Couple of things caught the Global Ideas Bank eye recently:
- Camp Invention which is not about new products for the gay market, but about helping introduce (US) kids to innovation and problem-solving, in an effort to create the next generation of entrepreneurs and inventors of all kinds. See the Invent Now site for more. Employers are increasingly demanding those types of skills and traits (problem-solving, innovation, creativity, flexilibility etc) which are associated with being an inventor or entrepreneurs, so this is an area which will only increase as the years pass...
- Wired magazine has had a number of interesting pieces (looking forward to Chris Anderson's The Long Tail book with breath that is nothing short of bated), including the top 15 ways to live longer...but most interesting was this piece on six world-changing trends, which is of interest to all futurists. Even if it seems obvious whilst reading it, the grouping of these together helps solidify and clarify some disparate thoughts about the way business and the economy (and therefore our lives...) are changing. The six, for reference, are:
People Power
Video Unlimited
Personalise It
Carbon Killers
Buy It Now
All-Access Economy
- And to pick up the first of those, People Power, my old friend Ming the Mechanic has blogged about crowdsourcing which kind of combines a lot of other stuff being bandied around (Pro-Ams work by Demos, wisdom of crowds/open source stuff, virtual volunteering etc.). Worth a read, even if the term is yet to make the OED.
- Also pleased to see that a GIB idea by John Tunney from way back when (see Lottery entry slips: 10% tick box for charity) has kind of made it into reality in the form of Your Pound, Your Choice. Different type of people power...
If only some of the other lottery ideas we've had over the years could make it too. Look forward to the day when the House of Lords is picked by lottery (topical...) and to the Fame Lottery, Pension Lottery and, by no means least, the Rubbish Lottery. Which are all far from being as silly as they may sound....
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