PICNIC Festival 2012 Program Finalised

PICNIC, Europe’s largest platform for innovation and creativity has finalised the program for its annual festival, taking place at the Eye Film Institute in Amsterdam on 17 & 18 September 2012. This year’s theme of “New Ownership: the shift from top down to bottom up” will be discussed, explored and experienced by participants during more than 65 talks, workshops, labs, master classes, art installations and a Crossover Marketplace.

 

Kitty Leering, Program Director of PICNIC, says “PICNIC has been following developments that tie into the ‘New Ownership’ mega trend for several years. The increasing use of connected technologies is disrupting our traditional models of organisation, while offering new and exciting opportunities within every domain thinkable, like media, business, government, health, education, sustainability and science. We are thrilled with the contributions from our speakers and content partners and believe that our programming will help participants discover how this trend of 'New Ownership' will benefit their business.”

 

Featured speakers at the event are:

 

- Jon Lombardo, Social Media COE Leader, General Electric, who will discuss the concept of “healthy sharing” among friends;

 

- Elizabeth Stark, an open Internet advocate and opponent of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a controversial U.S. Bill widely seen as limiting Internet freedom;

 

- Daan Roosegaarde, artist, architect, technologist and entrepreneur will focus on soft and hard capital in the art world;

 

- Louisa Heinrich, Strategy Director at Fjord, will talk about what it means to own your Quantified Self;

 

- Cathal Garvey, a bioengineer who is bringing science to citizens and who developed a fully accredited science lab in his grandmother’s spare bedroom;

 

- Tim O’Reilly, CEO of O’Reilly Media and one of the founders of the open source and Maker movements;

 

- Doc Searls, journalist, blogger and author of “The Cluetrain Manifesto” and “The Intention Economy: When Customers Take Charge”;

 

Featured Sessions:

 

- The “Crowdfunding 101” workshop will explore the financial and legal impact that these platforms will have on entrepreneurs, citizen investors, banks and the traditional investment community.

 

- The “Social Capital of Collaborative Platforms” panel will discuss how platforms such as The Awesome Foundation (a crowdfunding network), AirBnB, IOBY (a community resourcing platform), and ChallengePost, the US government’s platform for crowdsourced innovation, are enabling people to identify and help provide services they need.

 

- The “Digital Disruptions” workshop will challenge participants to develop future digital innovation scenarios and new products and services which could result when new technologies, economic shifts and social transformations converge.

 

For more information www.picnicnetwork.org