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As summer nears and brings us warm weather and changing seasons, this month’s Curiouser event saw many fresh ideas and exciting endeavors to bring change. Shared inspiration abounded.
THE EVENT
While attendees came from many different backgrounds, our gathering of entrepreneurs, academics, writers, business and media professionals, scientists, and innovators found themselves sharing common themes relevant to pressing issues in today’s social backdrop, with many concepts converging around ideas reminiscent of Porter’s Shared Value concept.
HOW IT WORKS
Despite no intentional planning to coordinate the topics of the various Curiouser presentations, many concepts within the shared 3-minute pitches congregated around ideas of strengthening communication and building common understandings between people, through innovations involving the arts, community endeavors, business models and startups, and even some philosophical elements. Others dove into different ways through which “double impact” endeavors could bring business success, but also bring positive benefits to their stakeholders.
WHAT WE DISCOVERED
As you’re likely curious about these ideas shared at May’s Curiouser, here’s a list highlighting the heart of each concept shared with us last week:
Jay Neely – The potential for Boston to emerge as a leader in media thought leadership and innovation. Could a gathering of resources in education, networks, and funding facilitate the growth and connection of media leaders in Boston?
Eduardo Pujol – How we can take lessons from examples within Cuba’s history in the second half of the 20th century to understand what’s happening in Venezuela today? History repeats.
Purnima Thakre – Oscar Mayer’s unique marketing promotion, which took advantage of a trend seemingly unrelated to their product and built a creative marketing campaign: Bacoin (bacon meets cryptocurrency).
Christopher Haylett – The idea of “Futility Thinking”, how this psychology manipulates our generosity in the background, and how we can help people overcome it with new giving methods.
Jayati Doshi – How we can build commonality and make sense of life through active listening, the sharing of perspectives, and self-discovery alongside others. Sorting out meaning and discovering ourselves collectively.
Greg Harris – Bulgaria was the only Nazi-occupied European country in which the entire population of Jews survived WWII. How? Harris explores the power of face-to-face encounters.
Amanda Lewis – What if we had real mood rings to visualize our emotions and increase empathy and emotional intelligence? How could we be influenced if we could easily see each other’s emotional states at a glance?
Gonzalo Veloz – Discovering ways to build a middle-ground between old Latino culture and new Latino-American culture. How to bring a strong latino presence into media and facilitate examples of leadership through the sharing of stories.
Annabelle Slingerland – How science, history, culture, and people, all engaged together, can explain diseases better than science alone. Opportunities for holistic explorations of health.
Steven Biondolillo – The need for society to collectively refocus on “what makes us human”. How community gatherings, focused around poetry, can be used to build commonality and heal divisions in modern society. See his Jacob Challenge for more insights.
Jorge Sanabria – An AI tool that simplifies privacy policies and terms and conditions. An intriguing way to visualize and translate thick legal contracts and agreements with the power of AI.
Robin Bose – How youth programs involved in outdoorsmanship and camaraderie can bring appreciation for nature, build relationships with peers and adults, and even help individuals become a bit entrepreneurial.
Gaurav Keswani – Possibilities to solve the crisis of plastics pollution with the advent of rocketry technologies – by launching trash off of Earth and into space.
Zach Braiker – The concept of a “Digital Sabbath”, how one day a week spent disconnecting can perhaps contribute to productivity, health, and replenishment.
Raghu Appasani – Finding a way to boost mental health and resilience building through tech. With modern tech often being utilized to facilitate endless bullying, how can it be used to instead help young people gain confidence and grow their mental resilience?
Kevin Luke – The potential for opportunities to utilize “ancient low-tech” in the development of innovative modern technologies and use cases.
Joel Alcon – Is there a way to build a franchise model that unlocks the unique skills of immigrants and helps them to apply them in the American economy?
Michael Prentice – How could one begin to look at the economics of all things waiting in economies (i.e. labor, inventory, etc.), and what sort of lessons could we take from this economic arena?
Veronica Rechul – We love food. We love going out. We love watching tv about food. But cooking is hard for many. Could an app that functions like a digital, social media cookbook succeed?
Sadaf Atarod – Dancing brings many people joy. Could requiring a dance activity before work promote creativity and improve moods?
Aline Park – New, innovative technology that uses paper and modular blocks to make disease testing and diagnosis simple, efficient/low-cost, and portable.
If any of these ideas sparked curiosity in you, then you should consider joining us next time. Check out the Curiouser & Curiouser page to know more details about our next session and how to attend.
Please forward to a Curious person!