a society changing technology used by 40 million people in Korea.

Speakers:
• Jin Ho Hur, CEO of Neowiz, operators of Korea's second largest social network.
• Jaewoong Lee, Founder of Daum
• Soon Hyun Hwang, Vice President, NC Soft

This is quite big to have these guys on stage sharing their experience on how they helped make Korea the world's most wired country! Grab one of the remaining tickets and join us at Lift Asia on Thursday!

We are very happy to announce that Chul Shin has accepted our invitation to participate as a speaker at Lift Asia 09. The legendary film producer, who created with Taekon V on of the most beloved characters in anime, will share with the audience his experience in film production.

Chul Shin will speak in the Storytelling session on Thursday afternoon with TED video director Jashon Wishnow and Julian Bleeker from Nokia Design.

Learn more about Chul Shin on his speaker profile and see some Taekwon V taekwondo movies here and here and here on Youtube :)

As I arrived in Korea, I met several friends who told me the theme for Lift Asia 09 was not clearly communicated. So here come an updated home and program page, hopefully providing a better look at why we chose "Serious fun" as the theme for our next event:

Social networks, online games, robots, communicating objects: these technologies and services were originally designed for entertainment purposes. They are now giving birth to a whole new range of opportunities and challenges. Games are used for education. Robots are linking patients and doctors. Social networks are the playground of marketers and recruiters.

Are these "fun" technologies changing as they become more and more "serious"? What new opportunities and challenges are arising from this ecosystem in the making?

Lift Asia 09 will explore these questions, and focus on the examples provided by communicating objects, social networks, design, architecture, storytelling and community engagement. The conference will also feature an open program where members of the audience can present their ideas and projects, and we will have our traditional sessions on sustainable development and inspiring stories.

Link

If you live in Seoul and need more explanation don't hesitate to contact me, I am in Korea until next week :)

We just released the PDF version of the official Lift France program. Every participant will receive a printed copy upon arrival at the conference but here is the file in case you want to check it out in advance.

3 great innovators have agreed to speak at Lift France, and many more will be announced in the coming days:

Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino is CEO of technology and design consultancy Tinker.it!. She designs technology-enabled and socially-aware creative solutions to problems. She ran the "Web of Things" workshop at Lift Geneva '09.


Euan Semple is one of the most respected specialists of social software. After years introducing all kinds of exotic tools inside the BBC, he became a consultant, helping businesses enable conversations inside their organizations as well as outside.

Usman Haque designs interactive architecture systems and researches how people relate to each other and their spaces. He has created responsive projection environments, interactive installations, digital interface devices and choreographed performances. Recently, he launched Pachube, a web service that enables people to tag and share real time sensor data from objects, devices and spaces around the world, facilitating interaction between remote environments, both physical and virtual.

It is one of these "concretizing" moments (yes I am aware this word does not exist), when we realize Lift is not only thousands of emails and phone calls, but 700 people converging to Geneva next week. The printed program is here! You will receive a copy with your badge at the door, but if you want to have a look at it before you can download the file now.

We have updated the program with the Open Stage talks and the Birds of a feather sessions. If you happen to speak or moderate a session you can now find out when you will be expected by the audience :)

Our media partner ICT Journal will publish the program of the conference in their next edition in French, and therefore kindly proposed us to translate the current page into Molière's language. Here is the translation that could save a bit of time to those who are not completely familiar with English.

Mercredi 25 février

Le premier jour de la conférence est consacré aux ateliers:

10 :00 Ateliers du matin
12 :00 Repas
13:45 Ateliers de l’après-midi
15:45 Pause
16:00 Reprise des ateliers
18:00 Cocktail en préambule à la conférence

Jeudi 26 février

09 :00 Bienvenue à lift !
Laurent Haug, fondateur de Lift, expliquera dans une brève présentation le thème et l’organisation de la conférence afin que les participants puissent identifier les activités qui les intéressent.

09 :15 Changement (1/2)
Que peut-on apprendre des prédictions qui ne sont jamais arrivées pour mieux imaginer le futur ? Pourquoi certains « futurs » ne se réalisent jamais ? Quelles sont les constantes dans le désir de futur exprimé par chacun ? Comment cela peut-il nous aider à dessiner le futur ?
Avec Patrick J. Gyger (Maison d’ailleurs) et Nicolas Nova (EPFL, Near Future Laboratory).

10 :15 Pause et débats

11 :15 Changement (2/ 2)
Avec David Rose (Vitality) et Natalie Jeremijenko (UCSD)

12 :15 Repas

14 :15 Solidarité
Un des changements subtils survenu ces quinze dernières années concerne la forme que prennent la solidarité et l’action collective. Ramesh Srinivasan (UCLA) et Juliana Rotich (GlobalVoices), deux conférenciers venus de différentes parties du monde, s’intéresseront à ce sujet qu’ils illustreront à partir de leurs expériences personnelles. Ils montreront comment des technologies telles que les terminaux mobiles refaçonnent la manière de vivre ensemble.