Monday, October 5, 2009

Reflections on the Global Creative Economy Convergence Summit 2009

Today I had the pleasure of attending the Global Creative Economy Convergence Summit 2009. Spending the day with such creative innovators and entrepreneurs was such a treat. Energy pulsed through the conference and it was impossible not to drink the kool aid or take the red pill (as one panelist suggested).

According to the website, the Summit is "a two-day conference which promises to embrace the same values it champions: innovation, creativity, collaboration, shared learning, technology and open source thinking." The sessions I attended today focused primarily on alternative workforce development/management, innovation in education, social networking trends and alternative educational models (i.e. internship/mentorship, project-based learning, civic engagement).

Although I'm still synthesizing all that I learned, here are some of my favorite take-aways from the conference (expect longer posts on some of them when I have time to expound!):
  • Jane McGonigal (evening keynote) suggested that game developers should aspire to win the Nobel Peace Prize in the next 25 years.
  • The Freemium Business Model (term coined by blogger Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures and shared by speaker Paul Wright of Micco World.)
  • Breaking the Cube Panel Discussion: virtual companies, virtual assistants, co-working and making the office obsolete (Food for thought: how will the future of virtual companies affect how we prepare students for the 'real world?' What implications does the concept of the co-working have on education? What role does interactive video play? How about advanced networks? Check out Shift101 and Conjunctured for more on co-working)
  • Redefining the internship model... empowering interns in the work place and making them vital parts of teams... is a virtual intern an extern? How do you manage, mentor and supervise virtual interns? Love the cool cities model and had no idea the UPenn participated in InternU. Need to think about how to succesfully integrate interns into educational program development at MAGPI.
  • Can't wait to try out Google Wave -- sent Google a request but would love to get an invite from someone! :0)
  • Myrikal - - what a fabulous story and talented young woman. How can we foster and nurture such creative individuals in an urban public school environment? And how can we build on her story and inspire others? Young Virtual Artist in Residence Program via interactive video? (Any suggestions about funding?)
  • Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love) suggested that everyone explore their curiousity - - which is a much more friendlier term than passion - - and that will lead to innovative entrepreneurship.
  • Still not sure what this crowd sourcing thing is all about - - and a little bummed I missed that session.
  • Co-creation and creative participation seem to be key ideas to all kinds of creative initiatives. People like to contribute. (thanks for the tweet @spragueKS)
  • Pennsylvania is last of the states in terms of new entreprenurial ventures with new entreprenuers according to latest data from the Kauffman Foundation... Ouch...
  • Work is changing: focus, collaboration, learning and socializing -- virtual and coworking situations need to support all. Again, how does this affect career preparedness and what IS the role of technology in education?
  • Where does global education, preparing 21st century students, global networks and how to build global student-based creative economies play into all of the above? Thinking about Thomas Friedman's "flat" concept... how does it translate?
  • Definitely need to rekindle MAGPI's relationship with Innovation Philadelphia... How do/can advanced networks and educational technology applications affect creative economic development?
Just a little food for thought and some of the things that are going to be on my mind for a while... For other thoughts on the summit, search #gcecs2009 on Twitter.