Nadja Schnetzler a pioner in the industrial production of ideas is the co-founder and CEO of Brainstore, the idea factory.

BrainStore has specialised in the process of idea development for 18 years. For each project, a new team is created from the BrainStore Community. This process guarantees the most diverse viewpoints and wide support by all those involved, not to mention amazement and speed. Brainstore is a factory that manufactures and sells ideas.

The book “The Idea Machine” by Nadja Schnetzler was first published in 2004 by the well-known Wiley publishing house, and is currently in its 4th edition.

In her book, Nadja illustrates her idea-generating theory with numerous examples from her experiences in Brainstore

By Marta Aubia No Comments

You can already find the iFEST08 Program: click here

There you can find the big thematic areas in which the iFEST08 have been divided and the speakers that have already been confirmed.

By Marta Aubia [1] Comment

Have you ever thought that a simple bottle could save your life and many others?

Michael Pritchard will explain us how.

The LIFESAVER bottle, live at iFEST08

By Marta Aubia No Comments

Brompton, a folding bicycle that has revolutionized a sector on having be constituted as the first really portable and folding, light and enterteining bicycle of using.

“Brompton bicycles are unique, both in their design and the way they are made… and where they are made - you will find few global bike brands still manufactured in their city of origin. We continue to design and build our bikes in West London because it is the only way to ensure the necessary quality on our hand-built bicycles. Moving production offshore in search of lower labour costs, business rates and taxes would certainly bring some obvious benefits, but these would be outweighed by the consequences of losing control over quality and, ultimately, losing the confidence of the consumer”.

By Marta Aubia No Comments

The iFEST’08 exhibition is an opportunity to see, feel and try out some innovation objects, projects, prototypes and tech demos. Come to enjoy the innovation!!

What will you find there?
PLEO - Ugobe

Every Pleo is autonomous. Yes, each one begins life as a newly-hatched baby Camarasaurus, but that’s where predictability ends and individuality begins. Like any creature, Pleo feels hunger and fatigue - offset by powerful urges to explore and be nurtured. He’ll graze, nap and toddle about on his own -when he feels like it! Pleo dinosaur can change his mind and his mood, just as you do.

OLPC (One Laptop per Child) - Rebecca Allen, Christopher Blizzard (Red Hat), V. Michael Bove, Yves Behar (fuseproject), Walter Bender, Michail Bletsas, Mark Foster, Jacques Gagne (Gecko Design), Mary Lou Jepsen, Nicholas Negroponte, Lisa Strausfeld (Pentagram).

One Laptop per Child is a project about the transformation of education. It’s about giving children who don’t have the opportunity to learn. So it’s about access, it’s about equity, and it’s about giving the next generation of children in the developing world a bright and open future.

Very soon… more!

By Marta Aubia No Comments

If you want to be surprised, if you want to live the idea’s festivity or if you liked Renacer’06/’07, you can already book your place at iFest08. There is a special price if you book it before May 15th, take advantage of this chance and enjoy it.

By Marta Aubia No Comments

As a young and innovative office for futures exploration and envisioning based in Antwerp, Belgium, Pantopicon assists both public and private organizations to assess the possible ways in which the future might unfold. As such they help them to envision and strategize for a successful tomorrow.

To this aim they design tools & interactive processes, which they also facilitate, and scan the horizons for inspiring patterns of change to stretch the minds of their clients. Pantopicon taps into a rich blend of foresight, visioning and design methods to bring future visions, contexts and concepts to life.

Their futureblog ‘a thousand tomorrows‘ looks ahead the Pantopicon way: from an enriching, diverse range of perspectives.

By Marta Aubia [1] Comment

iFest08 will take place in the Forum building, an emblematic construction designed by the architects Herzog&de Meuron which has been considered an icon of the “New Barcelona”, the best place to meet in this innovative event, where dynamics, speeches and exhibitions will surprise you.

By Marta Aubia [10] Comments

Mr. Hansen, The National Labour Market Authority (AMS) in Denmark is going to talk about the status and perspectives of the work force model in Denmark, called the Danish flexicurity model.

Flexibility x Security = Flexicurity. The Danish ‘flexicurity model’ is a combination of easy hiring and firing, unemployment benefits and an active labour market policy, a model that is characterized for combining low protection against dismissal with high unemployment benefit and activation measures. This model encompasses a flexible workforce, low levels of state-produced and paralyzing social legislation but still upholds high levels of social protection without paralysing the labour market.

The Danish labor market is one of most developed of Europe, with a high rate of occupation, and in this context, flexicurity seems to be the reason. Flexible rules of employment, active labour market policies with the right and duty to training and job offers, relatively high benefits and a favourable business cycle lasting a decade have repeatedly been offered as explanations for this development.

Leif Christian Hansen will share with us this model, its consequences and its future

By Marta Aubia [2] Comments

Nick Leon is a Visiting Fellow at Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London and Director Urban Programmes for the Think Play Do Group. Nick is based in London, but works closely with the Ajuntament de Barcelona and its 22@District of Innovation. Recently he has been appointed director of Design London.

Nick Leon has studied how expatriates around Europe are defining new identities in the big cities of the old continent, and he will explain his studies in the thematic area of Mutating Places.

By Marta Aubia No Comments